How are you... in The Hague (Zahar Bondar)
Hoe staat het in deze tijden van corona met onze vrienden die in
het afgelopen jaar op bezoek waren bij Stroom, bij wie wij zelf op
bezoek zijn geweest, of die hopelijk dit jaar nog komen?
>> How are you archief met alle reacties
>> How are you archief met alle reacties
In
these times of corona, what about our friends who visited Stroom in the
past year, whom we visited ourselves or who hopefully will be part of
the Stroom program this year?
>> How are you archive with all reactions
>> How are you archive with all reactions
We vroegen het aan Zahar Bondar, een van de deelnemers aan het KABK Stroom Invest programma 2019.
We contacted Zahar Bondar, one of the participants in the Stroom KABK Invest program 2019.April 10, 2020
from The Hague
I feel good, calm,
Recently I made an ice skating trip to the lake Baikal in Russia. It's (still) frozen right now and the surface of the lake is comparable to the size of the Netherlands. It's astonishing and it still affects me.
Usually I love jumping back on the speed train of production when I'm back to NL, but this time I couldn't. I was sitting at the platform, looking at the trains in front of me and what I wanted is simply to read my book... and I almost hated my life for the two/three months of almost non-stop working that was already planned for me. Again I felt myself as an assistant of my own life.
And now all of the trains are cancelled. It's somehow very romantic to not be able to use public transport, trains, or planes. Being grounded to the place you are and tight to the people around you. I am also very lucky: I am able to go to my studio everyday, cycle in the dunes, keep on working on my work. I also just received support from the government.
It is a fucked up thing to say, but in a weird way I enjoy the whole situation. I feel calmness around me - everything slowed down. It feels great.
I am romanticising it here, but I'm not optimistic ... the whole situation made me think that when it comes to Economics VS Humanity, Economics wins. It makes me think that we won't solve the ecological crisis. We also won't do anything to prevent it...
Society wants to get back to the life it knows, ASAP. And spin the wheel twice as fast when it is back to the "normal state of being".
The whole situation somehow reminds me of the dream I have sometimes. I'm in a desert in a skyscraper, somewhat at the top floor. We are watching the news with friends - all of the channels are screening the same thing - a 2D map of the world and the tsunami that slowly approaches everyone. It's a 30 meter wave and it is soon to hit the place where we are. We are going to the balcony and we see it from afar. Silence and deep calmness. That is what I feel when I wake up.
Stay safe and have a good day
Zahar Bondar
Zahar Bondar
Zahar Bondar
Zahar Bondar was born in 1992 in Latvia and grew up in Russia in a family where both parents are circus artists. He traveled with them around Russia for about 15 years changing cities every 1,5 month. In 2011 he moved to The Hague to study at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK). He graduated in 2019 and was chosen as one of the participants in the Stroom KABK Invest program.