Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.

Boris Mikhailov, UA

Photographs at General Staff building

Late in December 2013, during a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, people came to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the central square in Kiev, and pitched their tents. Ukranian artist Boris Mikhailov made a series of photographs recording life in the protestors’ camps as well as a series of large-format photo collages with panoramic views of the square that recalled the canvases made by Russian realist painters in the late nineteenth century.