During the 11th festival, MADATAC Ukrainian project ARTEFACT presents the first virtual media art exhibition dedicated to the Chernobyl accident and designed for VR headsets –ARTEFACT: Chornobyl. 

In 2020 I was among 100 artists working in virtual art residency ARTEFACT, creating media art objects for the MADATAC festival, dedicated to the disaster in Chernobyl in 1986. All artworks are also presented in separate virtual spaces with their own atmosphere and senses. Everyone can visit them using a PC or smartphone, but maximum immersion can be obtained only with VR headsets. 

Through new technologies in contemporary art, the ARTEFACT project draws attention to important issues, based on the example of the Chernobyl accident. The artists invite us to rethink the tragedy of our past. The ARTEFACT project considers the disaster on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant not only as a man-made, but as an informational catastrophe, full of disinformation, fake news and propaganda with the purpose to cover the real dimensions of the disaster. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is an example of the informational catastrophe within one state that can have consequences for the whole world. 

My project was built on the memory of real people who lived in Pripyat before spring 1986. April 27th they left the city for three days as they believed at the time - but it turned out that three days last forever.

The project is built in Mozilla Hubs space: VR reality made from 360photo of location as it looks now, a music track created with sounds from that location, and video screens with archive footage supported with people’s memories. A visitor can walk between rooms and dive into a person’s head.