Quis Leget Haec?

Video art and video installation

Quis Leget Haec?

Myroslav Kulchytskiy was born in Uzhhorod in 1970.
Artist, curator, iconic figure of Ukrainian media art.
The first curator of the Museum of Odesa Modern Art. Participant of numerous exhibitions in iconic locations of Europe. Myroslav himself characterized his artistic method as a public experiment: a kind of shared practice with the viewer, a cure for the blurred vision.
Participant of numerous exhibitions in prestigious locations in Europe and Canada.
Most of the time he worked in co-authorship with Vadym Chekorskiy, who was born in the same year. This duo created the most famous works of Odesa video art.

Video by Kulchytskiy and Chekórskiy “Quis Leget Haec?” (“Who will read this?”) begins with titles. But these titles have no beginning. Indistinct lines in an unknown language cannot be read. The sounds of an unknown film begin behind the scenes. It is impossible to understand what the two men are talking about. The conversation is replaced by the sounds of gunshots and explosions. Later, the announcer begins to read the translation: “Are you sure you can do it? Yes, I will do everything I can. Is it possible for you? Losers say that all the time. And the winners go home and fuck the prom queen. Carla was the queen. Yes? Yes” The announcer’s voice reads it without intervals and intonations. Obviously, the translation is not related to the sounds of the film. Sometimes the sounds of a battle are overshadowed by the cries of the wounded in the battle. The announcer continues reading some version of translation: “They’re approaching the morgue, sir. Well, let’s go. You can do it. That’s it. Not bad.” Fragments of incomprehensible phrases are heard.

The screen is still playing endless incomprehensible titles for an unknown movie. The announcer suddenly says that you can’t shoot missiles. At the end, he says that it is the most terrible thing he has ever seen in his life. After this phrase of the announcer, the titles disappear. The end of the movie

Odesans are the first Ukrainian artists who developed the theme of dominance of pirated video. They criticized the viewer who is ready to watch any foreign films. They protested against the low quality of the “picture” and dubbing. Making fun of the situation, the authors brought to the fore only subtitles – usually secondary details of movies. The attention of the mass viewer, which is based on blind trust in the image on the screen, is exposed as vulnerable to manipulation, so critical thinking should be a mandatory tool for understanding the truth.