The duo of Ute Kílter, who was born in 1957, and Viktor Malyarenko, who was born in 1960, is one of the first creators of video art in Odesa, and is widely known in Ukraine and abroad. Their videos combine cinematography and European avant-garde with cultural and social realities of life in Odesa.

The video “Die Strasse” by Klter and Malyarenko begins with a demonstration of a busy street in a big city. We see the author rushing to the mesh fence, which appeared unexpectedly. The co-author appears in the frame, with a short haircut and in a man’s suit. They separately approach the wall with the inscription “camel”. Vladimir Lenin’s speech against capitalism sounds as a background. This is followed by a dance next to a net that is weaving by some persons. The authors also take part in weaving. Short passages of phrases; news fragments; pedestrians walking down the street are repeated again and again. The author and the authoress again and again throw themselves at the mesh fence in different variations. They try to climb over it from the opposite sides of the fence to meet each other. Sometimes they almost succeed, so they try to do it again. But all in vain. Everyone stays behind his/her own side of the fence. In the final, a group of persons performs a dance near the net. To some extent, this world acquires features of mystical infinity and inevitability, and all actions in it became senseless.

In their work, the artists create an atmosphere of despair and hopelessness that prevail in the life in conditions of limitations.

There are many symbolic frames in the video: the word “camel” is a symbol of a difficult journey through the desert of social difficulties; fast-changing news highlights the instability of modern life; unsuccessful attempts to climb over the fence that is completely unfunctional – a senseless desire to escape the hopeless oppression of social restrictions. This is an endless struggle for unattainable freedom, for self-realization in a world where borders and barriers become part of everyday life.

The work of Ute Kilter and Viktor Malyarenko demonstrates what human freedom is like in conditions where social, political and cultural structures impose invisible fences, and what the life is where a fence, a net and communist propaganda are mandatory elements of existence.