CROSS OF HEROES

Рік: 2024

Location: Vyshgorod

Authors: Mykola Kabluka, Blessed Svyatoslav Shevchuk,
Andriy Vavrysh, Oleksandr Horhan, Father Taras Valakh

Photo: Andrey Avdeenko

About project

This project was created to honour our fallen heroes who bravely gave their lives defending our Ukraine.

And also to show respect for all our compatriots who continue to bear their cross and do their best for the future of the country.

Details

Based on the Cossack cross, a symbol of victory and protection, we manifested it in three directions, placing it both in the paving and through inversion in space. We also wanted it to be inscribed in a circle, so that a person could not only contemplate it from the outside, but also get INTO the middle of the cross from any four sides of the world.

Each of the visitors gets

- into the middle of the CROSS;

- into the middle of the LIGHT;

- into the middle of the SOUND;

It is a form based on optical and light effects. These are mirrored edges that interact with their surroundings and reflect each other. Of course, we also paid a lot of attention to light. With light, we enhance the sacredness of the installation and create conditions for maximum immersion in the context.

Optical fibre light elements are integrated into the paving and the form itself. And the wavy metal surfaces are placed in such a way that in any season and weather they catch sunbeams with a certain symbolic meaning.

The light elements represent the souls of the heroes who sacrificed themselves to protect Ukraine, and all those who make efforts to dispel the darkness with their light.

They symbolise all those who, in dark times, carry their cross and light to others:

- Carries their cross and light to others;

- continues to fight in spite of everything;

- makes every effort to win;

- kept their faith and humanity.

Being inside the installation among thousands of lights, a person experiences an emotional symbolic experience of unity with the nation of which he or she is an integral part.

Entering from any of the four sides of the installation, a person finds himself in the centre of the cross, enveloped by the sounds of his native land. The audio accompaniment was created from sounds associated with different parts of Ukraine and allows you to feel the vibrations of our land: from the whispering noise of forests to the melodic sounds of Carpathian streams.

Concept

After many creative brainstorming sessions with the Kabluka Light & Digital Sculptures team, experiments in the office with the form and materials, and the production of 3D models, the Cross of Heroes memorial turned out to be very complex from both a technical and psychological point of view.

Sound

We set out to create a deeper meaningful emotional ritual: to immerse a person as if inside a cross, in the middle of hundreds of lights, but in addition to perceiving the form, to enhance immersive immersion with audio accompaniment. In "Cross of Heroes", sounds become another catalyst for feelings and experiences, another key element of the composition. My team and I spent a lot of time on the audio part of the concept, thinking about what sounds would be appropriate here, because it was primarily a memorial sculpture.

Ukrainians have always been connected to their native land, which they feel and cherish. And we wanted to complement the memorial with sounds that would be close to every Ukrainian, that would gently wrap around and comfort them like the voice of your mother singing you a lullaby, soothing you in her arms, and filling you with her love.

We have combined the chants of the steppes of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the whisper of the Carpathian wind, the roar of the Crimean mountains, the sound of the sea in Mariupol, Odesa and Crimea, etc. into a single track.

By placing the speakers specifically in the prisms, we directed the sound inside the sculpture so that it was almost inaudible from the outside. Only when you go inside the Cross can you hear them. In this way we created a deeper connection between the art and the viewer, a more personal and holistic experience of interaction.

Photo