Sergey Kostyrko & 1999Q
Nolanders: stories of invisible generations of the North

1999Q, filmmaker, visual artist (RU)

1999Q is a visual artist and experimental filmmaker based in Murmansk. Using various shooting techniques, the artist immerses the viewer in a meditative, unhurried flow of life in the North. Hypnotic natural patterns flow, blend and overlap with each other, capturing the slow and detached lifetime in the far reaches and corners of the Earth.

Sergey Kostyrko, sound artist (RU)

Sergey Kostyrko is an associate professor at St. Petersburg State University, a sound artist, and mathematician. His research area covers the different aspects of mechanics and thermodynamics of thin-film materials. In recent years, Kostyrko has been active as a sound artist with a focus on science and bio art projects, and has also worked as a musician in the field of improvisational and noise music.

The Nolanders project reflects on the possible futures of northern Russian monotowns, based on their unique formation stories and backgrounds. The project team of artists and researchers explore the social, cultural, and economic reality of industrial cities, and, by rethinking their meanings today, try to create an alternative subjective version of the development of these places, focussing on the real picture of a place and its people.

The notion of Russian European North as a prospective place for living was firmly shaped by the Soviet Union. Multinational newcomers – an entire generation of the North – had a clear mission and formed a unique multicultural community, open to new ideas and people. Now their children and followers have another perspective, as the exceptional status of a northerner begins to be questioned. By rethinking the meaning of northern monotowns today the artists transfer the viewer from the prehuman period, through the industrial heritage and towards the uncertain future of these territories.

The Nolanders project is produced by Fridaymilk.