Phantasmal Gallery
Phantasmal Gallery
Elizaveta Berkutova
Skycar (cabriolet, blue)
10 x 19 x 5 cm
£500
Skycar is an airborne vehicle that transports you between dreams and worlds within them, to places where people long to return, where harmony reigns, and where everyone can be truly happy. Skycar is one of those artefacts that seems to have been found as proof of the existence of those realities where peace and harmony prevail, and where everything one could ever dream of exists. Different shades of the Skycar indicate the route: brighter colours take you to happy dreams and worlds, while darker shades transport you to dreams and worlds closer to reality.
A Little Bit About The Artist
A Statement From The Artist
Elizaveta explores the themes of human consciousness, ways of memory construction, cognition of corporeality, and or within the alternative realities. Elizaveta spent her childhood in a closed military town, which reflected on her artistic activity lately. She creates projects as opposed to the militaristic system she was surrounded by. Her artistic work is an attempt to gain freedom, to achieve justice, safety, and peace. In the projects, she asks questions about the ideal, sometimes utopian structure of society, trying to find answers to them, or leaving them open.
Until 2023, she lived and worked in St. Petersburg. Due to her anti-war position, she was forced to leave Russia. In 2023, she got a Global Talent visa to the UK. Now lives and works in London, UK.
Tell us about a dream you've had.​
After the death of a loved one, I saw myself in dream, where nothing bad ever happened, where there was harmony, peace, and everything I could ever wish for. This dream kept recurring or was very similar each time. There were incredibly sweet worlds, and in one of them, everything I had lost was there — my childhood perception of the world, innocence, the sense of support and stability that I miss so much. I felt like a person with a child inside. Then I found myself in another world, where everything I had ever dreamt of existed — happiness, peace, my loved ones, and all my dreams coming true. When I woke up, I still felt as though I was there, but then I realised I was already back in the real world. After that, I started imagining what I could use to travel to these dreams and worlds where I can be happy.​
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What's your favourite movie or tv show?
​The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov), Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky), Melancholia (Lars von Trier), The Office.
​​​​What is your biggest influence on your practice?
​From a very early age, I grew up in a closed military town, where the military system strongly dictated my place. I felt that this system was oppressive, creating limitations and preventing happiness. The death of my father, the war country is waging, where I was born, and migration have all had a significant impact on my practice, in which I am trying to find myself, gain freedom, and achieve security and peace.​
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