Minus 10

Gulia Groenke – Artist Statement for the Exhibition “Minus 10”

Gulia Groenke – Videos Exhibition “Minus 10”

The exhibition should not be seen in a political light, especially given current events. Rather, it depicts the lives of ordinary people in regions that are rather foreign to most of us. Although there are many similar regions in the world, the artist uses the city of Norilsk as an example to describe living conditions in an industrial region about 400 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.

During the winter months, people here are confronted with almost constant darkness and average temperatures of -40°. In the summer, people often suffer from insomnia because there is constant daylight. The northernmost city in the world, with a population of more than 180,000, is also one of the most polluted. Unfiltered fumes from nickel, platinum and other factories do not only harm the environment. The unhealthy lifestyle typical of the region also affects the health of the population.

In the Russian Federation, the average life expectancy of the population at the time of the creation of the central painting of this exhibition “Minus 10” was 67 years. However, due to the adverse circumstances described above, people in Norilsk can only expect to live to 57, ten years less.

And yet people are drawn here. Significantly higher wages, above-average vacation time, and a much lower retirement age are the main reasons. During their careers, people try to live their lives with a certain optimism, even in this bleak environment, and attempt to bring some color and joie de vivre into the cityscape as well as into their own homes.

“Minus 10” shows this interplay between the bleak conditions of the region and the city on the one hand, and the optimistic approach of the people living there to make life a little better for themselves on the other.