Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Coming to the exhibition with a smartphone

A Lviv artist has encrypted her works in QR codes
21 February, 2018 - 17:16

The Lviv Iconart Contemporary Sacred Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of artist Yaroslava Tkachuk, called “The Labyrinth.” This exhibition is amazingly exceptional because the author has encrypted all her works in QR codes.

The QR codes which have been painted by the artist hang on one wall of the gallery. This will initially be somewhat surprising for a spectator. However, with a smartphone in one’s hands, one can scan these codes. It is through a phone that a visitor of the exhibition will access certain works by the artist, her Instagram account or Facebook page.

“The usual exhibitions have already gotten too stale. I wanted to surprise my spectators. And the QR codes, in my opinion, have become precisely this surprising feature. In addition, they do not take up much space. Were I to put on display all the works that are encoded here, there would not have been enough space for them here,” Tkachuk told us.

According to the artist, the labyrinth has long gone beyond the mythical or historical structures as it has come to name whole fields of modern science. The QR codes that send the exhibition’s visitors to wander around the Web are such a labyrinth. However, there are three works of the artist at the exhibition as well. They are also closely intertwined with the theme of the exhibition. Every work is an intricate labyrinth. In these paintings, one can see labyrinths coming from a chip, a 1937 Lviv city map, and a scheme of Lviv public transportation. This unusual exhibition can be viewed till March 3.

By Pavlo PALAMARCHUK, Lviv. Photo by the author
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