Roman Hodirev

Chronicles of the Vanishing Present

For me, Instagram Stories ceased to be a form of “content” long ago. They are neither posts nor digital noise. They are a system for recording time. An attempt to hold on to reality at the very moment it begins to disappear.

Over the years, thousands of fragments have accumulated: streets, faces, expeditions, breakdowns, laboratory observations, chance discoveries, drifts, late-night conversations, flashes of light on walls, snow in industrial areas, strange objects, documents, photographs, sounds, texts and states of being. Gradually, all of this has become a continuous chronicle of the Astigmatism Research Institute and of my own life within it.

History disappears faster than we can grasp it. This is why Stories have become one of my most important artistic tools. They work like an instant chrono-camera, capturing not only an image but also the temperature of the moment, the tension of a space, a state of consciousness and the atmosphere of the surroundings. No VPN required.

  Roman Hodirev  

HR — esoteriologist, multidisciplinary artist, photographer, musician, working in his own style Om Optical Art. Born in Leningrad in 1981, spent his childhood in Riga. Since childhood, he was engaged in various creative activities — drawing, designing, and later photography and music (playing the didgeridoo). After living for some time in St. Petersburg, he decided that he needed to return to Riga after the winter, during which there was only one sunny day. In Riga, Roman got acquainted with a community of musicians, yogis and esotericists, their lifestyle and philosophy. This unique atmosphere, reminiscent of hippies, served as the basis for the development of further directions in his work. The artist began to draw using a computer. At first, it was manipulation with photographs, but later he gave up photography only to return to it again during “COVID-19” Roman’s works are bright representatives of the op-art style (optical art). The style itself emerged in the 60s of the twentieth century and is still gaining popularity. Here, geometric shapes and colors are used — manipulations of lines, spirals, circles and squares, superimposition and combination of various ornaments. Even the effect of movement is created, although, in fact, there is none. Psychological features of human perception in op-art are used to create visual illusions. Such works can be looked at forever — everyone will see something of their own. Remember the carpet on your grandmother’s wall from childhood? You could look at it for hours and find new images. Roman’s work was greatly influenced by Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik, representatives of the Fluxus movement. To create his works, Roman uses geometric shapes — a circle, a square, a triangle, an octagon… And then, out of the chaos, images and representations of other worlds appear before us. Everyone will see something different — an eye or a face, for example. The concept of “seeing faces in different objects” has a term — pareidolia. The artist uses contrasts, rhythmically repeating elements, intersections and the effect of “mirrors”, translucent geometric shapes and spirals, straight lines and arcs… The result is an atmosphere of an amazing looking glass: everyone can feel like Alice in Wonderland. His works are in private collections all over the world. From 2005 to 2008, he was the official representative of the international championship of performing arts WorldStars, Los Angeles, Hollywood. Since 2006, a member of the Non-Academic Public Organization “Cosmopoisk” under the leadership of Vadim Chernobrov. In the period from 2006 to 2017, he participated in Cosmopoisk expeditions to anomalous zones of Russia and filmed stories for Ren TV, STS, TV 100 on topics related to anomalous themes. This period greatly influenced Roman’s work, adding the desire to create mystifications characteristic of the Fluxus movement to his work. Since 2010, as a director, he has implemented several projects at the Riga Conservatory, the Gertrude Cathedral. Video art was presented at the Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, the Sergey Kuryokhin Center for Contemporary Art and the Magmart International Video Art Festival in Italy. Since 2021, member of the art association PARAZIT