The border unites and separates. Depending on the situation, crossing the border can be brave and encouraging, but also offensive and illegal. I depict the border crossing with symbolic works that come from the Russian war of aggression. My painting bases are the screens of decommissioned televisions as well as the screens of desktop computers and laptops.

The RGB color system is used to represent colors on the devices mentioned above, which is the complete opposite of physical color mixing. From the painter’s point of view, the impossible becomes true: red, green and blue create all the other colors, forming a rainbow spectrum. In my exhibition, there are disturbances in the system, one color starts to dominate and the colors of the rainbow fade. The brothers turn against each other, turning into fratricide.

A red strip of tape, which acts as an installation element, connects two paintings (RGB and Red Ribbon) and at the same time creates a 14-meter-long boundary line on the floor of the gallery space. Its length corresponds to one side of the square competition field of rhythmic gymnastics. In the context of gymnastics, there is always a fine for crossing the border. According to the rules of rhythmic gymnastics, a gymnast or her equipment (ribbon, ball, rope, hoop and pins) is penalized with point deductions for even slightly exceeding the area, but in my painting series the otherwise disciplined gymnasts suddenly don’t care about the consequences of crossing the boundaries anymore.

Russia has dominated rhythmic gymnastics, called the world’s most beautiful sport, until the last few years, when the country was excluded from international competitions. I use the sport as an allegory for the Putin regime and its steps towards ever-deepening fascism. In gymnastics competitions, just like in the arenas of political propaganda, complex and difficult issues are presented to the audience as simple and easy. A very harsh and brutal reality may be hidden behind beautiful jewelry phrases or choreographies.

Annu Kapulainen (KuM, TaM) is a visual artist from Helsinki, who is familiar with crossing the permanno border from her childhood and youth gymnastics days. He has also crossed the border between Finland and Russia numerous times while studying painting at the Surikov Academic Art Institute in Moscow between 1996 and 2003.