RUŃ
Ilya Sprindzuk
Ruń is a site-specific installation that explores cultural and historical identity and its erosion through an abstract concrete sculpture located in Podlasie. The object symbolizes the metaphor of “ruń”—the germination of new shoots in foreign soil, within a different cultural context.
The concrete sculpture, embedded with optical fibers, interacts with its surroundings by transmitting light from one side of an impenetrable wall to the other. This “monument to nothing” reflects the connection between past and future, examining the fragility of identity in a constantly shifting cultural landscape.
In Polish, the word “ruń” carries an intriguing dual meaning: it refers to low, densely growing green plants and derives from the verb “runąć”, meaning “to collapse with full force”. In Belarusian, “ruń” (рунь) has retained its original meaning—young green grass sprouting in a field.
Curation & dokumentation: Sasha Velichko
︎︎︎ Sasha Velichko ︎
︎︎︎ Ilya Sprindzuk ︎
︎︎︎ website
The concrete sculpture, embedded with optical fibers, interacts with its surroundings by transmitting light from one side of an impenetrable wall to the other. This “monument to nothing” reflects the connection between past and future, examining the fragility of identity in a constantly shifting cultural landscape.
In Polish, the word “ruń” carries an intriguing dual meaning: it refers to low, densely growing green plants and derives from the verb “runąć”, meaning “to collapse with full force”. In Belarusian, “ruń” (рунь) has retained its original meaning—young green grass sprouting in a field.
Curation & dokumentation: Sasha Velichko
︎︎︎ Sasha Velichko ︎
︎︎︎ Ilya Sprindzuk ︎
︎︎︎ website
Ilya Sprindzhuk (b. 1994, Minsk, Belarus) is a multidisciplinary artist in political exile in Warsaw since 2021. His practice includes painting, installation, sculpture and actionism, exploring phenomena of power, boundaries and the politics of memory. Ilya's works often appear on a large scale, interact with space and are subject to self-decay.
