Pray

»Pray« (from the project «Х Letters»)

video , 5:00, 2022

Concept, modelling by Nadya Sayapina

Music, concept, video and postproduction by Eugene Buldyk

Vocals by Neue Vocalsolisten ensemble

Based on the text by Stanislav Turina

»Oh Lord, you allowed me to return home today

Outside the doors there is a garden

«Lights out, Christ–in

Guardian angels watch over me»

You are here, oh Lord

Sounds of explosions open the heart

Lord, you gave us so much strength to spare that we use to bicker and argue, thank you

Lord, teach us now to contend well

Teach good-hearted folk to guard each other from a harsh word

Grant mastery of the word to those who need it so much in this hour

Lord, safeguard us in the quiet of the night

Archangels, unsheath your swords and give last chance for our enemy to stop

May people who are in danger overcome it atop a crocodile and with an utmost open hand repel the lion and the hippo

With fire and sword guard us, oh Lord!

Abandon us not in this darkest hour

All I have I lay at your feet oh Christ

And as a Sirin, I cry out towards the heavens«

(Translated from Ukrainian by Mikita Piaskou)

«Х Letters» 2022–2023

NADYA SAYAPINA–concept, performing, videography

EUGENE BULDYK–music, concept, videography

NEUE VOCALSOLISTEN STUTTGART–vocals

What do we write in our posts, say in stories, discuss in comments, tell in interviews?

What do we save in the archives of unviewed folders,what do we shoot on non-existent memory

films?

What are our letters home about?

Our reflections, statements, notes, memoirs, interviews, discussions and debates of posts, stories

and comments are drowning in the endless depths of social media feeds, they become censored

and self-censored. Textualised self-expression and reflection of context in the public space of

networks loses its value and relevance in the mass stream. This causes an urgent need to press

the »save« button, to archive, to convert it to the basis of a chronicle of the time.

»X Letters« is a video–diary, which correlates and combines in one »book« of different contexts

and human stories reflecting the theme of exile, migration and refugee, loss of home, choice,

adaptation and existential crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and political repressions in Belarus.

This is a commemoration of a common emotional experience through the personal, collected

from social network materials, interviews and multimedia archives. The project contains photos,

video, audio and texts of more than 50 people.

The project has initially been started within the framework of ECHOES–Voices of Belarus IV

program of Musik der Jahrhunderte Stuttgart e. V. in 2022. It was finalized at PerspAKTIV art

residence implemented by RAZAM, Ambasada Kultury and IN SITU with the financial support of

the German Federal Foreign Office in 2023.