Transition 2020

Editor: This is "Transition," a 2020 digital artwork by Stepan Ryabchenko. It feels like gazing into another dimension. It's both eerie and beautiful. What symbols or imagery jump out to you? Curator: The fluid forms and geometric black figures suggest a cultural memory struggling to emerge from a digital, abstracted landscape. What does "transition" evoke for you here, visually? Editor: A crossing, maybe? From one reality to another. The dark forms almost seem to guard the passage. Curator: Precisely. They could be read as threshold guardians. Consider the repeating arch shape; throughout history, the arch acts as a symbolic gateway in many cultures – a visual marker of spiritual and physical transition. Do the reflective surfaces speak to you at all? Editor: They remind me of Narcissus, endlessly caught in his own reflection. Or maybe a fractured mirror…a distorted sense of self. Curator: Good observation! In religious iconography, mirrors have often symbolized truth or the revelation of knowledge, and distortion can reflect our anxieties regarding truth in this digital age. What about the almost cave-like structure? What ancient, primal symbol might be at play there? Editor: Oh! Maybe it's like…returning to the womb? Or facing the unknown in the depths of our minds. Curator: Indeed! It seems that Ryabchenko is prompting us to remember something we haven't yet consciously known. Thanks for sharing your impressions. Editor: I hadn't considered it in terms of memory, more as a kind of futuristic dreamscape. Thanks, that was enlightening!