when i build my house it won’t be on the 10th floor graz | austria 2024

graz | austria 2024

“When I Build My Home, It Will Not Be on the Tenth Floor” is a spontaneous artistic project by Anton Tkachenko, conceived as a reaction to the war in Ukraine, initiated by Russia in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea. In this work, the artist reflects on the dreams accumulated throughout his life that were lost or fundamentally transformed with the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The project focuses on reflections on materiality and the role it plays in the formation of an individual identity. It raises questions about the degree to which a person is attached to the very idea of owning something material - in particular, a home - and how this attachment shapes notions of stability, security, and the future.
Within the project, the home is presented not as an abstract concept or metaphor, but as a concrete material place, a physical structure with clearly defined characteristics. Special attention is given to the level of detail involved in dreaming of one’s own home, and to how this very specificity makes the dream fragile. As soon as even one of the imagined, planned, or romanticized elements changes, the dream ceases to be the same, losing its integrity and recognizability.
The project was realized within the framework of the HOME residency, which took place in Graz in 2023. The exhibition was installed in a temporary studio rented specifically for the residency and existed for only one day: it was assembled in the morning, opened to the public in the evening, and fully dismantled the same night.