KievMapJune 18–19, 2013 Kiev is wonderful beyond words in the summer. Wire basket dumpsters for bagged garbage have appeared on the streets.  Kiev has a wonderful neighborhood called Troeschina, which locals commonly refer to as «Tough Luck Town,» alluding to the remoteness, inaccessibility and dullness of this panel high-rise bedroom community on the city’s outskirts. Let’s take a trip here and visit an ordinary apartment building.  The thirteenth floor.  An ordinary elevator. The doors open. And reveal...  The elevator hall.  The doors close. My mouth remains agape.  We’re in a psychedelic, schizophrenic twilight zone beyond time and space.  Surrounded by plastic dolls.  Astronauts.  Apartment 74 (if you look closely).  Eagles.  A green and pink color scheme.  Jesus Christ over the garbage chute hatch.  Cobwebs.  A crocodile.  Religious icons inside craters of consciousness.  Consciousness inside craters on the stairwell.  Cossacks.  Doorways.  Leopard-print floor tiles.  Dolls.  Mysticism.  Lots of mysticism.  Lots and lots of mysticism. And icons. And mirrors.  And multicolored fluorescent lights.  And a conventional hallway bulb turned into an unconventional one.  It’s an enthralling sight.  But we have to go now.  We feel our way back towards the elevator.  Christianity, dolls, animals, colors, flowers... The elevator comes to our rescue. Thank you, elevator.  |
