Exhibition space: Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp

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Military base of Greenham Common in Berkshire, in the south of England. This is a fairly large area surrounded by a high metal fence. For us, at the present time the Greenham Common base is primarily important for the events that began around it in the eighties. Namely, the base of the Women's Peace Camp Greenham Common.

During the existence of the peaceful camp, many protests took place, in which thousands and thousands of women participated. The largest event is the human chain that encircles the entire military base around its perimeter — 23 km — 70 thousand of women hand in hand.

In 2017 The Guardian published 12 personal interviews with participants of those events — then — young Britons who were not afraid to defend their will face to face with military men — armed men. They talked about their memories, feelings, about how it affected their future life and how important those events are now.

The room in which my exposition is located is elongated, with high walls. The atmosphere is designed to carry psychological discomfort for visitors. This is a pretty serious topic and visitors must understand this as soon as they are inside. Two doors at the opposite ends of the room give an extended directional composition. Along the walls with a single strip is an exposition dedicated to the 12 eyewitnesses of those events: their personal stories in interviews, photographs and other objects telling about the Women's Peace Camp Greenham Common. The exposition-strip is recessed in the plane of the wall. In order to view the exposition, visitors need to lean forward, get closer.

But the main object of the exposition is this metal structure, which recreates a metal military fence. But this is not just a symbol of militarism. This is a full-fledged character of the exhibition — the antagonist of this exposition. The most important role in the concept of the entire exposition, which he performs — displaces visitors from the main space of the room, presses on them and pushes them to the walls. Due to this, visitors unwittingly become participants in the reconstruction of the symbol of the Women's Peace Camp — the human chain. Repressed closer to the walls, they are forced to go close to each other, along the perimeter of the metal structure.