Original subtitles

What is Earth?

What’s the solar system?

What’s humanity, at that?

The solar system to the universe

is like one divided by infinity.

Mathematics says that one divided by infinity is zero.

I grew up in the far north

and since I was a child I’ve never seen

anything good besides the northern lights.

I'd see the window light up,

we would go into the street, and all of the sudden...

Usually, the northern lights come

in these waves on the horizon.

And this time, right above us in the middle of the sky,

there are these pillars that head straight for us.

The northern lights are a symphony of colour.

Even in nature, there’s colour music.

I designed this as a hall for colour music

before I was commissioned to design the Institute of Information.

So this was a totally unrealistic idea.

This is the most basic device.

These are seven colours and seven tonalities

Each tonality has its own colour.

And now, this chord.

See? They’re getting colder.

The construction workers said it couldn't be built.

And our designers too, by the way.

The chief engineer says: 'you can't do it, it will collapse.'

Nevertheless, it was built

and has been standing for 40 years and has not collapsed yet.

– Yes? – Hello, Florian Illich!

I’m at the Institute of Information now,

we’ve got a meeting here.

– You see, I’m skeptical,

pretty skeptical now.

There have been so many investors around.

And when they wanted to convert this into a gambling hall,

they kept it a secret from me.

So it is his, right?

Is it this owner?

So they wanted to build a gambling house here, in this hall.

But who's the owner now?

Before, it was the son of Yanukovych [the overthrown president], but now who?

– Nobody knows the true owner.

– The son of the son of Yanukovych? I don't know.

– Well, this building was built with his money, supposedly.

– Maybe. But look, everything has already been tied with rebar.

– So, what’s it going to be?

– A shopping center, an expansion of this...

– This one?

– Its second part.

– And how many floors are they going to build?

– I have not seen the final plans. Honestly, I can’t say.

- Well, they’re already on the Institute of Information’s property.

– Lyosha said they want to make the entrance

to the shopping mall under the Flying Saucer building.

That they need this territory to get into their mall.

– Got it.

– A little over a year ago, during

a dialogue in the Ministry of Education,

a proposal was put forward to turn

this building into a Science Museum.

And then, our interests overlapped with those of

an investor who is building a structure behind it.

But now we are facing certain risks.

– The investor doesn’t want to discuss the colour of the facade at all.

They say the decision’s already been made, and that’s it.

They say they want the facade to be blue. Period.

Because blue is the investor’s favorite colour.

– Why don’t we just meet him, face to face?

I do everything at once.

This happens to left-handers.

I was a lefty, and my dad tried to correct me.

And when you correct a lefty,

their brain multitasks.

Music doesn’t mean anything for me by itself – only when it’s with colour.

Colour is meaningless too by itself, if it isn’t musical.

They only have meaning for me if they’re paired together.

There are musical laws of forms

The ensemble of the square, the relations between

the buildings – they’re all musical structures to me.

You see, architecture reflects social relations.

Those relations are chaotic now.

And this chaos impacts architecture.

You can't get away from it.

My building doesn’t suppress the human.

On the contrary: it opens up its own meaning.

This highrise is like a book. That’s information.

If only this building had a protected status

as an architectural monument...

At the time when this building was being designed

we were obsessed with outer space.

This was the idea of people finally breaking

away from the Earth and flying into space.

I assembled a group,

and we quickly completed a design.

First of all, we created a bowl.

Why a bowl?

Because I needed an amphitheatre.

And here it is.

I would like to re-instate the original function here...

According to the project here, this was

designed as a hall for colour music.

That would have been the first

hall for colour music ever built.

Our task is to show

that this venue is still alive,

just as its architect is.

We can still save this venue.

– Recently, several iconic buildings

had been unexpectedly redesigned and rebuilt.

These actions aren’t authorised and it’s not clear

why this happens and who controls this.

– A new part of the Ocean Mall, a shopping center,

is under construction behind the building.

The investor of this shopping mall

is interested in renting out space here

that would allow him to integrate it into his shopping center

and gain access to the façade of this building.

– Can I ask a question now? – Sure.

Can I just ask: where are these

architectural proposals coming from, you see, like…

– I’ve seen other options as well. This isn’t the end.

The problem is, there’s a risk of ending up with this kind of image.

But keep in mind that the investor is bringing

around 5 million Euros into the project.

– Are you kidding? No, really, are you kidding?

Tell us the name of the investor!

Tell us the kind of corporate raider he is!

Tell us about how he murders people...

– I don't know anything about murders. We’re still alive.

– In my eyes, this is an architectural monster.

I don’t want to participate in this kind of project.

– We are most concerned by the fact that,

according to our insider information,

they’re planning to build the entrance to their

shopping mall right through the Flying Saucer building.

That is, they see this building as their entrance.

That said, we don’t really understand

the point of this new shopping mall.

There’s already a shopping mall right next to it,

and there’s another shopping mall across the street.

It seems that the architect of this mall

has agreed with its investor, Vagif Aliyev,

not to show the plans to anyone.

– And who’s the investor? – It’s Vagif Aliyev.

–Today our guest is Vagif Aliyev. Hello, Vagif!

– Hello!

– Could you please tell me, why did you

start to do investment projects?

– Once upon a time, in 1998,

I was in New York for the New Year.

And one of my buddies there was a close friend of Donald Trump.

So this buddy arranged our meeting,

and I met with Donald Trump for four hours.

And these four hours completely turned my life upside down.

That’s when I realized I need to do real estate business.

The most important thing Trump told me was:

you understand, Vagif, you just have to erect a building

that everyone will have right in front of their eyes,

and take pleasure in that.

He said you must do real estate

while blood is being shed...

– They had just back-pedaled on this project.

This one would have destroyed the Flying Saucer completely.

But now they came up with this idea.

They say it does not interfere with the Flying Saucer.

But they are still taking over this object.

They’re absorbing it!

Here’s our site,

and here – this monster was built.

They need this entrance as a front door

to take advantage of the Flying Saucer’s brand.

What I suggest is to construct a different entrance,

and to emphasize it.

When they pushed us like this, it was like a corporate raider takeover.

And if we move them aside...

I propose to extend this building here like this,

so then there will be no need to go under the Flying Saucer because

in terms of urban planning, this entrance is stronger than that one.

– Maybe it could also be like this. – It won't scare me.

This way it doesn’t scare me, and that way it doesn’t scare me.

Let's imagine.

There you have it.

There is no damage to the Flying Saucer.

– Hello, Florian Illich!

This is Bykov speaking.

– I wanted to warn you that

I was invited to see Vagif at 1pm.

But Kyiv is flooded and we

can’t get there, puddles everywhere.

– So what are we going to do with the Flying Saucer?

The Flying Saucer is going to be a masterpiece.

– According to Yuriev’s project?

– According to plans by... my teacher.

So, Seryozha, stop filming. Let’s talk it over first...

– This is for you! – I know. Take it!

Here you go! Here you go, and that’s it! Take it to the designers!..

By the way, I looked up this Vagif guy,

and he writes here that he dreams

of building the tallest building in Kyiv.

He does not say anything about the point of this building, though.

He just wants to build the tallest building in Kyiv.

All nature is colourful.

All nature instructs us with colour.

But if we don’t know the meaning of a certain colour,

we are not able to understand what nature tells us.

Here’s a friend of mine who’s been to the North.

He knows

that the tundra is the most colourful place in the world.

But to survive in the tundra,

you need to know the language of tundra, the language of nature.

I made instruments.

And with these instruments, I show how the colour in movement,

the colour in harmony could create a new kind of art.

I made a hall for the colour music.

And here is the shopping mall,

which is now being built behind the Flying Saucer,

and they want to use this structure simply to promote their сommerce.

But commerce is a temporary situation.

The best architecture covers a longer period of time than our life span.

– I was given a death sentence.

They said that I should have been dead a month ago.

I’ve got cancer.

– But you’ve got such a force!

– And I am holding on just because I’m contrarian...

– That’s right. Hold on.

I’m really glad that today I saw you the way I saw you as a student

who came from Siberia and was alien to Ukraine.

You were not accepted here because you have grand ideas and you share them.

– Thank you.

When I was a child,

I was sent to a concentration camp.

My father was first exiled there with my mother.

And then from Kirensk along the Lena River we were sent here

when I was a year old – right here in the far north.

It was a Siberian concentration camp.

There were many languages there.

There were Armenians and Jews, there were Germans, there were British.

Everyone was there.

And everyone spoke a different language.

And in this mass of languages,

I decided to be independent.

I created my own language.

And it stayed with me.

Like a bird named Phoenix,

Ukraine

will be revived

all over the place

as soon as

the wicked

power

of money

which only

benefits the crooks

burns down

in a fire

of ruin

HERE YOU'LL FIND WHAT YOU CAN'T GOOGLE

DIVERSIFIED FUND OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS.

As an architect, can you tell me,

why do we need these frescoes here?

Can you explain it to me?

– Me? No.

Nobody asked me. They just painted them like that.

– As a practicing architect, I’m familiar with a situation

when the client simply dictates the architectural solutions,

even those related to colour…

– In architecture, this has always been the case.

It’s been always dictated.

Back then, the dictate was ideological, and now it’s economical.

But that’s still ideology all the same.

I think that we can still have colour music on this wall.

Music doesn’t exist without rhythm.

Let’s say that this is an orchestra;

and this is a solo part.

And this is what links them.

They wanted to remove these blocks.

I asked them: why do you want to remove those?

They said they wanted to restore them.

Why are these blocks important?

They actually form the rhythm which holds this musical composition together.

– The reality of our country always makes everyone assume the worst.

– And our experience too.

– If they start building something near a government institution,

we assume they’ll seize the property.

If an architectural monument is involved,

we assume it will be destroyed.

– I have always insisted, and I still insist now that architecture is also music.

But in their project, they removed this rhythm...

This shouldn’t be done,

– What rhythm?

– This shouldn’t be done, because rhythm is the basis of music.

Similarly, the objects they are planning must also be in a kind of harmony,

because this is a city.

– Believe me, this agreement is under the

close watch of all law enforcement agencies.

We will meet in about a month,

and you will show how this architectural decision

looks in general, as a whole.

– The design process is an intimate one,

so it takes time to consider all the fire codes

and urban planning regulations…

If you’ve got a musical perception,

then you perceive everything as music – whether it’s good or bad.

Even the landscape.

Even the city landscape. Anything.

That is, this is music reborn inside you each time,

and everything you see is perceived as a movie,

like a moving object.

It’s just the object itself is not moving,

like in a movie, but you are moving inside it.

You sculpt this composition in your mind.

And in architecture, it’s already been assembled.

– Here’s our hall.

I assembled it based on several drawings.

What do you think?

– Let’s imagine we’re flying in a spaceship.

And you’re seeing this interior every day.

So the interior shouldn’t be driving you crazy, right?

And I think this wall should be dark too – of one scale with this one.

My roots are in realist art, even more so – in nature.

Because we receive information primarily from nature.

An atom, if analyzed, consists of positive protons and negative electrons.

Together, it is a synthesis.

So, the harmony does not exist without conjunction.

The harmony of spheres is harmony between types of art

and within the means of art there is also the harmony of spheres.

Aristotle spoke about this 2300 years ago.

He said, in fact, there's no difference

between music and colour sensations.

I consider myself a realist to the core,

but in the 1960s I was accused of making abstract art

and they warned me that I’d go to jail if I promote my art.

Well, I didn’t want to go to jail, because

I already knew how life is there...

Well, I had a criminal record.

A twenty-year sentence.

I had a conflict with a party member in Moscow,

I told him he was a scum,

and so I tore up my Communist Youth ID.

That was considered an act of

counter-revolutionary propaganda. Even more so because it was in public.

I’ve spent eight months in a concentration camp.

Then, the military came.

We were all lined up, looked over, and a medical exam was conducted.

And then they talked to everyone,

'Now... Your criminal record is removed, but

you go to a special school.

If you agree, you sign up'.

The fact is that when you sign up for this,

you’re cleared from the criminal record automatically.

So I signed up. I didn't want 20 years of camps.

But I didn't finish this school.

I got bitten by a tick,

and I ended up in the hospital.

An encephalitic tick gave me brain inflammation.

I’ve been a little crazy ever since.

And when I got out with a medical exemption

and with my criminal record cleared,

I was no longer liable for military duty.

So I went to an art school.

– Some of my artworks

were banned at different points in history.

– Well, of course…

– Right now, these works are allowed to be exhibited,

but the others are not, still.

– Five more years will pass, and those will be allowed too.

– I’m not gonna be alive by that time.

– Please stop that!

– Well, because I’m a contrarian,

I want to live till I’m 90.

– Everyone is looking at our alternative plans.

– This is what we think about restoration.

What is and what should be.

What can be fixed.

This is an option for the colour music design.

It can change according to musical composition.

This is a new version of the stage.

The public was strongly against the connection

of this building with the shopping area.

Because their function is completely different,

it is impossible to connect them.

So we suggested an option of combining the two

in a harmonious ensemble that

would not absorb the Flying Saucer at all.

But they still do not agree with me.

They are currently erecting something for themselves…

– Do you have a camera? Take a picture of me with my teacher!

Go stand right there!

Take a picture of me with my teacher!

– Amazing, sure enough, amazing...

Did you paint all this by yourself? Every piece?

Of course!

– These are the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse.

One white, one red, one black, one purple.

– I thought they were the four fabled knights.

There were three of them in the fable, you did four.

Let's go see the violins.

Holy shit...

– A Tchaikovsky violin. Do you recognize Tchaikovsky?

– Yes.

– Wow. Impressive. How could this be done?

Amazing, sure enough, amazing.

Kyiv the Hero City, right?

I will buy this entire collection

and put it up at my place, in the mall.

There, at Ocean mall, I'll display it.

Shake you wits awake, you brutes!

You demented children!

Look upon your native country,

On this peaceful eden;

Love with overflowing heart

This expanse of ruin,

Break your chains

And live as brothers!

– My dear and lovely human being!

Come see me for dinner, I’ll be waiting.

– Wait...

What's with the Flying Saucer?

– I'll tell you everything. I'll see you next week!

– For dinner. – Dinner, dinner, next week.

I'll show you everything then.

– They are just changing the cushions! Old ones to new ones, that's all.

They’re not doing anything else.

– So they’re replacing the chairs? – Well, for now, just the cushions.

In order to be able to sit comfortably in decent chairs,

he says, just to have some kind of a hall.

– Project... Do they have project?

– Have you seen their project?

But how can they do anything without a blueprint, I don't understand?

– We are doing it together now.

We are doing it together with you.

– Can you imagine there are architects

who are afraid to reveal their names?

– Yes, it's just great.

In his bureau they sign a non-disclosure agreement

about what is happening there.

They record all the information on

flash drives, there are no outgoing emails.

There is video surveillance.

It’s a serious organization.

The Flying Saucer was functioning normally.

Everyone was happy,

except for one person…

– Let’s skip this. I understand who. – The developer wasn’t happy.

So he sent his people

and all these chairs were ripped out.

For what? So that people wouldn’t assemble there.

– So you’re the host, right? – Yes!

What’s our agenda today?

Our meeting is concerning the renovation of

the building located at 180, Antonovych street.

People call it the Flying Saucer. As I understand, it’s your brainchild?

At the previous meeting here

we were promised that we’d see the project.

The project is missing again.

So, this discussion makes no sense.

We have discussed this problem a hundred times, with journalists too.

– Dear colleagues, I want you to understand.

We had no idea what we would face there.

– Sit down, please! – It's fine.

We’ve been treading water for a year now.

They still haven’t shown me their designs.

I’m an architect, words don’t mean much to me.

Give me the designs and I’ll see how they’re

going to use the Flying Saucer building itself.

I'm really interested how they’re going to use the Flying Saucer.

How could you merge science with commerce?

It’s not clear to me.

What does Vagif say?

'I don’t want no regular paint there! I will gold-plate it!'

I said, don’t do that, this is not a church!

– Who is Vagif?

– He didn’t actually mean that about the gold…

– Vagif is the one who’s providing all the funding.

– The issues that concern the developer who’s building something on his private territory

are outside the scope of the Ministry of Education and Science…

– We see that everything is happening behind the scenes.

– Why is this renovation being carried out

without the participation of its project’s author?

– Do you have an apartment?

An apartment, or a house? Do you live somewhere?

When you renovated your flat, did you also invite

the project’s author to approve this renovation?

– Hello. Could you call Florian, because we’ve

been calling, knocking on his door, no reply.

– Well, try calling him again. – Yes, I have been calling non stop.

– He should be waiting.

He is supposed to go to the hospital today. Or a clinic.

Doctors believe that the most unbearable pain comes from cancer.

And it has begun.

– And what kind of film was this supposed to be?

– It was a film dedicated to water and trees.

Humans finally realize that

they are not the navel of the Earth.

They must understand that, while destroying nature,

they are destroying himself.

and if you’ve already begun to reckon with nature,

you need to understand that you are spawned from the cosmos.

And since you’re spawned from the cosmos – your psychology must be different.

Not the psychology of the master,

who can do whatever he wants.

You can’t just do it.

The Malevich Centre was classified as an unauthorized construction

and was pulled down by Moscow authorities.

There are no official Malevich museums in Russia.

This art-centre was created by volunteers who

organized exhibitions and guided tours there.

Before the Malevich centre was pulled down, there was a long-standing conflict with local residents.

They brought a complaint against the unauthorized construction.

They would also destroy the exhibited works saying that

they don't want to have 'those disgusting things' around.

As for my violins, I think I did all I could.

It doesn’t matter if I make another violin or not.

And as for the architecture...

You see – they’re going to destroy the Flying Saucer.

I’m being told that I will die tomorrow.

But I’m not ready to die yet.

My autobiography is not yet completed.

I’ve got many things to finish

just need to sit down and finish with no distractions.

That is, I need to complete my own life.

And what will happen to my work afterwards?

Excuse me!

The destroyers of this building tell us

that there’s no need for science,

here’s no need for technical progress.

There’s just a need for commerce.

And Vagif Aliyev, this huckster,

managed to persuade the administration,

persuade the Minister of Education

that he was taking the Flying Saucer

in order to make the main entrance to the mall.

What has Vagif done now?

He has dug up till here, he has brought down all this soil.

What an idiocy!

There was no need to destroy this loess, this well-established soil foundation.

The well-established loess is very strong, it’s almost like concrete.

But if you soak it, the whole Flying Saucer will collapse.

The shopping mall is flooded, including Auchan and other shops.

The parking garage with cars inside is also flooded.

– Where were people with burns sent?

– People were evacuated to the emergency hospital.

– Is this going to affect the subway?

– We don’t have any info on that.

We’ll soon find out more details

about the construction of Ocean Plaza.

Was it in accordance to the state construction norms?

Who issued the permits and why?

What was the cause of this... this event?

When the rescuers arrived, the shopping mall

administration didn’t even let them inside.

They told them they would use their own pumps.

The management of Ocean Plaza refused to pump out the water.

So far, 7 people are injured.

They were burned to varying degrees, the medics are determining their condition.

The water was eroding the soil and in the end it slid.

I can’t tell you exactly how many collapses are there.

But, visually, what you see is that the asphalt collapsed.

People really panicked, the water temperature was very high.

When the rescuers arrived,

the situation was really tense.

The rescuers were carrying off the survivors one by one.

This painting and these poems here

are a denial of the path of capitalism.

And it's now clear to many

and acceptable to many.

Because the path of capitalism is a thing of the past,

and we are now going back in history.

Human-centrism has reached the point

that nature is no longer able to cope with humans.

Nature takes revenge.

And it will keep doing so.

Therefore, the role of philosophy now

is to figure this out and finally

limit the aggression of humankind towards nature.

Here is to the fact that I lived to at least 90.

It is a kind of achievement in itself.

– A month ago you were not as optimistic about it.

– To your health!

Two month ago I was told

that I had one week left to live.

But I’m a contrarian.

– Right, be a contrarian like that.

And I have lived to 90.

On the one hand, being 90 years old is nothing good.

On the other hand, it is ok, because

the process of cancer spreading is slow.

That is, age works for me, oddly enough.

Just as human life is finite,

the life of human civilization,

of the whole galaxy –

it is mortal.

Our galaxy is mortal.

Just as every person should

behave with dignity before dying,

civilization should behave with dignity.

Because human civilization, when

compared to an unknown world,

is like one divided by infinity.

In mathematics, this equals zero.

This is our entire culture.

This is our entire ideology.

This is our entire knowledge

in comparison

with the infinity of the universe,

and its law.

We can formulate anything we want

for our own self-affirmation.

But the result is zero.

Still, this is not a simple zero.

From my point of view, this should be a beautiful zero.