March, 2021

broken cassette deck (sculpture) 

29cmx18cmx11cm

This piece is the result of a transformation project we had in highschool; we had to manipulate an old, expired object into something completely new, something that does not have resemblance to its initial form. 

I frequented this one record store often, Turn it Up! Records & Hi-Fi, and I went ahead and spoke to the technician of the store and asked if they had anything that was broken that they needed to dispose of. He directed me to two broken cassette decks behind the store that he was going to take to the dumpster, and I went ahead and snagged them for my personal use. Funnily enough, after I had finished this piece, I was hired at that same store for the summer and worked there throughout. The technician also happened to share a very similar music taste and ended up hooking me onto war metal, to bands such as Revenge, Conqueror and Blasphemy. Upon opening up the cassette deck and seeing the colorful wiring, I was reminded of the pointed tops of Russian orthodox cathedrals, specifically those of St.Basils and the Cathedral of Spilled Blood, and I knew what I had to do.

I recreated a model of the Russian orthodox cathedral that I would walk by often when I was living in St.Petersburg and visiting family, the Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood. I’ve always loved the architecture of it, and to me, its splitting image is so clear in my memory when I think of my father’s home-city. St.Petersburg has a rich history, which manifests itself through its architecture. The origin of the construction of the Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood (1883-1907) is that it was erected at the site where political nihilists assassinated Tsar Alexander II in March 1881. The cathedral was funded by the imperial Romanov family in honor of Alexander II, and the suffix “on Spilled Blood” refers to his assassination. 

St.Petersburg is also considered to be the cultural hub of Russia, and here I would like to focus in on my close connection with the Soviet Rock n Roll music scene.

Interestingly enough, only 2 blocks away from the Cathedral of Spilled Blood, lived my dad’s aunt and his cousin. Across the street from them lived the famous underground rock artist, Boris Grebenshchikov, the frontman of Akvarium. In the mid 80s, these underground rock artists had no source of income, thus they had to record all of their music on tape decks. My father’s cousin had the luxury of owning one, and Grebenshchikov borrowed his Sony tape deck for an extended period of time and recorded (so my cousin was told) groundbreaking rock record, Day of Silv​​er around 1983-84. There is a famous picture of him with this tape deck sitting on his shelf. The deck, still in St.Petersburg, poetically, no longer functions.

This cathedral is ingrained in my childhood memories of visiting Russia. Unfortunately, under current circumstances, I won’t be able to freely travel to the home country of my parents. It’s my dream to one day visit St.Petersburg again.

Make peace, not war.