RED UTOPIA (2022–ongoing)
RED UTOPIA is a durational, process-based performance started in Munich that unfolds as both personal reckoning and collective reflection on memory, resilience, and the meanings embedded in national symbols. The work originates in the artist’s early life in Ukraine — born in the Soviet Union and coming of age during its collapse — and in the material cultures of survival that shaped that experience.
Beginning on August 24 — Ukraine’s Independence Day — Maryna Semenkova spent 77 hours over 22 days knitting a red flag in all its shades, planting marigold seeds — a folk flower of Ukraine — as a companion gesture of rootedness and renewal. This meticulous, repetitive act of making was documented on camera and became the preparation for the performance itself, in which the knitted flag was wound into a ball in dialogue with footage of its creation.
The red flag — layered in hues and built through time and touch — becomes a metaphorical field for examining utopian aspiration and its limits: collective hopes, material scarcity, and the emotional economies of national belonging.
Location: Munich, Germany. Duration: 77 hours in 22 days + 90 minutes.
The work continues to evolve. On May 9, 2025 — a contested commemoration of “Victory Day” — Semenkova recommenced the knitting from the previously formed yarn ball. By tracing its size on transparent plastic and introducing additional threads, she expands the form in response to shifting historical and political contexts.
RED UTOPIA is an ongoing meditation on material practice, memory work, and the possibilities and fractures of collective ideals.
Full video documentation available upon request.
MARYNA SEMENKOVA 