MARTA VOLKOVA &
SLAVA SHEVELENKO
go back
2017

The Transylvania Archive

View of the installation,
The New Institute, Rotterdam, 2017.

.View of the installation.

View of the installation.

Detail, watercolor and pencil on paper.

Detail, watercolor and pencil on paper.

Detail, watercolor and pencil on paper.

Detail, watercolor and pencil on paper.

View of the installation.

Detail, different materials.

View of the installation.

Detail.

Detail, watercolor and ink on paper.

Detail, watercolor and pencil on paper.

View of the installation.

View of the installation.

Fragment

Detail, ink on paper, collage.

Detail, collage.

Detail, college.

Detail, ink on plywood.

Detail, ceramics, glass, marble.

Fragment.

View of the installation.

During the flooding of the Danube in Romania in 2013, a large number of boxes containing documents and artefacts were rescued in the nick of time from a building that was once used by the national security service. One of the volunteers involved in this rescue operation was a friend of ours. Thanks to him we have the opportunity to examine the so-called Transylvania Archive. The documents and artefacts from the archives reveal that over a period spanning many years the KGB (Russian secret service) actually conducted research into the Yeti, also known as the ‘Abominable Snowman’, in the Carpathian Mountains in Romanian territory. What amazed us is that this material convincingly shows that the Yeti not only existed in Transylvania, but also that it was a human, albeit of a different kind.
We decided to publish and present this material from The Transylvania Archive to the public.