Maxim Zhestkov

Maxim Zhestkov (b.1985, Russia) is a media artist and director whose practice centres around the influence of digital media on shifting the boundaries of visual language. He grew up in a small town on the Volga river named Ulyanovsk. From childhood, Maxim was fascinated by art, physics and computers which led him to university, where he studied architecture and fine art. The first art films Maxim made were in monochromatic palettes and mostly concentrated on movement and physics - about 10 years of dedicated focus on the movement and choreography of elements and shapes. In 2015, Maxim and his colleagues launched a studio/workshop - Zhestkov.Studio - to explore new horizons in the world of art and work on projects for galleries, brands, and performing live shows. In digitally-rendered contemporary gallery-like settings, digital forms and sculptures move and interact. The forms are beautifully choreographed, producing rhythmic and complex movement patterns that play with their surroundings. Maxim’s work pushes the boundaries of the traditional white cube gallery environment, and questions how art is and will be viewed and experienced with the increasing influence of digital media.

Role: director
01

art

02:23

Elements

Elements is an experimental art film by Maxim Zhestkov about nature, physics, art and love. More than 2 billion elements / particles governed by tensions and forces of nature were used to tell stories and show emotions through the motion of collective behavior. The film is a trial to explore the idea that everything around us and inside us is made from simple elements / blocks which can be arranged in complex relationships and become compound structures. We could project this idea into emotions, behaviours, thought processes, relationships, life, planets and the universe.

02

art

02:18

Optics

Optics is an experimental art film by Maxim Zhestkov exploring the behavior of artificial light and color in digital environments. Blending architectural gallery space with computer-generated digital glass sculptures, we encounter animated refractions, chromatic aberrations, colourful reflection and other conditions which are impossible in reality. A series of tests and explorations guides us through different optical conditions of the bright and colorful digital universe.

03

art

02:22

Supernova

Everything around and inside us was conceived in a huge explosion of a star billions of years ago… and, probably, recycled from other matrices myriad times. In this eternal carousel of matter, particles gather, form complicated structures and then burst into all directions fusing atoms together and producing new elements and points of view, new colours and patterns of perception. Explosions could be perceived as a destructive force and the process of tearing previously formed matter apart and, therefore, could have negative connotations; however, fundamentally, only the process of breaking familiar structures and rearranging them into new, more sophisticated shapes could kindle new meanings and ideas and be the main creative force forming the future. In the art film, Maxim made computer simulations with millions of particles to explore the behaviour and the beauty of the creative force of destruction.

04

art

02:09

Layers

Zhestkov explores the juxtaposition of the outside and inside. Computer-generated dark and brutal geometric monoliths are dissected by invisible 3D objects to reveal the layers of the colourful and emotionally vibrant inner structures. At the intersections of the shapes we encounter complex structures which could be perceived as 3D representations of objects within a 4D universe.

05

art

03:42

Computations

Comprised of billions of particles, these machines visualize, calculate, and communicate in perfect synchronization. Each tiny element contributes to the construction of an elegant, emergent whole.

06

art

04:51

RECURSION

07

art

03:05

Volumes

Exploring the juxtaposition of emotions with the laws of nature. Billions of colourful particles dance, play and communicate with each other in an eternal hypnotic ballet governed by the invisible forces.

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