Roma Bantik Russian, b. 1995

«I think of it as a creation of hyper-objects, through resetting of material to its original settings, a state devoid of any specific function.  No matter if it's a tank engine or a car motor, once reset, everything becomes one, back to the original point.»

Roma was born in Ural  in 1996 in small closed town called Lesnoy. He studied Art and Architecture and managed to establish himself as an accomplished artist in Russia, before moving to France in Feb 2022.

 

Currently Roma resides in Strasburg, France where he is getting his Masters degree in Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin. His practice involves working with recycled metal, digital, sound and performative practices. He is the author of the antiwar book А190В2 and also the co-founder of the 111%TЯANSPÁRENT.

One of the key themes in Roma’s practice is the endeavor to return and emancipate the material to its own, primal, non-object organic state. By doing so, he’s exploring the concept of the ego (я) and its boundaries, life/death, rebirth, myth/real and the place of ego «between» space and time.

Says the author:

«before reset», objects have a certain function and usually serve human a certain purpose: military equipment, civilian equipment and various technical devices.
«after reset» (remelted process) metal is gaining one of the possible primal forms and ceases to have a definite function.
in that moment, metal can be between «the real world» and «the mythical world».