Polina Filippova (b.1991) is an interdisciplinary artist, making interactive objects, video installations and mixed-media works. She uses tools and languages of digital technology to talk about love, loneliness, sense of space, and her body. Her projects arise from the experiences and situations she lives through, capturing the mundane moments of life and traces of the digital layer that crosses it.
Polina holds a Master’s degree from the Royal College of Art (2021, Moving Image), and is currently based in London. Her work has been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, Cynthia Corbett’s Gallery, Tagli Gallery, among others. She received a “Focus On the Female” award as an emerging artist in 2021 and was shortlisted as a UK New Artist of the Year in 2022.
“Almost There” is a series of interactive self-portraits, inspired by old Dutch and Danish painting tradition, and by the video call’s low-quality image. The series explores the emotional landscape of a long-distance relationship, where one person is connected to another digitally while being physically immersed in his or her own solitary world. As the artist describes: “Time gets distorted, and a room becomes an extension of the body. Reality feels compressed as a face transmitted somewhere far away on a video call”.
The portraits are interactive. They react to a viewer coming closer, acknowledging their presence with a subtle movement. It's a hint of a connection that never quite happens, as when we connect digitally. Responses vary in intensity: from a slight movement of the hand to a turn of the body towards you. The potential of action creates tension, although the action itself never fully happens, as it doesn't in the disembodied space of digital encounters. This loop of incompleteness is also reflected in the name "Almost There".
In collaboration with Anton Tolchanov (interactive system).