Meeting Place II, There Are No Rocks in London
Christina Sadovnikov“Meeting Place II, There are no rocks in London is a project that explores cultivating tactile
connection in our current digital and globalized society. This work started when my sister moved
overseas to England for school and I felt our relationship drifting apart. At the time, my dad told
me that if you step barefooted in the grass you are continuing an electromagnetic circuit
between you, the soil, crust, mantle, core, and inner core of the Earth. I thought that if I picked
up a rock, somehow on the other side of the world, it would be similar to holding my sister’s
hand. I started taking rock rubbings to document this interaction and I asked my sister to do the
same. She took the day off from school and as she spent the whole day walking around London,
in a pit of frustration she texted me, “There are no rocks in London.” At the time I thought this
was an absurd statement but, today when I look at the objects I come into contact with on a
regular basis they almost all seem to be foreign to the rocks, soil, and microbes we have
flowered from.
The installation is set in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian plates diverge. It is the uninhabitable halfway meeting point between my sister and me; where the ground is continuously reshaping itself and the messages shared become so glitched that they become part of the Earth’s aggregate, too. It’s where the objects held closest to our bodies are the things that are being consumed by this place and regurgitated as new layers of the ground are formed.” ⏤ Sadovnikov
About the Artist: Christina graduated with a BFA in Craft and Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has been a resident at Mass MoCA for the Assets for Artists Residency Program and at Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Iceland. She has been awarded the Merit Scholarship through Oxbow School of Art, the Outstanding Student Award through the Surface Design Association, and the Fellowship through Arrowmont School of Crafts. Her work has been shown in a variety of places such as the James River Park System, Studio Two Three, Anderson Gallery, and VALLT Gallery. Christina is also an avid forager, rock climber, and ethical programmer.
Acknowledgments: This project would not have come together without the help of Rebekah Sadovnikov, Amber Bouchard (Velmuh), Beverly and Benjamin Ward, and Madison and Matthew Creech. Thank you to Yuri Sadovnikov, Sarah Ferguson, Joy McMillan, Stefan Schercook, and Michael Demps for contributing to the conceptual development of this work. I would not have been able to create this work without the time, resources, and community support I received as a Studio Access Resident at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and as a Resident at the Gullkistanstan Center of Creativity in Iceland.
The installation is set in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian plates diverge. It is the uninhabitable halfway meeting point between my sister and me; where the ground is continuously reshaping itself and the messages shared become so glitched that they become part of the Earth’s aggregate, too. It’s where the objects held closest to our bodies are the things that are being consumed by this place and regurgitated as new layers of the ground are formed.” ⏤ Sadovnikov
About the Artist: Christina graduated with a BFA in Craft and Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has been a resident at Mass MoCA for the Assets for Artists Residency Program and at Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Iceland. She has been awarded the Merit Scholarship through Oxbow School of Art, the Outstanding Student Award through the Surface Design Association, and the Fellowship through Arrowmont School of Crafts. Her work has been shown in a variety of places such as the James River Park System, Studio Two Three, Anderson Gallery, and VALLT Gallery. Christina is also an avid forager, rock climber, and ethical programmer.
Acknowledgments: This project would not have come together without the help of Rebekah Sadovnikov, Amber Bouchard (Velmuh), Beverly and Benjamin Ward, and Madison and Matthew Creech. Thank you to Yuri Sadovnikov, Sarah Ferguson, Joy McMillan, Stefan Schercook, and Michael Demps for contributing to the conceptual development of this work. I would not have been able to create this work without the time, resources, and community support I received as a Studio Access Resident at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and as a Resident at the Gullkistanstan Center of Creativity in Iceland.
