Electric Horse

At the core of my video art is the personification of the electric scooter as a familiar yet unnoticed object of the urban environment. Today, electric scooters have become an inseparable part of daily life, yet the perception of them often remains purely consumerist: they are discarded anywhere, broken, left on the streets, and even thrown into the water.

The project idea stemmed from my observations of the urban environment. I often notice abandoned scooters and how apathetic people are toward them. I became curious about why even an inanimate object can sometimes evoke pity, especially when it lies on the ground amidst various sounds. There is something both absurd and touching about that. I wanted to explore this feeling and attempt to elicit a similar empathy from the viewer.

I am addressing Vladimir Mayakovsky’s poem, «A Good Attitude Toward Horses.» Through it, I draw a parallel between the attitude toward the horse in the past and the attitude toward the electric scooter in the modern city. Once, the horse served as a means of transportation for humans, and today, the scooter performs a similar function. In the poem, a fallen horse faces the mockery and indifference of those around it. I found it interesting to compare this situation with how people treat scooters today. I wanted to reflect on human indifference and consumerist attitudes. Can a person feel pity for something that is actually incapable of experiencing pain?