The Project

“Artpologist” Daniel Gallegos (New York City) and filmmaker Mikhail Zheleznikov (St. Petersburg, Russia) explore Russian-speaking New York and residents’ own personal ‘America’ in an installation of video, drawings and food-related performance art on opening night.

The authors of this project are interested in going beyond such clichés and bringing out the stories of individual people. Any human experience is always unique: everybody carries with them their dreams and memories, looks at the outside world through their window, and lives in their own personal ‘America’. While working on the project, the artists met various Russian-speaking New Yorkers who have come from widely-ranging places within the former Soviet Union and settled in different parts of New York City. The collaborators recorded stories of these residents about precious objects from their past and filmed the view out of their windows. They also organized The Brighton Beach Memory Exchange on the Boardwalk, collecting  interviews and exchanging memories for art. My America invites New York to participate in these intimate reflections and everyday experiences of the city.