Alexandra Dementieva is among the leading media artists of Belgium; she is widely known on the world stage of media art. At the Hermitage, she will present the interactive installation BREATHLESS. The viewer, with his breath, turns on the light in a specially constructed space. The stronger the breath – the brighter the light. This minimalist solution does not just bring up an issue of our contribution to the world’s movement – it is emotionally spellbinding. The work is created expressly for this exhibition at the Media Lab CYLAND in St. Petersburg, and it is shown here for the first time.

Anna Frants is a key figure that unites the scenes of media art in Russia and USA; she is one of the founders of Media Lab CYLAND and a curator of the Cyberfest Festival. Her works were shown at the international festivals Transmediale, Cyberfest, Siggraph Asia, and they are in collections of the world’s major museums. In the interactive installation SHADOWS, the artist creates a “coming-to-life” visual and acoustic environment, into which viewers are engaged as both active participants and observers. The abstract concept of time becomes graphic, and viewers document, comprehend, change or justify their understanding of the phenomenon of Time. The project is developed at the Media Lab CYLAND, and it is shown here for the first time.

Aranaud Jacobs is widely known in Europe by his work PERMAFROST: a giant assembly that creates and performs musical compositions on the basis of physical processes that take place when ice is crystallizing. At the exhibition TIME KEEPER, he will present GLAZ MATON – a device, created by the artist, which scans the iris of an eye of each viewer and, based on this information, performs for him/her an individual musical composition with the help of tiny music boxes.

Koen Theys, a pioneer of Belgian video art, will show his famous video installation FANFARE, CALME ET VOLUPTE (on the illustration) and will talk about it.

Leah Stuhltrager, Director of the Berlin Center or Contemporary Art WYI and the New York Gallery Dam Stuhltrager, will present the collection of LETTERS ABOUT TIME.