IRENE CAESAR: THE LAST BREATH "Last Breath" is a set of images and a video installation, shot in the location of the first big opposition meeting in Russia in 2011 -- "Pure Ponds". One of the participants is Matvey Krylov, one of the major figures of Russian Opposition, who has created now-famous words "We will not forget! We will not forgive!" -- when he splashed a prosecutor with water on the court door-step. The idea was to apply the famous American torture by water: waterboarding to a member of Russian opposition in order to emphasize the corrupt nature of any domination. Close-up. Two people (it is unclear who they are) bring a third person, whose hands were tied up behind his back, to the transparent tank filled with water, dip his head into the water and hold it there for a while. A man tries to escape. When his head finally bursts out of the water, close-up shows his face, and his breath between life / death is recorded. The project is at the same time a scenario of torture and insight into the ritual of initiation / baptism. Chance to experience the frontier between life and death. There is such a mystical ritual. And there is a similar torture. When you are in trouble, it's always your choice --- how to treat this boundary: as a torture, or as a mystical ritual, which will give you clear vision.
