Alexej Tchernyi

Alexej Tchernyi's animated film "Dromlin" is the result of a collaboration with the theater maker Veit Sprenger. The artist was inspired by the episode in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" in which Gulliver visits Laputa, a flying island maneuvered by its inhabitants using magnetic levitation.

The Dromlin itself does not move. It resists the Earth's rotation and stays in the one spot while countries and continents pass by its inhabitants.

Many of the places featured in "Dromlin" were sketched by the artist during his own travels. In the fantasy world of "Dromlin," traveling becomes a stationary experience that takes place in the privacy of one's home.

"The view from the window changes constantly and we are reminded of a cinema screen that opens like a window onto a virtual world filled with movement. In 'Dromlin' Tchernyi thus reflects on his own process of creation and on film itself-as the medium in which he pursues his artistic vision." (From the catalogue for the exhibition "How German is it? 30 Artists' Notion of Home")

Alexej Tchernyi was born in Charkov in the Ukraine in 1976 and lives and works in Berlin. More films by the artist can be found at vimeo.com/cuccumberass/videos