The Binoculars, 1994

The idea of being on the move is a defining theme in the oeuvre of Andrei Roiter (1960, Russia). Self-professed ‘artist-tourist’ Roiter’s practice is nomadic: he continuously maps the world, excavating memories like an archaeologist and preserving them in the form of drawings and three-dimensional objects made of found materials he dubbs ‘props,’ such as ‘The Binoculars’ and ‘Being There’. These works – a pair of oversized binoculars and a tripod camera bearing resemblance to the provisional shacks and barracks of Roiter’s childhood in Soviet Russia - represent the tools of a researcher and stand symbol for Roiter’s role as an artistic observer of life.