Luchansky trench

Konstantin Aleninskyi

 

The name of the project duplicates the name of the place. The geological monument of nature "Luchansky trench" is lost. Previously it was an object of the nature reserve fund, which was declared by the decision of the Sumy Oblast Executive Committee No. 609 on December 23, 1981, on the lands of the Sumy Municipal Corporation on the right bank of the Psel River. In the early 1990 a shoe factory filled this protected area with its garbage. The factory was forgiven for this and even more – the territory was stripped of its protected status and became a landfill for the factory. Then the factory was closed, however, approximately 70% of the Luchansky trench was lost, the landfill is still growing, and the site is disappearing.

 

It this location the artist arranges a symbolic farewell to the russified and soviet names of the streets of the city of Sumy. He creates a conventional cenotaph-cemetery. In 2022, the final division between Ukrainian and soviet/russian narratives took place. Internally the cultural community of Sumy has gotten rid of these names already, and the legal side remains only, that is, the voting of deputies of city council.

 

Kostyantyn Alenynsky joined the working group and became a real driver of the expert discussion of de-russification of toponyms. Due to his art project, a powerful public and media resonance was created, that pushed the local authorities to make a decision on renaming the streets. It was the great victory, because the artist managed to overcome the opposition of all those who believed that the matter of de-russification of toponyms was "out of time".