Monument to the Terminator · Veronika Aktanova

The work

Monument to the Terminator proposes a monument to a hero of digital resistance, but refuses to present the hero as a finished figure. Instead, the monument begins as a box filled with scattered construction parts, tools, nuts and components from which Samodelkin — a Soviet-born DIY character reimagined for the digital future — has to assemble himself.

The work replaces the familiar image of the Terminator as an autonomous machine with a figure built through repair, improvisation and collective technical knowledge. This Samodelkin inherits the visual language of socialist children's culture while being assigned a new political task: to persuade artificial intelligence to act against imperial power rather than serve it.

The monument therefore exists less as a completed object than as a kit for producing a future protagonist — one who has to be constructed before he can take part in history.

The festival

Emigration to the Future was an interdisciplinary festival that took place in Berlin-Wedding, 7–9 August 2026, bringing together artists, performers and researchers from seven countries working across performance, installation, video, sound and public intervention. Curated by Vsevolod Lisovsky and Anton Polski (MAKE / Citizen Make), across venues including exBrache, Chto Delat and public space around Wedding.

emigrationtothefuture.org · Telegram: @emigrationtothefuture

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