Machine ( III ) by Vladimir Tsesler & Sergei Voichenko

A bog is a weird, even mystical substance. It is impossible to build something on a bog, for it will inevitably drag, digest, dissolve in its guts any alien “body.” However, it is equally impossible to completely destroy this substance, it is risky to challenge its seemingly chronic apathy. The destructive energy of the aroused element can turn into an apocalyptic tempest, the consequences of which will be fatal.

The 2004 exhibition entitled “Balota Empire,” after the Belarusian word for bog, is devoted to the problem of national-cultural identity and encompasses a multiplicity of actual questions and subjects that excite the majority of representatives of the Belarusian culture. This project represents the interesting and bright phenomena in Belarusian art today.

Olga Kovalenko, The Artists of the Bog Empire, in Umělec

This amazing short has been picked up by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch) for reinvention as a full length feature film. They will most likely add voice actors to the feature which, in a way, is a shame. The emotion is palpable without dialogue. However, I suppose most audiences wouldn't sit through ninety minutes of begoggled burlap mimes.