THE BROOM
Leonid Pekarovsky worked for the Ukraine Ministry of Culture as an art historian and exhibition curator. When he immigrated to Israel at age 44, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the only job he could get was sweeping litter off the streets of Jerusalem.
The monotonous nature of the work, combined with the lack of intellectual stimulation, caused Leonid to lose the ability to think deeply and critically. In order to rekindle his thinking mechanism, Leonid embarks on a journey to find the presence of brooms in art history – the symbolic artifact he is holding now. Will participants find a deeper meaning in Leonid’s new profession? Will they succeed in manifesting the art exhibition he had curated in his mind? And will they set him free from the banal routine into the sublime?
“The Broom” is an immersive interactive VR docufiction experience. The interactive experience will allow participants to step into Leonid’s shoes and immerse in his bittersweet migration story. The participants will travel through time and space to sweep the floors next to prominent artworks. Leonid’s VO will accompany participants as they find depictions of brooms in art (from cave paintings to a Chinese shrine, and from Egyptian tombs to Van Gogh), with his sharp, uncompromising and heartfelt sincerity.
