Themes of urbanism and the city core have long been present in Alexei Ivanov's work. They draw on the artist's previous practice. They can be seen in the exhibition "Forbidden City" (2004, Museum of the History of Belarusian Cinema), where the artist attempted to capture the metaphysics of specific places in Minsk. This is also reflected in the series "Solo for counterforce" (2007) and "Arches and Windows" (2008), which clearly address the texture and substance of the city. In the work "Behind the Facade," the historical archive and reality merge in a complexly structured space.
The project "Matter Resistance" explores changes in architecture and the impact these changes have on historical and personal memory. The starting point was an actual walk through the former Minsk ghetto. Contemplating the remains of Soviet-era park architecture on the site of a former cemetery evoked a sense of the landscape's multidimensionality. The ruins of former buildings are often transformed into new structures, and old foundations are used for subsequent constructions, sometimes contradictory in function, style, and ideology.
The foundation, as the most durable object for archaeological research, appears as a symbol of basic materiality. And finally, the last artifact of civilization, separated from its function and context, acquires a new, flexible quality.
The city, like a living organism, resists planned, linear development and possesses its own logic and biology of development. The city can be perceived as an extension of the human nervous system, as its continuation (according to M. McLuhan). It is not simply a place of settlement, but also a structure for communication between subjects and objects. This structure or network, containing real energy, appears to be completely autonomous, spontaneous, and independent of individual decisions.