Until We Meet Again
Denis Davydov
2026-2027
In the poetry of Rumi and Navoi, journeys often unfold through departure and return rather than simply from one place to another. Until We Meet Again loosely echoes this idea, bringing it into the rhythm of everyday movement, repetition and waiting.
The series consists of three looped journeys, each lasting between one and three minutes and built around the movement of a body from point A to point B. They emerge from scenes both observed and remembered - some recurring every day, others appearing only once and leaving behind the expectation of their return.
In the first work, young women travel through a rural landscape in an old car. In the second, two young municipal workers ride an electric scooter through Soviet-era residential blocks. Their journeys begin at dawn and continue through day, evening and night. As they disappear beyond the frame, the cycle begins again. The figures keep moving forward but never arrive. The body moves linearly; time moves in circles.
The series consists of three looped journeys, each lasting between one and three minutes and built around the movement of a body from point A to point B. They emerge from scenes both observed and remembered - some recurring every day, others appearing only once and leaving behind the expectation of their return.
In the first work, young women travel through a rural landscape in an old car. In the second, two young municipal workers ride an electric scooter through Soviet-era residential blocks. Their journeys begin at dawn and continue through day, evening and night. As they disappear beyond the frame, the cycle begins again. The figures keep moving forward but never arrive. The body moves linearly; time moves in circles.
Computer-generated image
Edition of 1 + 1 AP
Courtesy of the Artist
Edition of 1 + 1 AP
Courtesy of the Artist
The municipal workers come from the artist’s early-morning runs through Tashkent, where he repeatedly encounters them tending streets and greenery. In their clothing, traditional patterned fabrics used for protection from the sun meet contemporary work uniforms.
“During one of these runs, I saw two women riding together on an electric scooter, almost floating across a bridge from a residential district towards the city centre. There was something unexpectedly tender in this fleeting scene, and later on, I found myself hoping to see these two women riding together again, although I never did.”
What repeats is not the encounter itself, but the expectation of its return.
“During one of these runs, I saw two women riding together on an electric scooter, almost floating across a bridge from a residential district towards the city centre. There was something unexpectedly tender in this fleeting scene, and later on, I found myself hoping to see these two women riding together again, although I never did.”
What repeats is not the encounter itself, but the expectation of its return.
The third work takes this movement deeper into memory. A tightrope walker from a travelling family circus crosses a rope stretched between two old buses. The image comes from a childhood memory of encountering a travelling circus in rural Central Asia - an episode that became one of the origins of Tent of Imagination, the artist’s digital travelling theatre. The final work continues the journey while simultaneously returning to its beginning.
The cyclical structure brings together different experiences of time: the natural cycle of the day, historical patterns of seasonal movement, and the visual logic of Islamic ornament, where repetition allows a single element to become part of a potentially infinite structure. Today, another cycle exists alongside them - the algorithmic one: scroll, replay, refresh, recurring images, routes and actions.
The cyclical structure brings together different experiences of time: the natural cycle of the day, historical patterns of seasonal movement, and the visual logic of Islamic ornament, where repetition allows a single element to become part of a potentially infinite structure. Today, another cycle exists alongside them - the algorithmic one: scroll, replay, refresh, recurring images, routes and actions.
The series continues the exploration of repetition present in A Week Between. There, patterns emerge through the return of gestures, bodies, generations and cultural images; here, the journey itself becomes the unit of repetition. The figure becomes an element, the route a pattern, the day a cycle.
Movement here does not lead to a final destination. Every ending becomes another beginning. Perhaps repetition is not the opposite of movement, but one of its oldest forms.
Movement here does not lead to a final destination. Every ending becomes another beginning. Perhaps repetition is not the opposite of movement, but one of its oldest forms.
Project team
CG visualisation and animation:
Konstantin Gromov, Eugeniy Padalkin
Video Editing: Danya Smirnov
Sound: Farhad Farzali
Konstantin Gromov, Eugeniy Padalkin
Video Editing: Danya Smirnov
Sound: Farhad Farzali