MTO is one of the many artists participating in the ongoing and always great ArtUnitedus, a project that has already been witness to the creation a series of wonderful murals since it started earlier this year.
The mural, curated by Iryna Kanishchevaand photographer Geo Leros, depicts a giant heart crashing against the façade it is painted on is according to the artist “a digital love-cannonball sent from Moscow to Kiev: An interpretation of the love / hate relationship between Russia and Ukraine.”
The background for the mural and its title “From Russia with Love” resides on a pretty interesting story on how Ukraine’s power station was hacked and disabled. Ukraine’s intelligence community has said with utter certainty that Russia is behind the attack, but they have offered no proof to support the claim. Anyhow, if we have in consideration the political tensions between the two nations it’s not a far-fetched scenario. The political turmoil between the two countries started after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 by Russia. Crimean authorities began nationalizing Ukrainian-owned energy companies and the anger among Ukrainian activists started to grow.
Whoever planed this masterfully attack and whatever the intentions behind the blackout, it was according to authorities, a first-of-its-kind attack that set an ominous precedent for the safety and security of power grids everywhere.
Want to read more, then hit WIRED for more background information. It’s pretty fascinating,
“A Brilliant Plan. The hackers who struck the power centers in Ukraine (…) weren’t opportunists who just happened upon the networks and launched an attack to test their abilities; (…) they were skilled and stealthy strategists who carefully planned their assault over many months,(…) then launching a synchronized assault in a well-choreographed dance. ”
The mural can be found on Mechnykova st 9/22, Kiev, Ukraine.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
