Throughout the exhibition, faces appear enlarged, fragmented, or displaced across different materials: silicone masks, photographic close-ups, watercolour portraits, and sculptural flesh. Skin becomes surface, face becomes object, and the human figure dissolves into textures, membranes, and distortions.

Tsareva’s portraits start with looking, fleeting observations of strangers in public space. These encounters are later reconstructed from memory through drawing and watercolour. In this process, the original image shifts and loosens. What begins as observation becomes projection; what appears as portrait becomes interpretation.

Tarasenko’s works expose the body in its most vulnerable state. Inflated cheeks, disembodied masks, and suspended flesh transform the face into something simultaneously human and monstrous. His performance intensifies this tension: the artist’s gaze is obstructed by ropes, while antenna-like extensions scan the ground in a compulsive, repetitive attempt to locate the source of anxiety.

Across the exhibition, the viewer encounters eyes that watch, faces that inflate or dissolve, and surfaces that mimic skin. The act of looking becomes reciprocal: the viewer stares into faces that seem to stare back.

Between the artworks a question emerges: at what point does looking at another human being become something else, a projection, an image, or a reflection of one’s own gaze?

Quiet Rituals: A duo show by Katya Tsareva and Alexander Tarasenko

Curated by Sophie Nowakowska

28 April – 2 May 2026

PV: Tuesday 28 April, 6–9 pm

Performance night (Alexander Tarasenko ft. Alessandro Paiano, Zosia Zoltkowski): Thursday 30 April, from 7 pm

Closing event and performances (indexthumb, Kuba Pawełczak, Zara Sands ft. Sophia Marie Davison): Saturday 2 May, from 5 pm

KOPPEL Collective, 157 Regent’s Park Road, London NW1 8BB