The Promzona project began as the artist’s family saga. Three generations of his ancestors worked at the chemical plants of Dzerzhinsk. In the 1930s, they took part in the Industrialisation campaign and helped build new production facilities. During the Second World War, they manufactured chemical warfare agents; in the post-war decades, they produced materials for various sectors of the national economy. With Perestroika and the decentralisation of the economic system, these plants were privatised, and many were soon deemed unprofitable and shut down. Today, all that remains of this once imposing industrial complex are hectares of wasteland, ruins gradually reclaimed by nature, and reservoirs filled with chemical waste.

The project comprises six parts: Traces, Wall of Fame, Ruins, Museum, Sand and Cinema Hall. The latter features three films about the history of the industrial zone. These films combine panoramic aerial footage shot from a drone with personal accounts from the artist’s relatives who once worked at the plants—merging a bird’s-eye perspective with intimate microhistory.