The title of the work refers to the basic notation of the time coordinate in physics, where the “+” sign denotes the future and the “–” sign marks the past. In the film “+/-”, Maxim Tatarintsev approaches time not as an abstract quantity, but as a field in which historical layers, cultural phenomena, and visual environments intersect.
The slow, continuous flow of the video introduces the viewer to a space that combines elements of natural landscape with those of an industrial environment. The artist turns to architectural structures that have lost their original function yet retain the traces of their era. Corroded metal constructions, aging garages, and repetitive residential facades form a visual setting that documents processes of loss and transformation. These images carry the idea of irreversibility — the ways in which human-made structures inevitably change over time, lose their initial appearance, and become carriers of memory.
A key element of the work is the image of a basketball backboard without a hoop. This fragment of the urban environment acts as a marker of non-return, emphasizing the impossibility of restoring a former state and the inevitability of temporal decay.
Human figures in the film appear in static poses, reinforcing the sense of separation between the individual and the surrounding environment. Their solitary placement within the frame highlights the connection between people and space, suggesting that even minimal, post-industrial landscapes continue to require human presence in order to acquire meaning and scale.