“Presently”. Digital printing, 90*60 cm (2021-)

I have been thinking for a long time about what each of us changes our time for. Comprehension of the material and existential in relationships with employers, family, hobbies and friends gained visuality when i knew about Rent-a-friend paid service.

The trend of renting people for your own purposes appeared in Japan at the end of the 2000s and became incredible popular over the decade. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, many people are away from loved ones, looking for any ways of communication. In 2022, more than 620 thousand accounts were registered on the international resource Rent-a-friend, 3 competing companies with same mechanism and purposes operate in Russia at once. More than 200 private ads about the “Rent a friend for an hour” service were published on the sale platforms of goods and services “Avito” and “Yula”.

I wrote to dozens of potential “friends”. For a fee set by owner of the ad (from 3 to 20 euros on average), I asked him/her/them to pose me for an hour (instead of friendly walking and talking). I took portraits of those few who agreed for it. We made photographs at the meeting points popular with city dwellers, at the usual time for appointments — in the evening. The heroes of the time of loneliness were people of different genders and different professions from 20 to 45 years old.