Russian video art 1990-2000

St. Petersburg Arts Project (NY) and National Center For Contemporary Art (Saint-Petersburg Branch)

cordially invite you to attend the video screening of

"Something About Power"

program of Russian video art of 1990s-2000s

at

Frants Gallery Space on Friday, April 27th, 2007

at 8:00 PM

FRANTS GALLERY SPACE
www.frantsgallery.com

81 Wooster Street
4th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Tel: 212 343 0104
E-mail: [email protected]
RSVP 212 343 0104 or
e-mail at [email protected]


Something About Power, program of Russian video art of 1990s-2000s
Curators of video program Marina Koldobskaya, Maria Korosteleva

Mediators & Manipulators
1. Gia Rigvava. You Can Rely On Me. 1993. 1’29
2. Gliukla (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya). Secret Advice. 2004. 2'40
3. The Blue Noses Group (Viacheslav Mizin, Alexander Shaburov). New Russian Charades. One-Minute Animated Sculptures. 2004. 2'20
4. Anton Litvin. Restoration. 2006. 11’18
5. Prigov Family Group (Dmitry Alexandrovich Prigov, Natalia Mali, Andrei Prigov) The People and the State: Together We Build a New Russia. 2003. 7’22

Death Of A Hero
6. Pavel Dubov. Putin Karaoke. 2005. 0'50
7. Radek Community. Demonstration. 2002. 5’39
8. ZERGUT Group (Evgenii Goltsov, Vladimir Seleznyov, Ivan Snegiryov, Stanislav Cherva).
A Visualization Of Domestication, or A Special Case In Contemporary Ornithology. 2002. 3’20

Uniform
9. Viktoriya Begalskaya. Nutcrackers. 2004. 5'58
10. Dmitry Vilensky. Contact. 2002. 4'40
11. Oleg Kulik. I Love Europe, Europe Does Not Love Me.
Performance on September 1, 1996. Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin. 6’
12. Anna Jermolaeva. 3 Minutes, trying to survive. 2000. 3'00

Combat
13. Elena Kovylina. Waltz. 2001. 5’55
14. Aristarkh Chernyshev & Vladislav Efimov. Schwarzen Ecke. 2002. 2 '21
15. Factory of Found Clothes (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya aka Gliukla & Olga Egorova aka Tsaplya). Scarlet Sails. 2005. 7'00

Someone Above
16. Kirill Shuvalov. Massacre. 2003. 0'59
17. Viktor Alimpiev. Is it yours? 2004. 2’18
18. Yakov Kazhdan. Mona Lisa. 2003. 0'58
19. Vladimir Bystrov. Magnificat. 2005. 5'05






Something about Power
program of Russian video art 1990s-2000s

Every artist has something to say about power, especially in Russia. Power changes hands and attitudes towards it also change - from complete rejection to an equally strong desire to be involved and to participate.
In the already legendary Soviet era the main feeling was one of hatred; hatred which was almost like unrequited love. One thing is clear - Soviet intellectuals were a community raised with ambitions to lead, but were never given the opportunity to lead. An artist or writer could resist power or dissolve into it, serve it or denounce it - but he could not exist outside this relationship. The artist represented an almost nonexistent civil society and entered into conflict with officials as if on its behalf, replacing preacher, psychiatrist and journalist.
The ban on politics resulted in a passion for politics. At that time, neither erotica, nor landscapes nor abstract paintings could exist by themselves, as aesthetic facts - like it or not, they carried an ideological load - either demonstrating a Western influence, or referring to fundamentalist national values, or simply expressing disgust with everyday Soviet life.
The artist would have willingly replaced politicians as well if he could, but this would have led to severe punishment.
The sudden interest in unofficial Soviet art during the ‘Gorby’ Boom resembled a short but passionate affair that nevertheless had mercenary motives at its heart. Russian society noticed contemporary art, allowed it to exist and to be useful - but it never really understood what art actually did and what its purpose was. And artists feverishly pursued their fortunes.
During the nineties, the euphoria from the possibility of talking about the past was replaced by the need to talk about the present. It was as if the art community decided to reward itself for years of silence and parables.
The language of art in the nineties was borrowed from Parliament, the streets and the marketplace - parodies of political parties, animal demonstrations, toy barricades, propaganda leaflets and ritual fights, with the best fight (between the artist Brenner and President Yeltsin) naturally not taking place. The most honorable epithets for artists of the 90s were: radical, hero, revolutionary. The most fashionable words in critics’ writings were appropriation, exploitation, post colonialism, cultural imperialism of the West, language terrorism, discursive repression, and so on.
Successful gallery owners became political spin doctors. Successful artists got involved in election campaigns.
In the mid-nineties, a revolution took place in Russia - not a political one, but a technological one. People, including artists, got hold of video cameras, computers and the internet. New technologies resulted in a new temptation - to turn art into media. Furthermore, many Russian artists of that time had experience of working in the press and on television. The combination of technology and experience seemed to offer real opportunities for influence. As a logical consequence, the slogan “the Artist Must Take Power” was almost taken seriously.
This never happened, because this could never happen. Quite the opposite, the ‘noughties’ turned into a time of neo-conservatism and the depoliticization of Russian society. Propaganda was replaced by commercials and a cult of glamour was established. It is glossy magazines and not clever newspapers that define a way of life now. In this ideological vacuum, when neither the powers that be nor society have decided what they really want, there is nobody to fight and nothing to fight for (apart perhaps for money). For an artist in Russia, this is quite a comfortless existence.
Disillusionment in politics, however, has not removed the habit of talking about life and art in terms of power; rather, it has widened the scope of questions. Today, art focuses not on politics, but on everyday life: the power of the old over the young, of the beloved over the lover, of the boss over subordinates - and vice versa. The power of media images, the power of money, the power of consumerist seduction. The power of the body, the power of tradition, the power of memory.
And some are reminded that “God may be everywhere”. Ultimately artists are in dialogue with Him, and not with any other being. As are all people.

Marina Koldobskaya