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The Slought Foundation, Philadelphia exhibition "Détente: Russian Contemporary Art in Video Format," curated by Nina Zaretskaya of Moscow-based Art Media Center "TV Gallery," features recent work by noted Russian artists Oleg Kulik, Leonid Tishkov, AES (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovitch, Evgeny Svyatsky), and Olga Stolpovskaya. Détente invites a reconsideration of Russian contemporary art being viewed as esoteric or subservient to the West. A series of live events and public conversations engaging contemporary Russian art and society will accompany the exhibition. See attached for film program information.
Oleg Kulik lives and works in Moscow. His exhibitions and performative events are characterized by 'strong' expression and social provocations, where he himself assumes the role of an 'artist-animal', or, more specifically, 'artist-dog'; at times, he becomes a bird, a fish, or a bull. Among the most radical of contemporary Russian artists, he holds a Scholarship of Berlin Senate (1996) and has displayed work at Manifesta I in Rotterdam, Holland (1996), the Venice Biennial (1997, 2001), at the Biennials of Istanbul, Turkey (1997), Cetinje, Montenegro (1997), Sao Paulo, Brazil (1998) and Valencia, Spain (2001), at the Modern Museum, Stockholm (“After the Wall”, 1999), theTate Modern (2000), the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2002) and at the Freud Museum London (“The Russian Patient”, 2002). His solo exhibitions and events include the main venues of contemporary art in Moscow (M. Guelman Gallery, XL Gallery, TV Gallery and Regina Gallery), Deitch Projects, New York (“I Bite America & America Bites Me,” 1997), Galerie Rabouan-Moussion, Paris (1998), Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw (2000), and S.M.A.K., Gent (“Deep into Russia,” 2001). “When we involve the point of view of different biological species in aesthetic practice, it will produce a new Renaissance and an aesthetic boom that is hardly imaginable today.” (O Kulik, Ikon 2001).
Leonid Tishkov, a Moscow artist, works in different genres and media including painting, caricature, book arts, poetry, video and performance, developing traditions of absurdism and surrealism in Russian culture. “[His work] is reminiscent of Kruchenykh’s fantastic philology and his concept of “zaumj” as the manifestation of a spontaneous non-codified language. In that sense, Tishkov can be compared with religious sectarians who in moments of ecstasy speak ‘in tongues’.” (Grubisic. "L.Tishkov. Creatures", 1993). Solo exhibitions include "Dabloids and Other Creatures" (Museum of Nonconformist Art, St. Petersburg, 2000), "The Crystal Stomach of the Angel " (Gallery Dzyga, Lviv, Ukraine, 1999), "Creatures: Objects and Video installations" (Contemporary Art Center, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl Art Museum, Russia, 1999), "Dabloid Theater" (Fargfabriken, Center for Contemporary Art, Stockholm, 1998), "Protodabloids" (Art Media Center “TV gallery”, Moscow, 1997), “Creatures” (Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, USA, 1993). His recent videos were shown at the Hamburg FilmFest in 2001 (“The Air Creatures”) and at the Bristol Short Film Festival in 2000 (“The Funeral”). Group shows include the Russian National (formerly Lenin) Library, Moscow (1993), the British Library, London (1994), Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington (1997), the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (1999), Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover (1999), the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (2000), Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, USA (2001), Queen’s University, Belfast (2003).
AES (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovitch, Evgeny Svyatsky; created 1987) is a triumvirate of aggressive and provocative artists intent on creating works, which might be considered as “political uncorrect”, engaging themes such as violence, body, and Westernization. “Political correctness is too often a form of censorship”, - they once stated in an unpublished article by the American artist Archie Galents in connection with their most famous work “Islamic Project. AES – The Witnesses of the Future”. The project was widely covered by media and shown, often as "AES Travel Agency to the Future", at numerous venues such as Neue Galerie Studio, Graz, Austria (1997), Festival Atlantico-99, Lisbon, Portugal (1999), SIETAR Europe Congress 2000, Brussels, Belgium, Jean-Marc Patras – N.O.M.A.D.E., Paris, France (2000), and Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse, France (2001). “The AES artists assume that they work in a world of totally deconstructed oppositions and destroyed boundaries where the polarization of East and West – which remained the most important ideological foundation of so called modern art (the art of the post-World War II period) – has been lost.” (E. Dyegot. “The End of the Evidence”, 1997). Solo exhibitions include "The Art of the Possible" (M.Guelman Gallery, Moscow, 1993), "Family Portrait in the Interior" (XL Gallery, Moscow, 1995), "The Yellow is Cooking, the White is Eating", Art Media Center "TV Gallery", Moscow (1998), "AES Nomade makes stop in New York", Art in General, New York (1999), "Le Roi des Aulnesa", Galerie Knoll, Vienna, Austria (2002).
Olga Stolpovskaya, a Moscow-based artist, works in multimedia, film and theater. From 1999-2002 she was a producer on STS (The Russian TV Stations Network). Her video "Bruner'$ Trial," premiered at TV Gallery, Moscow in 1998, and was then purchased by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The script of “Bruner’$ Trial” is based on the true-life scandalous incident, which received international coverage. Russian artist Alexander Brener vandalized a masterpiece by Kazimir Malevich in Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. For painting a green $ sign on the canvas the extremist was sentenced to half-a-year imprisonment. “The Authors of the film made an ironic statement of the story, almost in “Mr. Bin” style. Under the influence of their protagonist’s action The European Union makes a decision to abolish the money. People are rejoicing and tear notes into pieces. If the film was out two years ago Brener had been acquitted of the crime for sure.” (PREMIER Magazine, August, 1998). Olga Stolpovskaya’s film “The Subscribers” received the Moscow Media Forum 2001 Award. Works have been shown at various Russian and international venues and festivals including The Anthology Film Archives, New York, Oberhausen International Film Festival, Germany; Video Lisboa, International Video Festival, Lisbon; International Independent Film Festival, Brussels; Kunsthalle Faust und Medienhaus, Hannover; European Media Art Festival, Osnabruck; Cortomola Short Film Festival, Bologna; Paralleles Kino, Drei Russische Filmnachte, Graz; St.Anna Student & Debut Film Festival, Moscow; Money Exhibition, Stockholm; WRO International Media Art Festival, Wroclaw; Moscow Film Festival, Moscow.
Nina Zaretskaya lives and works in Moscow and New York. She is a documentary producer and founding director of Art Media Center “TV Gallery” (1991), a Moscow institution responsible for the appearance and development of video art and the art of new technologies in Russia. Nina Zaretskaya has curated and organized numerous exhibitions including “Total Recall” (dedicated to Phillip K. Dick), “This Other World of Ours” (video installations by Young British Artists), and “Medium is the Message” (presentation of work by Nam June Paik), introducing contemporary foreign art to Russian audiences. Her recent show “Femininity’s Redress,” held at Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, New York, initiates a multi-phase project presenting progressive Russian women artists to the Western public.
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[26 March 2003;
Accessed 13 May 2008]. <http://slought.org/content/11140/>.
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