Anastasia Khoroshilova
12 Sep - 03 Nov 2007
ANASTASIA KHOROSHILOVA
Fúcares Gallery in Madrid is proud to present the solo show by the Russian artist Anastasia Khoroshilova (Moscú, 1978).
At the peak of the period of stagnation in Soviet society, Leonid Brezhnev trumpeted the idea of a historically new community of people – the Soviet people. This ideological invention allowed for the presence in the structure of “the Soviet people” of various nations and ethnicities. This early Communist and, from a contemporary point of view, globalist tendency was designed to put an end to many problems that Communist ideology found in connection with the so-called “national question”. Special political, social and traditional specifics would not be repressed but would have only a local, easily managed, limited character. The extremely various ethnic and traditional folk phenomena found among the more than 100 nationalities of the country were seen as a dry, exterior husk. A husk useful for display in state parades, on special days for culture, national festivals, etc. But further development of national traditions would be treated as nationalism and punished according to the party's strict rules and norms.
Perestroika changed the situation fundamentally. Conflicts brought on by the difficult economic situation of Russia, the worsening of inequalities and attendant social unrest, quickly made themselves felt in the sphere of relations between nationalities. The theory and practice of an “ideology of national superiority” is today used constantly (and recklessly), including nationalist utterances of a virtually open fascist kind, by Russian politicians at all levels. Currently, everything between the Baltic Sea and the Pacific Ocean, from Kalingrad to Vladivostok, is populated by Russians. This conception, identical with the Brezhnev conception of a single nation, leads to a mistaken understanding and image of post-Soviet space.
Nonetheless, I called my biggest project, “Russkie”. I want to bring together people of various nationalities and various religious confessions that, over time, arrived on the land of the Russian state from various other countries to live together in conditions shaped by history.
History has already conducted so many trials and experiments with these people that constant anxiety has become their life and fate. That is why I immediately decided for myself: even in my arbitrary visual world, I will leave them be as they are. I do not wish to, nor do I have the right to, meddle with their reality and disturb them once again. At the conceptual level, they became my conception.
Anastasia Khoroshilova
Fúcares Gallery in Madrid is proud to present the solo show by the Russian artist Anastasia Khoroshilova (Moscú, 1978).
At the peak of the period of stagnation in Soviet society, Leonid Brezhnev trumpeted the idea of a historically new community of people – the Soviet people. This ideological invention allowed for the presence in the structure of “the Soviet people” of various nations and ethnicities. This early Communist and, from a contemporary point of view, globalist tendency was designed to put an end to many problems that Communist ideology found in connection with the so-called “national question”. Special political, social and traditional specifics would not be repressed but would have only a local, easily managed, limited character. The extremely various ethnic and traditional folk phenomena found among the more than 100 nationalities of the country were seen as a dry, exterior husk. A husk useful for display in state parades, on special days for culture, national festivals, etc. But further development of national traditions would be treated as nationalism and punished according to the party's strict rules and norms.
Perestroika changed the situation fundamentally. Conflicts brought on by the difficult economic situation of Russia, the worsening of inequalities and attendant social unrest, quickly made themselves felt in the sphere of relations between nationalities. The theory and practice of an “ideology of national superiority” is today used constantly (and recklessly), including nationalist utterances of a virtually open fascist kind, by Russian politicians at all levels. Currently, everything between the Baltic Sea and the Pacific Ocean, from Kalingrad to Vladivostok, is populated by Russians. This conception, identical with the Brezhnev conception of a single nation, leads to a mistaken understanding and image of post-Soviet space.
Nonetheless, I called my biggest project, “Russkie”. I want to bring together people of various nationalities and various religious confessions that, over time, arrived on the land of the Russian state from various other countries to live together in conditions shaped by history.
History has already conducted so many trials and experiments with these people that constant anxiety has become their life and fate. That is why I immediately decided for myself: even in my arbitrary visual world, I will leave them be as they are. I do not wish to, nor do I have the right to, meddle with their reality and disturb them once again. At the conceptual level, they became my conception.
Anastasia Khoroshilova