Shadow of a doubt
11 Apr - 04 May 2014
SHADOW OF A DOUBT
11 April – 4 May 2014
Curators: Ilya Budraitskis and Maria Chehonadskih
Curatorial assistant: Olga Shirokostup
Bringing together works that take as their starting point a critical rethinking of reality through personal experience, everyday observations, skepticism and conspiracy theories, the exhibition presents new works created especially for the show, as well as others that are new to Russian viewers.
Alexei Buldakov, Kristina Norman, Alexander Povzner, David Ter-Oganyan, Mykola Ridnyi, Zampa di Leone
The exhibition’s title Shadow of a Doubt is a reference to the classic Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. The film’s action takes place in the context of a happy and prosperous American family. A nagging doubt, however, leads the central female character to the discovery of an unpleasant truth about her uncle. Doubt is similarly at the center of this show, which questions if the phenomena is a form of skepticism, or an inevitable experience of anxiety for anyone entangled in the contradictions of the modern world. Bringing together works that take as their starting point a critical rethinking of reality through personal experience, everyday observations, skepticism and conspiracy theories, the exhibition presents new works created especially for the show, as well as others that are new to Russian viewers.
The curators have prepared an audio-guide entitled Routes of Doubt that will lead each visitor to discover the various layers of meaning in the works within the wider history of conspiracy theories. Within the exhibition, a mysterious19th-century engraving is included along with the other works, inviting visitors to imagine possible links between the engraving and these very individual artists.
The Serbian collective Zampa di Leone present a new installation Zampa's Traces: A Shadow Art History of the 2000s, which includes drawings, caricatures, newspapers, fanzines and documentation of the collective’s performances from the last eight years. Comics reveal scenes from the life of the international arts community in the form of caricatures. Here, the unattractive, shady aspects of the careers of renowned artists and curators are revealed, as well as the characters’ entangled relationships and ethical contradictions.
Monolith (2007), a video work by the Estonian artist Kristina Norman, focuses on the history of the conflict surrounding Tallinn’s “Bronze Soldier” monument of 1947, dedicated to those who fell in the Second World War. For the majority of Estonians, the monument is a symbol of the Soviet occupation, whilst for Talinn’s Russian-speaking inhabitants it marks victory over fascism and is a positive signifier of the Russian identity. In April of 2007, the Estonian authorities decided to move the monument to Tallinn’s suburbs, and in so doing provoked public disputes and mass riots in the city. The film employs a science fiction stylization and brings irony to the conspiracy-theory explanations of “the Soviet past” in Estonia. This is Monolith’s first presentation in Moscow.
A new video work by Alexei Buldakov, Creeping Line (2014) continues the development of one of the artist’s key themes, which revolves around the phenomenon of mistakes. In his videos, Buldakov adds “eccesses”— unexpected and terrifying elements to normal pictures of city reality— such as billboards showing the figures of people who have been hanged, or twitching television antennae on city roofs. Together these represent the manifestation of “surplus essences” generated by the suspicious human imagination that lies beyond the boundaries of the empirically established facts.
Disorders (2013) by David Ter-Oganyan, is a print of an enlarged drawing done on an iPad. The work develops a long-running theme in his work—an enchantment with the spectacle of interacting crowds . In Disorders dark silhouettes seem to be grappling in brutal fights, or perform insane street dances. Such disturbances, usually linked to mass demonstrations and street politics, refer to political and social equality identified by conservative thinkers of the 19th century at the dawn of an era of emerging democracy.
A series of works by Alexander Povzner titled Playground (2011-14), explores and deconstructs the unspoken horror found in some familiar elements of city architecture such as a children’s playground, for example. Here, soviet sports architecture is revealed as a panopticon, a site of surveillance, control, and discipline for little citizens.
The lens of “doubt” is capable of providing these elements with a meaning that differs entirely from that with which they are usually associated.
Two video works by the Ukrainian artist Mykola Ridnyi, Shelter and Father’s Story, both first presented at the 2013 Vienna Biennial, examine the legacy of the Cold War, which is a key source for conspiracy theories and mistrust on both sides of the former border between East and West to this day. For decades, the Cold War, devoid of clear and precise frontlines, held people in a state of mobilization against an invisible enemy that was capable of engendering the most incredible conceptions of its capabilities and plans. The infrastructure created by the Cold War, from the mass production of bomb shelters “for the people” to military training at schools, occupies a unique space in the post-Soviet reality and continues to spread alarm and suspicion among its disorientated inhabitants.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS
Alexei Buldakov (born 1980)
A Russian artist living in Moscow, Buldakov was a member of the RADEK group in the 2000s. He initiated the Laboratory of City Fauna in 2011. In 2013, Laboratory of City Fauna was featured in the first Bergen Assembly, curated by Ekaterina Degot and David Riff. Buldakov was a participant in Manifesta 2002 and the 2007 Istanbul Biennial. The artist’s personal exhibitions: Excesses, XL Gallery, Moscow, 2009; and Zoo of City Fauna exhibition, a parallel program to the 2011 Moscow Biennial (together with A. Potyomkina and D. Potyomkin ).
Kristina Norman (born 1979)
An Estonian artist, living in Tallinn, Norman represented Estonia at the Modern Art Oxford in Arrivals - Art from the New Europe Festival in 2006, with her film The Balts. She also participated in the Youth Art Biennial, Tallinn, in 2007, and the 5th Berlin Modern Art Biennial in 2008. Norman’s project After the War represented Estonia at the 53rd International Venice Biennial Exhibition in 2009.
Alexander Povzner (born 1976)
A Russian artist living in MoscowHe curated the Intimate Capital project within the framework of the 1st Moscow International Youth Art Biennial and Stop! Who Goes There? at Armyansky 13 Hall, Moscow. In 2011, he participated in the Contra Mater project of the 4th Moscow Modern Art Biennial. Solo exhibitions include the Brutto project, XL Gallery, Moscow, 2012 and Gone to the Shop, Back in 5 Minutes”, XL Gallery, Moscow, 2013.
David Ter-Oganyan (born 1981)
A Russian artist living in Moscow, Ter-Oganyan has works in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Oklahoma Arts Museum (USA), and the Luigi Pecci Museum (Prato, Italy). He has participated in Manifesta 4 in 2002 and the 1st Moscow Biennial in 2005. In 2011 he was the winner of the Henkel Art Award international arts competition. Solo shows include Speed of Light, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, 2012; Black Geometry, Guelman Projects, Moscow, 2009.
Mykola Ridnyi (born 1985)
A Ukrainian artist living in Kharkov, Ridnyi is a founding member of the SOSKA arts group, Kharkov. A Kultur Kontakt Austria grant recipient and winner of the Henkel Art award, he participated in the exhibition at the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2013. Together with the artist Boris Mikhailov, he showed his works in Patriot Games/Ukrainian Gothic at Collection Gallery, Kiev, 2007. Recent solo shows include Documents, Malaya Gallery of the Mystetsky Arsenal, Kiev, 2011.
Zampa di Leone
Founded in 2000 in Serbia, Zampa di Leone stages critical actions, creates comics and participates in the work of the art-leaks.org platform. The group has participated in numerous international exhibitions.The groups first personal exhibition was held the same year, at the Svetozar Markovich University Library in Belgrade. In 2010, an exhibition titled “Zampa di Moldavione” called for the Zampa movement to be developed in all the post-Soviet republics.
ABOUT THE CURATORIAL TEAM
Ilya Budraitskis (born 1981)
A Russian columnist, art critic, curator, Budraitskis lives in Moscow where he works at the National Centre for Contemporary Arts. He is member of the editorial board of the Moscow Art Magazine, and editor of the openleft.ru portal. His curatorial projects include Conquered City, Moscow, 2009 (co-curated with David Ter-Oganyan and Alexander Galkina); Pedagogical Poem, Moscow, 2012; Three Days in October, Moscow, 2013 (co-curated with Vladimir Potapov) amongst others.
Maria Chehonadskih (born 1985)
A Russian philosopher, art critic and curator who lives in London and Moscow, Chehonadskih is a PhD student at the Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP, London). She is a member of the editorial board of the Moscow Art Magazine. In 2009-10 she was curator of the land-art project Care at Voronezh-Moscow and in 2011 she curated the Precarious Life exhibition, Moscow.. She worked as a project assistant for Document 13, Kassel, 2012 and for the Russian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennial in 2011.
Olga Shirokostup (born 1988)
An artist, producer, art manager, Shirokostup lives in Moscow and is coordinator of projects at the Fabrika Center of Creative Industries and a columnist for Aroundart.ru. Together with Alexei Corsi, she curated “The Barbarians, Moscow, 2012. From 2012-13, she was curator of the education video-art lectures for children at the Polytechnic Museum, and in 2013, producer of Keti Chukhrov Love machines at the 1st Triennial of Contemporary Art, Bergen Assembly. She has also participated in special projects within the 1st Biennial for Young Art Qui vive?, 3rd Biennial for Young Art, and 5th Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art.
11 April – 4 May 2014
Curators: Ilya Budraitskis and Maria Chehonadskih
Curatorial assistant: Olga Shirokostup
Bringing together works that take as their starting point a critical rethinking of reality through personal experience, everyday observations, skepticism and conspiracy theories, the exhibition presents new works created especially for the show, as well as others that are new to Russian viewers.
Alexei Buldakov, Kristina Norman, Alexander Povzner, David Ter-Oganyan, Mykola Ridnyi, Zampa di Leone
The exhibition’s title Shadow of a Doubt is a reference to the classic Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. The film’s action takes place in the context of a happy and prosperous American family. A nagging doubt, however, leads the central female character to the discovery of an unpleasant truth about her uncle. Doubt is similarly at the center of this show, which questions if the phenomena is a form of skepticism, or an inevitable experience of anxiety for anyone entangled in the contradictions of the modern world. Bringing together works that take as their starting point a critical rethinking of reality through personal experience, everyday observations, skepticism and conspiracy theories, the exhibition presents new works created especially for the show, as well as others that are new to Russian viewers.
The curators have prepared an audio-guide entitled Routes of Doubt that will lead each visitor to discover the various layers of meaning in the works within the wider history of conspiracy theories. Within the exhibition, a mysterious19th-century engraving is included along with the other works, inviting visitors to imagine possible links between the engraving and these very individual artists.
The Serbian collective Zampa di Leone present a new installation Zampa's Traces: A Shadow Art History of the 2000s, which includes drawings, caricatures, newspapers, fanzines and documentation of the collective’s performances from the last eight years. Comics reveal scenes from the life of the international arts community in the form of caricatures. Here, the unattractive, shady aspects of the careers of renowned artists and curators are revealed, as well as the characters’ entangled relationships and ethical contradictions.
Monolith (2007), a video work by the Estonian artist Kristina Norman, focuses on the history of the conflict surrounding Tallinn’s “Bronze Soldier” monument of 1947, dedicated to those who fell in the Second World War. For the majority of Estonians, the monument is a symbol of the Soviet occupation, whilst for Talinn’s Russian-speaking inhabitants it marks victory over fascism and is a positive signifier of the Russian identity. In April of 2007, the Estonian authorities decided to move the monument to Tallinn’s suburbs, and in so doing provoked public disputes and mass riots in the city. The film employs a science fiction stylization and brings irony to the conspiracy-theory explanations of “the Soviet past” in Estonia. This is Monolith’s first presentation in Moscow.
A new video work by Alexei Buldakov, Creeping Line (2014) continues the development of one of the artist’s key themes, which revolves around the phenomenon of mistakes. In his videos, Buldakov adds “eccesses”— unexpected and terrifying elements to normal pictures of city reality— such as billboards showing the figures of people who have been hanged, or twitching television antennae on city roofs. Together these represent the manifestation of “surplus essences” generated by the suspicious human imagination that lies beyond the boundaries of the empirically established facts.
Disorders (2013) by David Ter-Oganyan, is a print of an enlarged drawing done on an iPad. The work develops a long-running theme in his work—an enchantment with the spectacle of interacting crowds . In Disorders dark silhouettes seem to be grappling in brutal fights, or perform insane street dances. Such disturbances, usually linked to mass demonstrations and street politics, refer to political and social equality identified by conservative thinkers of the 19th century at the dawn of an era of emerging democracy.
A series of works by Alexander Povzner titled Playground (2011-14), explores and deconstructs the unspoken horror found in some familiar elements of city architecture such as a children’s playground, for example. Here, soviet sports architecture is revealed as a panopticon, a site of surveillance, control, and discipline for little citizens.
The lens of “doubt” is capable of providing these elements with a meaning that differs entirely from that with which they are usually associated.
Two video works by the Ukrainian artist Mykola Ridnyi, Shelter and Father’s Story, both first presented at the 2013 Vienna Biennial, examine the legacy of the Cold War, which is a key source for conspiracy theories and mistrust on both sides of the former border between East and West to this day. For decades, the Cold War, devoid of clear and precise frontlines, held people in a state of mobilization against an invisible enemy that was capable of engendering the most incredible conceptions of its capabilities and plans. The infrastructure created by the Cold War, from the mass production of bomb shelters “for the people” to military training at schools, occupies a unique space in the post-Soviet reality and continues to spread alarm and suspicion among its disorientated inhabitants.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS
Alexei Buldakov (born 1980)
A Russian artist living in Moscow, Buldakov was a member of the RADEK group in the 2000s. He initiated the Laboratory of City Fauna in 2011. In 2013, Laboratory of City Fauna was featured in the first Bergen Assembly, curated by Ekaterina Degot and David Riff. Buldakov was a participant in Manifesta 2002 and the 2007 Istanbul Biennial. The artist’s personal exhibitions: Excesses, XL Gallery, Moscow, 2009; and Zoo of City Fauna exhibition, a parallel program to the 2011 Moscow Biennial (together with A. Potyomkina and D. Potyomkin ).
Kristina Norman (born 1979)
An Estonian artist, living in Tallinn, Norman represented Estonia at the Modern Art Oxford in Arrivals - Art from the New Europe Festival in 2006, with her film The Balts. She also participated in the Youth Art Biennial, Tallinn, in 2007, and the 5th Berlin Modern Art Biennial in 2008. Norman’s project After the War represented Estonia at the 53rd International Venice Biennial Exhibition in 2009.
Alexander Povzner (born 1976)
A Russian artist living in MoscowHe curated the Intimate Capital project within the framework of the 1st Moscow International Youth Art Biennial and Stop! Who Goes There? at Armyansky 13 Hall, Moscow. In 2011, he participated in the Contra Mater project of the 4th Moscow Modern Art Biennial. Solo exhibitions include the Brutto project, XL Gallery, Moscow, 2012 and Gone to the Shop, Back in 5 Minutes”, XL Gallery, Moscow, 2013.
David Ter-Oganyan (born 1981)
A Russian artist living in Moscow, Ter-Oganyan has works in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Oklahoma Arts Museum (USA), and the Luigi Pecci Museum (Prato, Italy). He has participated in Manifesta 4 in 2002 and the 1st Moscow Biennial in 2005. In 2011 he was the winner of the Henkel Art Award international arts competition. Solo shows include Speed of Light, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, 2012; Black Geometry, Guelman Projects, Moscow, 2009.
Mykola Ridnyi (born 1985)
A Ukrainian artist living in Kharkov, Ridnyi is a founding member of the SOSKA arts group, Kharkov. A Kultur Kontakt Austria grant recipient and winner of the Henkel Art award, he participated in the exhibition at the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2013. Together with the artist Boris Mikhailov, he showed his works in Patriot Games/Ukrainian Gothic at Collection Gallery, Kiev, 2007. Recent solo shows include Documents, Malaya Gallery of the Mystetsky Arsenal, Kiev, 2011.
Zampa di Leone
Founded in 2000 in Serbia, Zampa di Leone stages critical actions, creates comics and participates in the work of the art-leaks.org platform. The group has participated in numerous international exhibitions.The groups first personal exhibition was held the same year, at the Svetozar Markovich University Library in Belgrade. In 2010, an exhibition titled “Zampa di Moldavione” called for the Zampa movement to be developed in all the post-Soviet republics.
ABOUT THE CURATORIAL TEAM
Ilya Budraitskis (born 1981)
A Russian columnist, art critic, curator, Budraitskis lives in Moscow where he works at the National Centre for Contemporary Arts. He is member of the editorial board of the Moscow Art Magazine, and editor of the openleft.ru portal. His curatorial projects include Conquered City, Moscow, 2009 (co-curated with David Ter-Oganyan and Alexander Galkina); Pedagogical Poem, Moscow, 2012; Three Days in October, Moscow, 2013 (co-curated with Vladimir Potapov) amongst others.
Maria Chehonadskih (born 1985)
A Russian philosopher, art critic and curator who lives in London and Moscow, Chehonadskih is a PhD student at the Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP, London). She is a member of the editorial board of the Moscow Art Magazine. In 2009-10 she was curator of the land-art project Care at Voronezh-Moscow and in 2011 she curated the Precarious Life exhibition, Moscow.. She worked as a project assistant for Document 13, Kassel, 2012 and for the Russian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennial in 2011.
Olga Shirokostup (born 1988)
An artist, producer, art manager, Shirokostup lives in Moscow and is coordinator of projects at the Fabrika Center of Creative Industries and a columnist for Aroundart.ru. Together with Alexei Corsi, she curated “The Barbarians, Moscow, 2012. From 2012-13, she was curator of the education video-art lectures for children at the Polytechnic Museum, and in 2013, producer of Keti Chukhrov Love machines at the 1st Triennial of Contemporary Art, Bergen Assembly. She has also participated in special projects within the 1st Biennial for Young Art Qui vive?, 3rd Biennial for Young Art, and 5th Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art.