‘Terminal B’
group show curated by Plague at Smena, Kazan
7.12.22 — 19.2.23
with Andrei Beliaev, Evgeny Berezin, Vitaly Bezpalov, Ian Bruner, Michael Bussell, Arthur Golyakov, Egon Van Herreweghe, Miles Huston, Robert Khasanov, Taka Kono, KOTZ, Sasha Lemish, Stas Lobachevskiy, Yuri Otinov, PLAGUE, Pavel Polshchikov , Aurora Rodina, Zukhra Salakhova & Anastasia Yusypey, Ekaterina Serikova, Artem Silver, Daria Skripal, Anna Soz, Anna Taganzeva-Kobzeva, Nastya Vasileva, Vanya Venmer
Throughout its history, humanity has been continually lost. Deprived of familiar systems of coordinates. It discovers that old maps no longer describe the new world, and conventional language does not convey not only nuances but even basic concepts in changed circumstances. The permanent collapse of the basics has become truly traditional, even though each time it causes thousands or millions of the world’s inhabitants a holy terror and a desire to return things to the way they used to be.
But this protective impulse is soon enough extinguished by a wave of historical amnesia. People really have forgotten more than they remember. The chronology of mankind, if you look at it carefully, records more losses than gains. And this is not so much a problem as a way of purifying, mining or, to use another metaphor, cutting a precious stone. The cutter removes the extra layers that previous generations naturally held dear. But already the new generations see the beautiful sparkling crystal. And then it all repeats itself.
The epiphany begins with the realization that the surface is continuous. There are no gaps or pores, crevices or secret passages. The surface is impenetrable. Moreover, there is nothing underneath, even though common sense, experience, and cultural tradition claim otherwise. But this is not evidence of emptiness, but rather of concentration and fullness. There is so much matter that it gives nothing to do with itself. Matter demonstrates its power.
Objects do not reveal secrets, do not preach truths, do not confirm the long-known or suggest the new. They are enclosed in themselves and content with that state. The assumptions and speculations with which we want to reward the objects we encounter hit them and fly off in different directions. Words do not permit a description of these objects. On the contrary, speech acquires the property of objects, becomes heavy and ceases to mean anything.
It is impossible to look beneath the surface. It is impossible to uncover the mysteries of things. To see the world, hidden by the work of oblivion for several millennia, is also, by and large, impossible. Everything we inherited from our ancestors and create with our own strength is protected from our own interference. Even what people plan to erect in the future is hidden from their total scrutiny. Things always go wrong as they are intended. The ends float, the means change, and the outcome is totally unpredictable.
group show curated by Plague at Smena, Kazan
7.12.22 — 19.2.23
with Andrei Beliaev, Evgeny Berezin, Vitaly Bezpalov, Ian Bruner, Michael Bussell, Arthur Golyakov, Egon Van Herreweghe, Miles Huston, Robert Khasanov, Taka Kono, KOTZ, Sasha Lemish, Stas Lobachevskiy, Yuri Otinov, PLAGUE, Pavel Polshchikov , Aurora Rodina, Zukhra Salakhova & Anastasia Yusypey, Ekaterina Serikova, Artem Silver, Daria Skripal, Anna Soz, Anna Taganzeva-Kobzeva, Nastya Vasileva, Vanya Venmer
Throughout its history, humanity has been continually lost. Deprived of familiar systems of coordinates. It discovers that old maps no longer describe the new world, and conventional language does not convey not only nuances but even basic concepts in changed circumstances. The permanent collapse of the basics has become truly traditional, even though each time it causes thousands or millions of the world’s inhabitants a holy terror and a desire to return things to the way they used to be.
But this protective impulse is soon enough extinguished by a wave of historical amnesia. People really have forgotten more than they remember. The chronology of mankind, if you look at it carefully, records more losses than gains. And this is not so much a problem as a way of purifying, mining or, to use another metaphor, cutting a precious stone. The cutter removes the extra layers that previous generations naturally held dear. But already the new generations see the beautiful sparkling crystal. And then it all repeats itself.
The epiphany begins with the realization that the surface is continuous. There are no gaps or pores, crevices or secret passages. The surface is impenetrable. Moreover, there is nothing underneath, even though common sense, experience, and cultural tradition claim otherwise. But this is not evidence of emptiness, but rather of concentration and fullness. There is so much matter that it gives nothing to do with itself. Matter demonstrates its power.
Objects do not reveal secrets, do not preach truths, do not confirm the long-known or suggest the new. They are enclosed in themselves and content with that state. The assumptions and speculations with which we want to reward the objects we encounter hit them and fly off in different directions. Words do not permit a description of these objects. On the contrary, speech acquires the property of objects, becomes heavy and ceases to mean anything.
It is impossible to look beneath the surface. It is impossible to uncover the mysteries of things. To see the world, hidden by the work of oblivion for several millennia, is also, by and large, impossible. Everything we inherited from our ancestors and create with our own strength is protected from our own interference. Even what people plan to erect in the future is hidden from their total scrutiny. Things always go wrong as they are intended. The ends float, the means change, and the outcome is totally unpredictable.
Anastasia Yusypey, “Port Protection”, 2022
& Zukhra Salakhova, “you will never be alone”, 2022
& Zukhra Salakhova, “you will never be alone”, 2022