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| | Arts Calendar / September 15 / Exhibitions |
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| Dubossarsky & Vinogradov: Moscow: The Elusive Reality |
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 Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alexander Vinogradov both live and work in Moscow, Russia. Between Pop Art and Social Realism, Vinogradov and Dubossarsky's paintings illustrate the daily paradise of the 21st century. The main focus of their work switched from socialist fantasy to the ideals of mass media. When they began working together in 1994, Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky threw a veritable brick through the window of the Russian art world; the time being ripe for radicalism and conceptual art for Moscow. In the middle of this peaceful battlefield, both artists impose their will to launch a project in agreement with time and current fashion trends. In contrast to the radicals, their statement is neither violent nor in protest but simply covering the covers of magazines and film posters. With an aesthetic stemming from social realism (a privilege of the soviet period), their paintings illustrate a close connection to Pop Art; the central character arises from imagery of mass. With the will to fade as artists, they have decided to create public images like the social paintings of the previous century. But, the world has changed. The wall has fallen and the empire has collapsed leaving this place to a new ideology of consumption. Their social paintings have been adapted to a new reality where we see magnificent women, film actors, animals, comic strip heroes... Just as the capitalist dream extended through the entire earth, Dubossarsky and Vinogradov want to reach a global audience. Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky want to develop a transparent, understandable painting that speaks a universal language. But their works is addressed particularly to Russia. In 1994, Russia emerged out of Perestroika while a certain fear of the future remained. Everything needed to be made, but without precedent to guide them. The art then decided that everything will be alright and created images as perfect as the dream promised in the magazines. For this to their new beginnings, the two artists populate their paintings with nude characters. They were and always will be determined to please those who look at their works, to offer them images of paradise. But how does one elaborate on a four hand painting? Difficult to explain, even for the main protagonists. Discussion in any case is not based on colors or tones. Construction is another. Composing a collage with an overhead projector, both artists then draw by hand the reproduced images. Their sources are obviously the popular media: television, magazines and books of all kinds. The stage concerning the choice of what comprised the final result is a matter of immediacy. If one of them decides no, then the answer is no. Discussion happens only if both are in doubt, which does not happen very often. And it works! Dubossarsky and Vinogradov have represented Russia at the 50th Biennial event of Venice in 2003. They exhibited in Germany, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, the United States, France, and in the United Kingdom. Their works are in numerous museum collections such as the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Historic Museum in Bonn, Germany as well as the Museum of Modern Art of Houston in the United States or the Russian National Museum in Saint-Petersburg. In 2001 the artists started Total Painting, a work in progress that now includes more than 150 panels dispersed around the world. Painted in a deliberately slapdash style, parodying the joy offered by advertising images and Socialist Realism, the panels jumble movie stars, fashion models, and pop singers with the artists and their friends, all kinds of commercial products, naked sunbathers on a beach, and Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky as nude models. When 38 of the panels were shown at Deitch Projects in 2003 under the title "Our Best World," they prompted New York Times critic Ken Johnson to ask (in imitation of David Letterman), "is it something or is it nothing?" Total Painting (2001) created a large scale image of mass culture from around the world borrowing ideas from advertising and mainstream media. Our Best World (2003) created a common ground for stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Spider-Man, Barbie, Madonna, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Marilyn Monroe, and even Picasso. The Underwater World (2002) was made for the Russian pavilion for the 50th Venice Biennale. The piece references ideas gathered from pop images such as mail order catalogs, and heroes in contemporary advertising. In 2014 the artists are going to present in Moscow their new exhibition titled "Moscow: The Elusive Reality" and dedicated to the Moscow in different periods: from the end of XIX century to the present days. The exposition will become a part of Moscow Museum in Provision Warehouses area, a monument of the Moscow Empire style, where will be placed paintings, graphic works and installations by Dubossarsky and Vinogradov. For more information please contact at pr@mosmuseum.ru or +7 (495) 739-0008. More info
Museum of Moscow  |
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10:00-22:00 | Our Body: The Universe Within |
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Our Body: The Universe Within gives you insight to the inside! Get a true look at the inner workings of the extraordinary human body. This incredible exhibition has been educating and fascinating people the world over! Don't miss it when Our Body: The Universe Within comes to Moscow Vetoshny Art-Center. Our Body: The Universe Within is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the perpetually inquisitive to explore the wonders of the human body. A beautiful and inspiring tribute to who we are. This extraordinary exhibition was designed to educate, enlighten, and allow all who attend to understand the complexities of pur body. Visitors to Our Body: The Universe Within will journey through a fascinating tour of the human body as a whole, then taken through each of the bodies systems to see first hand how each functions and relates to one another. Our Body: The Universe Within exhibit does contain actual human bodies, with eyes and genitals intact. There is also a section about the urinary and reproductive system, with specimens pertaining to those areas. The exhibit is recommended for children age 12 and older. Parental discretion is advised. Our Body: The Universe Within is a fascinating, artful and educational exhibit consisting of actual human bodies and organs. Appropriate for all ages, this exhibit literally goes "under the skin," revealing the mysteries of the human anatomy. The bodies, specimens and organs have been preserved using a process known as polymer impregnation. Our Body: The Universe Within allows you the insight to the inside: giving one a true look at the inner workings of the extraordinary human body. As you enter the exhibit, you will have the opportunity to examine the human body as a whole. Continuing throughout the exhibit, you will journey through each of the body's major systems allowing you to see first hand how they function and relate to other systems. Read more
Afimall City |
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| Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia |
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 Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia is a retrospective of colour experiments and developments in Russian photography over the course of a century, from the 1860s to the 1970s. In tracing these advancements the exhibition also moves through the social history of Russia itself. It presents both the history of Russian photography and the history of Russia in photography, depicting life over the course of a century, as the country endured unprecedented upheaval. Primrose will feature over 140 works by Pyotr Pavlov, Pyotr Vedenisov, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Ivan Shagin, Georgy Petrusov, Dmitry Baltermants, Boris Mikhailov and other classics of Russian photography. These will be arranged in five chronological sections, each looking at different periods and their prevailing photographic aesthetics. The exhibition shows the development of photographic colour technology and the social transformations which altered the role of photography in Russian society. The exhibition opens with photographs from the 1860s when tinting of prints with watercolour and oil paints was undertaken by hand. Initially used for portraits, this technique was later extended to architectural, landscape and industrial subject matter. In the early 20th century under the patronage of Tsar Nicholas II the photographic documentation of life in Russia became a priority of the Empire. Using a tricolorplate system he adapted from Prof. Adolf Miethe, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky was trusted with the task of travelling the country to capture its vastness and diversity. His output from those years is presented in the second section of the exhibition alongside the autochromes of nobleman Pyotr Vedenisov, whose autobiographical focus provided valuable insights into the lifestyle of the Russian elite. The third section will examine the period following WWI when the Soviet government, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, supported photography as an important propaganda tool. Photomontage became central to their agenda allowing for the communication of new Soviet myths to a largely illiterate population. Also included are the later works of Alexander Rodchenko, featuring pictures of sporting and art events taken in a pictorial style. These provided Rodchenko with a form of escapism and a way to express his disillusionment with the notion of a Soviet utopia. The production of Soviet-made colour film did not appear until 1946 and was accessible to only a handful of official photographers. The Khrushchev Thaw in the mid-1950s saw much of Stalin's repression reversed, allowing photography to move closer to everyday reality as seen in Dmitri Baltermants' pictures in section four. At the same time hand-tinted portraits began appearing on the market again. These were taken anonymously as private photo studios were still forbidden. Referencing these anonymous studio portraits is Boris Mikhailov's celebrated series "Luriki" (1971-1985). Comprising the fifth section, the series looks to expose Soviet ideology through humour and stereotypical imagery. The use of hand-colouring techniques represents Russia's stalled progress as well as nostalgic sentimentality for old craft. This section also presents Mikhailov's slideshow "Suzi et Cetera" (1960s-1970s). The piece with its focus on the individual is meant as a political act, challenging the dominant "we" of the Soviet nation. It was impossible to show the work publicly; such exhibitions took place in underground clubs, artist studios and apartments synonymous with the Soviet nonconformist art of the time. Curated by Olga Sviblova, Director of Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow / Moscow House of Photography Museum. The exhibition is part of the UK-Russia Year of Culture 2014.
Multimedia Art Museum |
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 Multimedia Art museum and Moscow House of Photography, International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneve / Moscow), The Polish Army Museum (Warsaw), Imperial War Museum (London), Museum of Military History (Vienna), The Royal Museum of Army and Military History (Brussels), Foundation for Preservation of the Russian Heritage (Brussels), Museum of Nicephore Niepce (Chalon-sur-Saone, France) and others present an exhibition "The War That Ended Peace" dedicated to the First World War centenary. "The War That Ended Peace" is the extensive international project which was organized by leading world museums, state archives and private collectors. The exhibition reconstructs the war 1914-1918 and shows it through the eyes of all participants, through the voices, photographs, letters and mementoes of those who were there. The title of the exhibition is the title of Margaret MacMillan's book "The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 2014" telling the history of the political, cultural, military and personal forces which shaped Europe's path to the Great War. Margaret MacMillan is one of the most recognized and respected historians in the English-speaking world, comes with much expectation. Her 2003 worldwide bestseller, Paris 1919, won many distinguished awards and was one of the handful of non-fiction books in a given year that become must-reads for everyone, from the intelligentsia to the historically minded general reader. The First World War was a turning point in world history. It claimed the lives of over 22 million people across the globe and had an impact on the lives of everyone. To the First World War centenary a lot of European museums will develope a vibrant programme of cultural projects and events to help people everywhere understand the First World War and its impact on society and individuals today. In Moscow Multimedia Art museum the display will start from the Viennese Museum of Military History's collection photographies, which argue about formal beginning of the war. The important accents of the exhibition space will be 13 screens in the museum halls: a news-reel illustrating the most significant events of every year of the war will show at the six of screens; the frames titled "Water", "Death", "Air", "Trenches", "Attack" and others at the seven of the screens. The exhibition's objects also includes photographies by amateurs who took part in the First World War, stereophotographies and stereoscopic projections, creating a three-dimensional image, and avtohromy presenting the war in color, collections of photographies from Red Cross archive, "Le Miroir" magazine and Russian editions, caricatures, color and black-and-white lithographies, posters by Kazimir Malevich, Aristarkh Lentulov, Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Multimedia Art Museum |
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