The First Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art

The First Biennale of Contemporary Art was held in Moscow, in which about 300 artists from 30 countries took part. One of the main goals of the Biennale is to develop an international dialogue about art, about moral, social and political changes in society.

The theme of the Moscow festival "Dialectic of Hope" is addressed to the future of both art and society as a whole. The hope for free expression of opinions, a call for tolerance and general discussion is the humanistic message of its organizers.

Hopes of young men feed

Paraphrasing the famous Lomonosov line, this could be the essence of the main project of the Biennale “Dialectics of Hope”, implemented within the walls of the former Lenin Museum, which is very symbolic in some way - remember the cult “Revolution has come true, comrades!” Indeed, contemporary art burst into the center of the blizzards of the capital, surrendered under the onslaught of young artists.

The leading genre of the Biennale was video art. One of the best works can be called the video of June Nguyen - Hatsushiba "Happy New Year: Vietnam II Memorial Project." The title of the film refers to an ambush arranged by the troops of North Vietnam, known as the Tet Offensive. A dragon led by swimmers appears in the transparent thickness of water to the booming sounds of a gong. Slowly wriggling in a strange dance, he advances, hypnotizing and paralyzing the viewer. He goes to war, but will be defeated. The film is full of many characters and mythologies, but visually it makes a strong impression. Another great work is the film “Viva, Spain!” By Pilar Albarracin. The artist explores the stereotypical existence of a Spanish woman: her behavior, appearance and social role. A woman in an overly bright fashion suit walks the streets of Madrid, chased by a street orchestra playing a bravura melody. She cannot break out of the circle of musicians, forced to obey the rules of the game and play this “holiday every day” herself. In the object of Thomas Saraceno “Connected Sky”, a balloon with an integrated camera rotates in the space of the hall, projecting the resulting image onto the screen. Walls, windows, people flicker - everything that catches your eye with a moving lens. Transformed by a continuous chaotic movement, reality becomes a metaphor for our rapidly changing being.

Our compatriots tried to present worthy projects, gravitating to the problems of national identity. Blue Noses made some short videos about the life of "little" people. By placing the screens in large boxes, the artists provided the viewer with the opportunity to see how these little men are fighting, standing on their heads, making love, etc. "The buffoons of our day", they laugh at their fellow workers: contemporary artists, passionate about actionism and performance, and indeed about the values of modern culture. Master Class

The program of the biennale also included works by world-class artists: Christian Boltansky, Bill Viola and Ilya Kabakov.

The installation of Boltansky “Ghosts of Odessa” is the most piercing work of the biennale, perhaps the best. Formally, the artist tells the story of his family. His grandfather, originally from Odessa, emigrated to France, taking with him only a samovar. His bride, the artist’s grandmother, also fled after him. This romantic story formed the basis of the installation, the theme of which is generalized before considering the mechanism of memory in general, personal and historical, about the life of memories in the human soul. Boltansky placed the main part of the installation in the space of the outbuilding of the Museum of Architecture, which partially turned into ruins, which he managed to revive. Dozens of black coats, "suspended" from the ceiling, silence, stone walls and a terrible cold piercing through and through… The artist was able to recreate the feeling of brutal irreversibility of time. And the moment stopped. Another master, Bill Viola, for his work with the subtle matters of the human psyche, received from critics the title “Rembrandt of the Video Art Epoch”. In the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, his multimedia video installation “Greetings” was created, based on the Jacobo Pontormo “Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth”. The event itself - the meeting - becomes viral in Viola, although the action takes place in a modern city, except that the draperies and the colors of the clothes come close to the style of the Italian mannerist. However, the strongly slowed down movement of the heroines and sound, reminiscent of the noises coming from the sea shell, tear out what is happening from the ordinary context, and indeed from earthly reality. Viola himself believes that his plot is “about the piercing of greetings and goodbyes, about this miracle that happens right away somewhere near us.”

Parallel

The special program was not inferior to the main one, as it represented the leading Russian artists. And the first place rightfully belongs to the exhibition prepared by the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val "Accomplices". It demonstrated those who were formerly called non-conformists. We can say the fathers of the second Russian avant-garde. The exposition included photographs from the actions of “Collective Actions”, the first experiments with a photograph of F. Infanta and N. Goryunova, V. and R. Gorlovin, installations by D. Prigov, objects of V. Skersis, I. Nakhova, painting by N. Alekseev and K. Zvezdochetova, photo Komar and Melamid are rare things collected by the efforts of curator A. Erofeev. We have to admit: what was created for apartment displays, stood the test of the museum and for many it became a revelation.

A rather interesting program was held at the Museum of Modern Art, which housed three exhibitions. The most pathetic of them is Starz, that is, stars. This honorary list includes: the great and terrible O. Kulik, the honored masters of A. Vinogradov - V. Dubosarsky, a group of comrades AES + F and the master of reincarnations V. Mamyshev - Monroe. The name of the project was confirmed by the selection of works, most of which have long been “stars”, so the exhibition was a retrospective of our “classics”. Kulik’s dog theme truly entered the golden fund, as well as sexual games against the backdrop of birch trees by Vinogradov-Dubosarsky, and the languid characters of Mamyshev-Monroe unexpectedly freshly supplemented virtual children in white little AES + F t-shirts.

Text writer: Elena Fedotova, art critic