Art project "L.O.H. Reminiscence"

On June 20 at 14.00 in the hall of the Parliamentary Center of the Saratov Regional Duma (Saratov, 24a Radishcheva St.) a presentation of the inter-regional exhibition project “L.O.Kh. Reminiscence. Past, Present, Future ”(painting, photography, art objects), organized as a result of several art expeditions (2017-2018) to the village of Lokh in the Novoburasky district as part of the experimental workshop of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts and TLC of the Saratov Region.

The head of the PORAH and TSHR creative workshops is Konstantin Khudyakov, vice-president of the Russian Academy of Arts, chairman of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts, president of the Creative Union of Russian Artists.

The curator of the PORAH and TSHR Creative Workshops is Svetlana Kuznetsova, First Deputy Chairman of the Volga Branch of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Vice President of TSHR.

The project manager is Sergey Karmeev, head of the TSH of the Saratov region.

Design - Mikhail Gavryushov, laureate of the Russian Academy of Arts Prize named after K.S. Petrova-Vodkin.

Participants in the art project: 24 Saratov artists, scholarship holders of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, members of the SROO “TLC of the Saratov Region”.

The name of the village of Loch in the Novoburas region, the local history of the place, its present and future became an occasion for creative reflection, reminiscences, and reading of new meanings.

“LOKH” is a family. A lot of plants belong to the “sucker” family, including sea buckthorn, known to all. Depending on the species, these are small trees or shrubs with beautiful silver foliage. Another meaning is etymologically attributed to German, Yiddish, Pomeranian roots, to the language of wandering offenders, which later turned into a thieves’ fen. Another interpretation of the word: "simple-minded person who is easy to deceive."

The word "sucker" became very popular in the 1990s, during the period of all kinds of scam: from thimbles to financial pyramids. What happened to the once large and rich village for almost a century - from collectivization in the post-revolutionary years to the collapse of collective farms in the late 1990s - can be described. People have been deceived. The village began to empty. If according to the census of 1911, 5890 people lived in the village, now it is about 400. But something began to change several years ago. The return to nature, the search for ourselves outside the urban environment, ecotourism, interest in local history - became the impulses of time.

For the Saratov region, one of the most significant objects, along with the famous cliff of Stepan Razin and the Khvalynsky National Park, turned out to be the very modest village of Novoburasky district called Loch. These are amazingly picturesque places: hills and forests, small rivers feeding the Volga, spring lakes, in a certain concentrated form represent different regions of central Russia.

The center of attraction, thanks to the activity of local residents and the cultural community of the region, turned out to be an abandoned water mill on the Sokolka River, which turned out to be one of the few artifacts of the mill civilization of the Saratov province. The mill building has been restored and needs to create a new cultural context. Streams of people interested in local tourism moved to the village. Today it is a popular route in the Saratov region. At the same time, new residents appear, their business and culture are timidly developing. It seems absolutely wonderful, but for many it is obvious that the intrusion of modern urban realities with intrusive advertising and “designer” bright objects can disrupt why, in fact, they come to Loch. It is the optimism of the current situation that makes the future look ambiguous. What will it be? What we and the residents of this village want to see.

In the framework of this project, artists and photographers were given the task not only to talk about the beauties of the place (which is already obvious), but to reflect the passage of time in space. This is the story of the village, his real attempt at rebirth and perspective.

At the exhibition “L.O.Kh. Reminiscence. Past, Present, Future ”will be presented a series of paintings and photographic works, art objects, as well as a video film created on the basis of art expeditions to the village of LOKh.