Photo exhibition of Sasha Gentsis "Ruled Skies" To the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory

A new photo exhibition by Sasha Gentsis "Ruled Skies" is open at the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation until November 8, 2020. The exposition allows the viewer to look into the cockpits of historic aircraft and helicopters of the Central Museum of the Air Force.

The uniqueness of 22 large-format works is that they make it possible to see the cockpits of historical airplanes and helicopters that are inaccessible for visiting, and feel at the helm. The effect of presence is created, you can see the smallest details of these legendary aircraft. For a complete immersion in what is happening, Sasha Gentsis combined pictures of cabins with landscapes from his own photo archive.

The project of Sasha Gentsis "Controlled Skies" aims not only to comprehend, but also to express by means of art the enormous importance of aviation in the modern era of technological progress. The work of the project is based on filming of aircraft cabins, each of which has its own unique history and distinctive features of visual aesthetics. Among them are such famous samples as Il-2, La-7, Pe-2, Tu-144, Tu-95. At one time, these planes changed the course of history, setting records for speed and altitude, carrying capacity and flight range, reliability and ease of control. Some delivered vital goods and famous figures of the era to their destinations. Others crushed enemies and defended state borders. It is difficult to overestimate the colossal role they played in shaping the modern image of the country, and indeed of the whole world.Nowadays, having become honorary museum exhibits, they have become public knowledge, having thrown off the mask of their former secrecy. It became possible not only to see, but also to capture the interiors of the pilots’ cabins previously hidden from the eyes of ordinary people, the holy of holies of modern temples of aeronautics. As an elaborate jewelry ornament, relics of the past, their bizarre combinations of devices serve as an expression of society’s deep faith in science and technological progress as the driving forces of modern civilization. At the same time, they also demonstrate how rapidly some designs are replaced by others, striving to take their place in the canon of the technological race. The purity and clarity of the language of electronics and numbers, which these devices speak, while not being fully comprehensible to an ordinary viewer, is perceived by him as an abstract rhythm,as if he heard the measured sounding of the words of an unfamiliar chant. It is here that you can fully experience how, while flying an airplane, a person glorifies the laws of the exact sciences, which, in turn, are governed by a universe that is not subject to anyone. Exhibition curator: Artyom Loginov.

With the support of the Central Museum of the Air Force and the General partner of the project: Bank PSB.

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Sasha Gentsis has been involved in photography for over 2 years. Works in the genres of landscape and industrial fine art photography. Held numerous solo exhibitions of landscape photography, participated in photo festivals.

The Ruled Heavens exhibition is the third major photography project. The exhibition presents 22 limited edition works and the author’s album.

In 2018, the exhibition "Socialist Surrealism" was presented at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, which in 2019 became a special project of the 5th Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art in Yekaterinburg.

Since 2015, for four years, Sasha Gentsis rented the abandoned and still operating workshops of the ZIL plant, the Likhachev plant and collected stories about the Soviet industrial giant. And he was one of the last to take pictures of the plant shortly before dismantling

Air Force Museum in Monino:
One of the oldest museums of aviation technology in Russia. Created at the Air Force Academy. Yu.A. Gagarin on November 28, 1958 on the basis of aircraft repair shops. It has a rich exposition of helicopters and aircraft for both civil and military purposes. This collection allows us to trace the evolution of aviation from the first aircraft to the aircraft of today.