Opening of the exhibition of St. Petersburg artists "A and B were sitting on a pipe" at the State Center for Contemporary Art

On October 4, a project was opened at the State Center for Contemporary Art (Moscow, Zoological Street, d. 13, Building 2) “A and B were sitting on a pipe” , which included an exhibition of 25 works by St. Petersburg artists made in the technique of collage, installation and assembly and the presentation of two new directions of the North-West branch of ROSIZO.

The name of the project refers us to the well-known children’s riddle about the first letters of the alphabet: "Has it fallen, B has disappeared, what remains on the pipe?" The answer to this question is possible only by paying attention to what you do not notice at first. The artistic techniques used by the authors of the exhibition are now widespread in advertising, on television, in computer programs and urban graffiti, and in the twentieth century, the technique of collage, editing and assembling transformed the attitude towards reality.

The exhibition was attended by: Marina (Manya) Alekseeva, Tatyana Akhmetgalieva, Peter Bely, Valery Grikovsky, Elena Gubanova and Ivan Govorkov, Art Engineers school, Boris Kazakov, Vladimir Kozin, Semyon Motolyanets, New Composers group, Andrey Rudyev, Alexander Shishkin-Hokusai.

Natalia Khvoenkova - coordinator of the project “A and B were sitting on a pipe”.

Olesya Turkina - project curator. Critic, Ph.D., leading researcher at the Department of the Newest Trends of the State Russian Museum. Curator of more than 200 international exhibitions of contemporary art at the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Pori Art Museum (Finland), MMOMA (Moscow), Moscow Museum, New Museum (St. Petersburg), GAO Pulkovo Observatory (St. Petersburg) and others. Curator of the Russian pavilion at the 48th Venice Biennale (1999). The author of numerous publications on contemporary art. Head of the first master’s program in Russia “Curatorial Studies” at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University together with Bard College (USA).

Alexander Kostylev - Technical Director.

Gleb Nikandrov - project architect.

The exhibition was opened by Alisa Prudnikova, Director for Regional Development, ROSIZO.

“This project is especially important for the regional directorate: it sums up our work and completes the regional program, launched two years ago. Then, in order to stretch the connecting thread between the Moscow art scene and the branches of ROSIZO, we chose the city from which the first exhibition will be brought to the capital. And it is significant that it was St. Petersburg that became this city. It turns out that the circle is closed, the project ends essentially with where it started, ” Alisa Prudnikova said in a welcoming speech.

At the opening, we congratulated and thanked the team that was involved in the development of the concept, the selection of works, and the preparation of a common visual image of the exhibition space:
“Any exhibition and any project begins with an idea. “A and B” is no exception. The management of the North-West branch of ROSIZO contacted me for the joint development of a project that, through the work of St. Petersburg artists, will talk about collage, editing and assembling techniques. Now these artistic techniques have entered our life so tightly that we do not pay attention to them. In cities, advertising posters and banners look at us from all sides, when creating which designers use a collage on the machine. Meanwhile, these artistic techniques have their own interesting history of origin, which in our time is “present shock” as relevant as possible, ”said curator of the exhibition Olesya Turkina.

According to the artist Valery Grikovsky, whose work is presented at the exhibition, collage, installation and assembly is just an excuse to talk about something more.

“We live in a time when one concept replaces another. Previously, society accepted only what you can feel: sculpture, painting, paints, books, etc. At the same exhibition, you can see not only traditional techniques: music sounds, the image moves on the monitor - and this is part of the object or everything that happens on the screen is the object. To convey the meaning of his work, the artist has the right to choose any object, method and material. The main thing is that the viewer is ready to perceive such art, ”says Valery Grikovsky.

Artists presented works that, with the help of collage, installation and assembly, reveal the relationship to the real and the illusory.

As a historical preamble, the exhibition included: the assembly of Evgeny Rukhin - “Painting Composition” from the collection of ROSIZO-NCCA and a collage of Timur Novikov from the collection of Maria Novikova. "Painting Composition"

- one of the best works from the ROSIZO collection, which fully reflects the technique of collage, installation and assembly. It destroys the usual perception with its stereotypes and makes you look at the picture of the world from a different angle.

In addition to the program brought from St. Petersburg to Moscow, in the framework of the project “A and B were sitting on a pipe”, the North-Western branch announced a new open-call for artists to stay in a residence in Kronstadt.

“Also this year, we launched a new program of residences for curators, so that together we can create even more interesting and unique projects,” said Maria Katz, director of the North-West branch of ROSIZO.

A blog about the art of the Nordic countries was launched at the North-Western branch in parallel with the exhibition “A and B were sitting on a pipe”

“We were the first on our official pages on social networks to research and talk in Russian about the work of the Baltic neighbors - no one else is doing this,” said Maria Katz.

After the solemn part, Olesya Turkina conducted a curatorial tour, on which she talked about how artistic techniques of collage, editing and assembling originated and dwelled on the meanings hidden in every work for details.

About the North-West Branch of ROSIZO

The North-West Branch of ROSIZO was opened in 1995, becoming the first of eight regional branches.

The priorities of the branch include:

• art and cultural projects that promote the dialogue of contemporary art and the cultural landscape of St. Petersburg;
• art in public spaces; contemporary art in a classical museum;
• Petersburg art today. Projects aimed at the interaction between generations of St. Petersburg artists. Young art;
• international projects. Integration of St. Petersburg and Russian contemporary art in the global art process. Projects representing foreign contemporary art in St. Petersburg and Russia and Russian art abroad;
• educational activities in the field of contemporary art - lectures, seminars, master classes by Russian and foreign artists, curators and art historians.

The North-Western branch of ROSIZO has a residence for artists in Kronstadt. Here, artists are given the opportunity to work on projects as part of international art exchange programs.

About the regional program:

The ROSIZO regional program was opened together with the ROSIZO Regional Development Directorate, established in January 2017, and is designed to maximize the organization’s network resource in practice. The first project within the program is the opening of a platform to showcase the best regional initiatives in Moscow. Every few months, projects of branches of the ROSIZO network are opened on Zoological Street 13, which have become the most striking event in the cultural life of each of the regions. The projects are accompanied by publishing and educational programs aimed at popularizing the specifics of places, developing communication between regions, consolidating experience and integrating local contemporary art into the global context. One of the most important tasks of the program is the development of horizontal connections, the promotion of local artists and curators both in Moscow and in the international context.

The mission of the program is to promote cultural exchange between regions, cultural centers, individual artists and researchers, to develop art and artistic expertise in the regions. The head of the regional development directorate of ROSIZO is Alisa Prudnikova.

The project program also includes side events:

October 6 - workshop on the collage of Semyon Motolyants;

October 18 - lecture by the director Oleg Kovalov “Collage and editing in the cinema” and film screening of the film “Scorpion Gardens”.