Exhibition by Andrey Filippov and Paruiz Davtyan "Disputes" 0+

The ILONA-K artspace gallery presents the exhibition by ANDREY FILIPPOV and PARUIR DAVTYAN "SPORIES", which will be held from 11.06 to 23.08 in two exhibition spaces of the gallery, located on the 2nd and 40th floors of the Mercury tower in Moscow City.

The exhibition project unfolds in the format of a multi-semantic dispute, built both on the possibility of different interpretations of a single word, and on a variety of world perception, which is transformed depending on the vector of distance from the starting point chosen by the artist himself. In this case, this point becomes the meaning of the word "disputes", which can refer to a group of such general concepts as "discussion" or "contradiction", and on the other hand, denotes a specific biological mechanism designed to continue the life cycle of plants and fungi. Starting from two essentially opposite meanings, Andrei Filippov and Paruyr Davtyan enter into a dialogue that gradually turns into a polemic about the principles of utopia, politics and art, and at the same time into an endless game with associations and meanings.generally accepted in the practice of Moscow conceptualists.

Both masters define the creative process as an exploration of the artistic and semantic field, as well as a movement towards the fusion of ethical and aesthetic. This process is based on living experience, metamorphosis of forms and signs, with the help of which the viewer can be transported into an imaginary parallel universe.

In Andrey Filippov’s project, which will be located on the 2nd floor of the Mercury Tower, the idea of dualism is ideally embodied in the shape of a two-headed eagle. The heraldic symbol of the Russian Empire looks in two opposite directions, embodying two opposing political approaches, which Andrei Filippov himself defines as paranoid-conservative and schizoid-liberal. The first is based on orthodox Christianity, presented in the work of the early medieval theologian Aurelius Augustine "On the City of God" as the only possible way to create an ideal state built on the spiritual unity of the people. Another model involves the formation of an orderly but carefully controlled society, described in the treatise of the 17th century philosopher Tomaso Campanella "City of the Sun". Leaning towards the first, conservative method,Andrei Filippov creates his own series, where the world, be it the remains of an ancient civilization or eternal and unchanging nature, can exist only under the sign and total control of the highest power.

His opponent, Paruyr Davtyan, who adheres to the analytical branch of Moscow conceptualism, in turn, develops a "biological" direction, which is revealed in his series of hybrid collage objects that allow experimenting not only with different techniques, but also with semantic content. The co-author of the project, which was born during the pandemic, was the "Alice" neural network, which now can distinguish not only the voice, but also the image. According to Davtyan, "Alice" combines the principles of a humanoid mycelium, a tendency to combine the incompatible, inherent in the heroine of a fairy tale by Lewis Carroll, and the ability to generate new meanings from the polyphony of informative streams, formulated in Velimir Khlebnikov’s play "Mistress Lenin". Together with the virtual assistant Paruyr Davtyan developed and visualized the concept of the future of humanity,entered into a symbiotic relationship with the kingdom of mushrooms. The project consists of three parts - a herbarium with illustrations of a nonexistent novel, an inverted mushroom fountain and painting, as well as a four-channel video staging the play "Mrs. Lenin". The performer of the main role - actress Alena Mikhailova - was selected and recommended to the artist by "Alice".