BOLOTO
SECOND SWAMP BIENNALE
Swamp Biennale was located on the grounds of a former scientific research institute for precious metals exploration. Borders, which may seem clearly defined on maps, are in fact constantly reconsidered and reinterpreted. Geology plays a crucial role in this process, influencing where and how boundaries are drawn and how resources are exploited. At the heart of every territorial dispute remains the fight for control over oil, gas, metals, and water. These resources shape the economic and political significance of regions, turning borders into lines of conflict or cooperation.
Группа BOLOTO
Ольга Туманова, Василиса Лебедева
Название павильона: Гита и Зита
Тотальная инсталляция
Ольга Туманова, Василиса Лебедева
Название павильона: Гита и Зита
Тотальная инсталляция
BOLOTO Group
Olga Tumanova, Vasilisa Lebedeva
Pavilion Title: Gita and Zita
Total Installation
“What are you doing, Zita?”
“I’m dancing, Gita. Dancing for my freedom.”
These lines from the Indian film Gita and Zita inspired the artists’ latest research project. It began with their solo exhibition Scheme, nearly a year ago, held at an abandoned concrete factory that was demolished the day after the exhibition. The show explored the meaning of life, the journey of existence, and the contemplation of death.
The starting point for the new project was a surprising discovery: there once existed a twin of that factory at the opposite end of the city. This fact evoked associations with the cult Indian childhood film, where the fates of twin sisters intertwine in their fight for freedom and self-determination.
In their project, the artists explore themes of loss, duality, power, and its chaotic, uncontrollable influence. The story of the two sisters—one finding freedom through struggle, the other through submission—becomes a metaphor for personal and societal choice: to yield to circumstances or to resist them.
Special attention is given to reflections on the divine essence and its manifestation within the individual. The artists examine the path of inner development, progressing from the idea of “God within me” to the affirmation of “I am God.”
Olga Tumanova, Vasilisa Lebedeva
Pavilion Title: Gita and Zita
Total Installation
“What are you doing, Zita?”
“I’m dancing, Gita. Dancing for my freedom.”
These lines from the Indian film Gita and Zita inspired the artists’ latest research project. It began with their solo exhibition Scheme, nearly a year ago, held at an abandoned concrete factory that was demolished the day after the exhibition. The show explored the meaning of life, the journey of existence, and the contemplation of death.
The starting point for the new project was a surprising discovery: there once existed a twin of that factory at the opposite end of the city. This fact evoked associations with the cult Indian childhood film, where the fates of twin sisters intertwine in their fight for freedom and self-determination.
In their project, the artists explore themes of loss, duality, power, and its chaotic, uncontrollable influence. The story of the two sisters—one finding freedom through struggle, the other through submission—becomes a metaphor for personal and societal choice: to yield to circumstances or to resist them.
Special attention is given to reflections on the divine essence and its manifestation within the individual. The artists examine the path of inner development, progressing from the idea of “God within me” to the affirmation of “I am God.”
Anna Tararova
Pavilion Title: Anna's Beadwork Room
Total Installation
Beads, found objects
Pavilion Title: Anna's Beadwork Room
Total Installation
Beads, found objects
This project delves into the concept of bifurcation. In simple terms, it’s the moment when something (a particle, actor, or flow) chooses one of two directions. Before the point of bifurcation, the behavior of particles is determined and experiences only minor fluctuations (small variations that don’t affect the overall movement). But at a certain moment, the particle is forced to “make a choice,” throwing the system into chaos because its behavior becomes unpredictable. Eventually, particles reach a stable state, and within the system, they gravitate towards order. Through cycles of order and chaos, the system self-organizes. This theory of chaos was developed by chemist and physicist Ilya Prigogine, drawn from his studies on irreversible processes in chemistry. The concept of bifurcation extends beyond natural sciences to geography, geology, sociology, and economics.
The structure representing bifurcation is borrowed from my observations of nature—I subconsciously recreate the “branching” patterns of the plant world in beadwork. This could represent a river, lichen, mineral dendrites, or a social phenomenon.
I simply repeat this pattern countless times. And theoretically, it’s an infinite story, but we observe the process at a specific moment in time.
In the narrative, the pavilion represents the abandoned office of a fictional scientist, who struggled to achieve harmony and balance. He experimented with silicon-based life forms, though there are no records of his experiments. Perhaps because the results only appeared after the scientist's work was done, we now witness the self-organization of particles in this room, reflecting the constant movement between order and chaos.
Anna Grositskaya
In collaboration with my husband, Ivan Sapkov
Pavilion Title: Jewels 2024
Total Installation
In collaboration with my husband, Ivan Sapkov
Pavilion Title: Jewels 2024
Total Installation
You are in a nostalgic laboratory. Here, various types of “burdens on the soul” are displayed, illustrating their transformation from a solid state into something light and almost soft.
Each stone is wrapped in fabric from the past, as if it were a gift with unknown contents, with visible seams on the outside and a seemingly blooming surface.
You can recall and identify the type of burden from your past using the table on the wall to your right. You are invited to reflect on how your “burden” is losing its weight, turning into a jewel, both in this laboratory space and throughout your life.
Each stone is wrapped in fabric from the past, as if it were a gift with unknown contents, with visible seams on the outside and a seemingly blooming surface.
You can recall and identify the type of burden from your past using the table on the wall to your right. You are invited to reflect on how your “burden” is losing its weight, turning into a jewel, both in this laboratory space and throughout your life.
Group AM
Pavilion Title: Birds, Not Birds
Installation
Pavilion Title: Birds, Not Birds
Installation
Migratory birds, constantly on the move. Always seeking to optimize their lives—where to winter, where to spend the summer. Leaving places that no longer serve them, searching for where they belong. Across oceans, over distances, through the unknowns of long journeys.
Sedentary birds, enduring their circumstances. Born and staying in one place, they adapt and accept. This is where they were born, and here they remain, perhaps dreaming, or perhaps living fully in contentment.
Black, white. Extremes? Or harmony in contrast? If everything spins fast enough, it all blends together, turning gray—birds, people, walls, houses, gates, all become one. Everything is transient.
Materials for the sculptural forms: wood, bronze, sand, granite chips.
Sedentary birds, enduring their circumstances. Born and staying in one place, they adapt and accept. This is where they were born, and here they remain, perhaps dreaming, or perhaps living fully in contentment.
Black, white. Extremes? Or harmony in contrast? If everything spins fast enough, it all blends together, turning gray—birds, people, walls, houses, gates, all become one. Everything is transient.
Materials for the sculptural forms: wood, bronze, sand, granite chips.
Evgenia Sterlyagova
Pavilion Title: Unidentified
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: Unidentified
Total Installation
Dangerous and strange figures highlighted by sliding light open up space for the imagination. In closed communities, in military environments, and in dangerous, unexplored territories, the image of "the other" is perceived as hostile and frightening. The artist explores themes of image transformation, affect, and anamorphic distorted vision. The strange, eerie figures in awkward poses are actually made from fabrics—denim and details from our everyday clothes, produced abroad in China, India, and Malaysia. Despite increasing separation and hostility, countries remain part of a global production cycle and cultural existence.
Materials for sculptural forms: textile, stuffing materials.
Video: A gif of moving, animated clothing, created in the style of infrared and thermal imaging like in Predator (cult movie, USA, 1987), as if expanding the perception spectrum of these strange objects through various systems.
Sound: strange noises, grinding, rustling.
Photo: digital print, 30x40.
Materials for sculptural forms: textile, stuffing materials.
Video: A gif of moving, animated clothing, created in the style of infrared and thermal imaging like in Predator (cult movie, USA, 1987), as if expanding the perception spectrum of these strange objects through various systems.
Sound: strange noises, grinding, rustling.
Photo: digital print, 30x40.
Art Group "Zherdely Pospeli!"
Eldar Ganeev, Nadya Lisovskaya, Timofey Maksimov, Tanya Taput, Ilya Khart, Petr Tsarev, Katya Shafir
Pavilion Title: Also Foreigners
Interactive Installation
Eldar Ganeev, Nadya Lisovskaya, Timofey Maksimov, Tanya Taput, Ilya Khart, Petr Tsarev, Katya Shafir
Pavilion Title: Also Foreigners
Interactive Installation
Those who stayed but whose lives drastically changed have essentially also become foreigners. They live in another country without the possibility of leaving it.
The installation is a deserted airport registration hall. The destinations displayed on the monitors are either mythical, difficult to reach, or almost legendary—Svalbard (Spitsbergen, where planes rarely land), Hohhot (the capital of Inner Mongolia, now a proverb for remote places)...
The installation is a deserted airport registration hall. The destinations displayed on the monitors are either mythical, difficult to reach, or almost legendary—Svalbard (Spitsbergen, where planes rarely land), Hohhot (the capital of Inner Mongolia, now a proverb for remote places)...
Art Group "Zherdely Pospeli!"
Eldar Ganeev, Nadya Lisovskaya, Timofey Maksimov, Tanya Taput, Ilya Khart, Petr Tsarev, Katya Shafir
Pavilion Title: The Song of the Guide-Bird
Interactive Installation
Eldar Ganeev, Nadya Lisovskaya, Timofey Maksimov, Tanya Taput, Ilya Khart, Petr Tsarev, Katya Shafir
Pavilion Title: The Song of the Guide-Bird
Interactive Installation
Any journey—whether a vacation, a purposeless trip, or emigration—involves guides in a broad sense. To some extent, we depend on these guides, even if we try to minimize contact or don't notice them at all.
Journeys often involve "crossing over," reaching "the other side," and changing oneself. Guides help us reach "the other side"—be it another country, another world, another life, or a new version of ourselves...
The Guide-Bird is a collective image of mythical creatures: the Sirin bird, the Itsuma bird, and sirens. The Sirin bird symbolizes sorrow, the Ulysses syndrome—the longing of someone who has left home. The Japanese Itsuma bird appears during disasters and wars, escorting the souls of the dead to the afterlife. The sirens lure travelers.
Journeys often involve "crossing over," reaching "the other side," and changing oneself. Guides help us reach "the other side"—be it another country, another world, another life, or a new version of ourselves...
The Guide-Bird is a collective image of mythical creatures: the Sirin bird, the Itsuma bird, and sirens. The Sirin bird symbolizes sorrow, the Ulysses syndrome—the longing of someone who has left home. The Japanese Itsuma bird appears during disasters and wars, escorting the souls of the dead to the afterlife. The sirens lure travelers.
Iv. Turchenko and OH "Vchizlo"
Pavilion Title: Institute of Time
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: Institute of Time
Total Installation
New theories in quantum physics and parallel universes allow us to reconsider the study of alternative pasts.
The pavilion presents the Dead Metal archive of the Institute of Time group. At the turn of an era, a group of paleontologist enthusiasts conceived an impossible idea: to write and perform a Dead Metal opera about dinosaurs titled Volgasaurs in Flames. They had neither the instruments nor the concept of how to proceed, but their eyes were full of enthusiasm. After discovering the remains of the largest dinosaur in Russia on the banks of the Volga River, inspiration struck, uniting a passion for music and bones. The fear of inevitable death by meteorite—or a more powerful neighbor—runs through all the group’s lyrics like a red thread.
The idea to create an archive was born in 2022. The thin line between realities sparked speculations about how Dead Metal culture might have influenced working youth and creative circles in the USSR and early Russia. The space and time itself dictate unique images of a bygone era, as events, as usual, run in cycles, catching us off guard.
Archive: memorabilia, photos, posters, audio.
The pavilion presents the Dead Metal archive of the Institute of Time group. At the turn of an era, a group of paleontologist enthusiasts conceived an impossible idea: to write and perform a Dead Metal opera about dinosaurs titled Volgasaurs in Flames. They had neither the instruments nor the concept of how to proceed, but their eyes were full of enthusiasm. After discovering the remains of the largest dinosaur in Russia on the banks of the Volga River, inspiration struck, uniting a passion for music and bones. The fear of inevitable death by meteorite—or a more powerful neighbor—runs through all the group’s lyrics like a red thread.
The idea to create an archive was born in 2022. The thin line between realities sparked speculations about how Dead Metal culture might have influenced working youth and creative circles in the USSR and early Russia. The space and time itself dictate unique images of a bygone era, as events, as usual, run in cycles, catching us off guard.
Archive: memorabilia, photos, posters, audio.
Lilia Kim
Pavilion Title: Only for Russian Citizens
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: Only for Russian Citizens
Total Installation
Where is the line that separates identification from discrimination, and when does discrimination evolve into nationalism and destruction? The questions are based on personal observations and the experience of living in another country.
Lyubov Remizova
Pavilion Title: Hatching
Pavilion Title: Hatching
"RPG"—Bird's Nest Drawing (Donna Kaiser, 1996) is a drawing test designed to assess attachment. Drawing a bird’s nest, initially perceived by most people as a simple task, triggers a range of meaningful associations related to what is inside the nest, its physical structure, the materials used, and the presence or absence of birds, eggs, or chicks.
My nest is woven from hair and lacks a bottom, leaving the space unstable, though still sheltered by the walls. Here, personal and global boundaries meet, evoking associations with migration and the search for refuge in the face of external pressures.
Women weave a fragile support from hair, while men leave the nests, confronting questions of identity and belonging. The threads of the past are smooth and thin, like hair, easy to slip from and fall into the abyss where there is no bottom.
To find a balance between fear and the desire for freedom, you need to hold onto something, maintaining individuality in a world turned upside down.
My nest is woven from hair and lacks a bottom, leaving the space unstable, though still sheltered by the walls. Here, personal and global boundaries meet, evoking associations with migration and the search for refuge in the face of external pressures.
Women weave a fragile support from hair, while men leave the nests, confronting questions of identity and belonging. The threads of the past are smooth and thin, like hair, easy to slip from and fall into the abyss where there is no bottom.
To find a balance between fear and the desire for freedom, you need to hold onto something, maintaining individuality in a world turned upside down.
Mitya Grankov
Pavilion Title: Cabinet of the Disappearing Sound
Installation
Pavilion Title: Cabinet of the Disappearing Sound
Installation
Imagine yourself as a researcher, an employee of this scientific institute. What are you studying in this cabinet? Try to extract the "disappearing sound," listen to it, and to the other sounds around you. Please record your observations in the journal—any thoughts on sound or the room itself will be important and will be entered into the observation log of the Cabinet of the Disappearing Sound.
P.S. Be careful, strings are stretched across the room; move slowly. You can play on any of the strings. Please do so delicately and treat the musical instrument with care.
P.S. Be careful, strings are stretched across the room; move slowly. You can play on any of the strings. Please do so delicately and treat the musical instrument with care.
Anastasia Litvinova
Pavilion Title: FADED
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: FADED
Total Installation
Faded—pale, dull, withered, faded, abandoned, ghostly, forgotten, disappeared.
People are often forced to leave their homes in a hurry, without prior preparation. This can result in a state of "suspension" between worlds—when you no longer feel like a stranger, but you gradually forget what it was like to be "local" because the place you once called home has either drastically changed or no longer exists.
The FADED project is about the attempt to preserve the last memory of home intact. It has not yet disappeared but has already significantly faded and become somewhat distorted. The centerpiece of the installation is a piece titled Last Supper—a tablecloth imprinted with cyanotype images of the remnants of the last dinner before departure.
Sound: Ilya Kapitonov.
People are often forced to leave their homes in a hurry, without prior preparation. This can result in a state of "suspension" between worlds—when you no longer feel like a stranger, but you gradually forget what it was like to be "local" because the place you once called home has either drastically changed or no longer exists.
The FADED project is about the attempt to preserve the last memory of home intact. It has not yet disappeared but has already significantly faded and become somewhat distorted. The centerpiece of the installation is a piece titled Last Supper—a tablecloth imprinted with cyanotype images of the remnants of the last dinner before departure.
Sound: Ilya Kapitonov.
Natalia Konyukova
Pavilion Title: About ODD (or an Illustrated History of Hatred Toward Strangers and the Strange)
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: About ODD (or an Illustrated History of Hatred Toward Strangers and the Strange)
Total Installation
The installation illustrates the conclusion of a very simple story of alienation and hatred toward the other. Here, you will find the scene of ODD’s murder by "normal" people.
One of the booths is open, and you can identify the remains of the last ODD. His writings are displayed on the wall, where he describes his story and anticipated fate.
One of the booths is open, and you can identify the remains of the last ODD. His writings are displayed on the wall, where he describes his story and anticipated fate.
Natalia Konyukova
Pavilion Title: TRIANGULARIS III
Installation
Pavilion Title: TRIANGULARIS III
Installation
"Strange eyes fill strange rooms"
— Jim Morrison, song Strange Days by The Doors (album Strange Days, 1967).
We enter the room.
In the first seconds, we try to sense and understand the stability of the space. If we do not find a clear foothold (up, down, or social loyalty), we feel alienated. This generates fear.
We know that "the other" is suspicious, and the stranger is an enemy.
We can feel strange and alien around certain people, as foreigners in another country, as outcasts at a family party, in a yoga class, at a home gathering, or when oddly dressed among people with perfect looks, or physically different from the majority.
We are strange and alien only depending on where and among whom we are.
The installation is the third object in the series TRIANGULARIS, which explores the influence of a triangular object on self-perception in various contexts.
Materials: LED tape in the shape of a spatial triangle.
Space: A ruined chemical laboratory room.
— Jim Morrison, song Strange Days by The Doors (album Strange Days, 1967).
We enter the room.
In the first seconds, we try to sense and understand the stability of the space. If we do not find a clear foothold (up, down, or social loyalty), we feel alienated. This generates fear.
We know that "the other" is suspicious, and the stranger is an enemy.
We can feel strange and alien around certain people, as foreigners in another country, as outcasts at a family party, in a yoga class, at a home gathering, or when oddly dressed among people with perfect looks, or physically different from the majority.
We are strange and alien only depending on where and among whom we are.
The installation is the third object in the series TRIANGULARIS, which explores the influence of a triangular object on self-perception in various contexts.
Materials: LED tape in the shape of a spatial triangle.
Space: A ruined chemical laboratory room.
Nika Belyaeva
Pavilion Title: Transition
Installation and Performance
Pavilion Title: Transition
Installation and Performance
The Transition installation is an exploration of memory and transformation, framed as an abandoned chemical factory. It gathers artifacts from the past: photographs, a dried flower from the last bouquet given by a mother, and fruits preserved for more than 5-7 years. These objects, filled with personal meaning, create an atmosphere of lost memories, immersing the viewer in a world where time and space intertwine.
At the center of the exhibition are two tables with test tubes, each containing photographs that visualize unreachable moments of life. This "memory laboratory" reveals how memories shape our perception of reality.
A video installed in a cabinet connects various layers of time. Anyone can participate from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, experiencing a moment of acceptance and transition, living in the "here and now."
Performance: Transition
The interactive element of the project invites guests to become part of the video work. Participants can stand on a platform of living moss, experiencing a ritual of transition, symbolizing change and renewal. These experiences will be documented. Filming will take place on 6.09.24 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM—everyone is welcome.
Oleg Ivanov
Pavilion Title: Room "Norma Jean"
Venice Biennale, Being a Foreigner—about migrants, exiles, and outsiders.
Pavilion Title: Room "Norma Jean"
Venice Biennale, Being a Foreigner—about migrants, exiles, and outsiders.
For many of us, this is a forced or long-awaited comparativism. Many have become foreigners to avoid any association with a country that has gone mad and its president. But we stayed.
But where did we go? Who are we now? Foreigners in our own country?
Our "swamp" is usually our swamp. This is our swamp. Let's remember The Traveling Frog or the film Cloud-Paradise. We are talking about Being a Foreigner. What can we say about it, appropriating a ruin with a glorious and tragic fate?
First of all, we are getting rid of catastrophic debris—that is, from this very history. It's more convenient for us this way. We need spaces for our art. Perhaps that's why we are foreigners in the burnt-out floors of the Geological Research Institute. And we bring our "swamp" here.
The theme of Being a Foreigner is wonderful. It's not just a suitcase and a train station; it's Sartre and Lacan, it's the terrifying "OTHER" that allows us not to drown in love for the whole world, focusing instead on ourselves.
Here, for the second time, I am simply trying to build myself a small apartment for normal living in a ruin. The first time was at the exhibition curated by Ilina Chervonnaya, Indefinite Dispensary, in 2018. My little room was also called Norma Jean. This is the name Marilyn Monroe's parents gave her at birth.
A NORMAl life, a cozy little room, a day off, gin and a melon on the table. No art, no foreigners, no tragic history, but all around and inside—your president. Your Marilyn Monroe swoons under his, er... fatherly, kind gaze.
Here I use, as always, a well-known phenomenon of contemporary art: any work can be shown, explained, and precisely tied to any exhibition.
Special thanks to Sasha Mutsko for helping with the complex assembly—repairing and completely transforming the lab into a cozy living room.
But where did we go? Who are we now? Foreigners in our own country?
Our "swamp" is usually our swamp. This is our swamp. Let's remember The Traveling Frog or the film Cloud-Paradise. We are talking about Being a Foreigner. What can we say about it, appropriating a ruin with a glorious and tragic fate?
First of all, we are getting rid of catastrophic debris—that is, from this very history. It's more convenient for us this way. We need spaces for our art. Perhaps that's why we are foreigners in the burnt-out floors of the Geological Research Institute. And we bring our "swamp" here.
The theme of Being a Foreigner is wonderful. It's not just a suitcase and a train station; it's Sartre and Lacan, it's the terrifying "OTHER" that allows us not to drown in love for the whole world, focusing instead on ourselves.
Here, for the second time, I am simply trying to build myself a small apartment for normal living in a ruin. The first time was at the exhibition curated by Ilina Chervonnaya, Indefinite Dispensary, in 2018. My little room was also called Norma Jean. This is the name Marilyn Monroe's parents gave her at birth.
A NORMAl life, a cozy little room, a day off, gin and a melon on the table. No art, no foreigners, no tragic history, but all around and inside—your president. Your Marilyn Monroe swoons under his, er... fatherly, kind gaze.
Here I use, as always, a well-known phenomenon of contemporary art: any work can be shown, explained, and precisely tied to any exhibition.
Special thanks to Sasha Mutsko for helping with the complex assembly—repairing and completely transforming the lab into a cozy living room.
Olga Oskina,
with the participation of Alexander Mutsko
Pavilion Title: Survivor’s Error
Total Installation
with the participation of Alexander Mutsko
Pavilion Title: Survivor’s Error
Total Installation
The objects were created in April 2024 for the project Drawn Hearth.
Olya Makhno
Pavilion Title: Adjacent Room
Pavilion Title: Adjacent Room
Excessiveness as an extreme measure. Extreme measure as the only thing we have the strength for. The only thing we have the strength for is senseless persistence, stubbornness as a point of support, the desire to prove that everything has already gone too far—over the edge, beyond all possible boundaries.
ADJACENT ROOM
Performance: 2 hours 35 minutes
Video documentation: 8 minutes 49 seconds
Objects: Hammer, axe
IN THE POOL, THE WATER AND AIR ARE ALWAYS COMFORTABLE
Performance: 1 hour
Video documentation: 6 minutes 6 seconds
CHLORINE
Project
According to your faith, so be it to you (Matt. 9:29)
Triptych
Author’s technique, print, oil, graphite
70x180 cm
2023
Chlorine Installation
Vessels filled with chlorinated water
Variable dimensions
2024
ADJACENT ROOM
Performance: 2 hours 35 minutes
Video documentation: 8 minutes 49 seconds
Objects: Hammer, axe
IN THE POOL, THE WATER AND AIR ARE ALWAYS COMFORTABLE
Performance: 1 hour
Video documentation: 6 minutes 6 seconds
CHLORINE
Project
According to your faith, so be it to you (Matt. 9:29)
Triptych
Author’s technique, print, oil, graphite
70x180 cm
2023
Chlorine Installation
Vessels filled with chlorinated water
Variable dimensions
2024
Pavel Zudanov
Pavilion Title: Big Black or The Alternative
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: Big Black or The Alternative
Total Installation
"—Dad, what is an alternative?
—It’s hard to explain in a few words, but here’s an example: You work at a factory, year after year, saving money. Eventually, you save enough to move to a village. You buy a dozen eggs and hatch chicks. You feed and take care of them, they grow up and start laying eggs. You put those eggs in an incubator, and soon you have thousands of chicks. You take care of them, and now you have thousands of grown hens. These thousands of hens start laying eggs, and now you’re a big-time farmer! But then, a flood comes—everything is gone, everything dies, everything is washed away...
—Dad, so where’s the alternative?
—The alternative, son, is—DUCKS!"
This work interacts with personal and collective experiences of memory, history, and loss.
The main character in this installation is not a real duck, but a ghost and shadow of a former symbol and internet meme, forever trapped in nostalgic past.
Now, it is just inflatable light and shadow, playing with our perception of space and scale.
—It’s hard to explain in a few words, but here’s an example: You work at a factory, year after year, saving money. Eventually, you save enough to move to a village. You buy a dozen eggs and hatch chicks. You feed and take care of them, they grow up and start laying eggs. You put those eggs in an incubator, and soon you have thousands of chicks. You take care of them, and now you have thousands of grown hens. These thousands of hens start laying eggs, and now you’re a big-time farmer! But then, a flood comes—everything is gone, everything dies, everything is washed away...
—Dad, so where’s the alternative?
—The alternative, son, is—DUCKS!"
This work interacts with personal and collective experiences of memory, history, and loss.
The main character in this installation is not a real duck, but a ghost and shadow of a former symbol and internet meme, forever trapped in nostalgic past.
Now, it is just inflatable light and shadow, playing with our perception of space and scale.
Sasha Kokacheva
Pavilion Title: Mappa Mundi
Installation
Pavilion Title: Mappa Mundi
Installation
This project presents a conceptual installation filled with metaphors about migration, home, and connection to roots. The project compares the migration of birds with the movements of people (foreigners) and uses traditional motifs related to crafts and bird imagery.
Migratory birds symbolize free border crossing, unrestricted by state lines. In contrast, people often move due to external circumstances, and their paths are less predictable. A map of the world with migration arrows and spindle darts visualizes this idea. Darts piercing the map represent attempts to find a home. They resemble arrows or projectiles launched into different parts of the world, symbolizing both violence and destruction, as well as the attempt to create new living spaces.
The threads, which can be broken or tangled by disaster, serve as a symbol of connection to home, culture, and peaceful life. As a mythical element, threads remind us of stories of heroic journeys. For instance, in Greek mythology, the Moirai's threads controlled the lives of people. In this case, migrants, like the heroes of these myths, follow their path, not always having control over their fate.
Home is represented through traditional activities and familiar attributes. A shuttle bag replaces a spinning wheel and symbolizes people’s movements. A doormat with "Welcome" written on it and a set of keys point to the idea of home as a symbol of hope. But in the context of conflict and migration, home becomes something temporary, unstable. Home is not only a physical place but a symbol of the inner world, identity, and rootedness. For foreigners crossing borders in search of safety, this home may not always be available. The symbols of home here remind us of loss and the search, that home can be both a refuge and an elusive dream.
Migratory birds symbolize free border crossing, unrestricted by state lines. In contrast, people often move due to external circumstances, and their paths are less predictable. A map of the world with migration arrows and spindle darts visualizes this idea. Darts piercing the map represent attempts to find a home. They resemble arrows or projectiles launched into different parts of the world, symbolizing both violence and destruction, as well as the attempt to create new living spaces.
The threads, which can be broken or tangled by disaster, serve as a symbol of connection to home, culture, and peaceful life. As a mythical element, threads remind us of stories of heroic journeys. For instance, in Greek mythology, the Moirai's threads controlled the lives of people. In this case, migrants, like the heroes of these myths, follow their path, not always having control over their fate.
Home is represented through traditional activities and familiar attributes. A shuttle bag replaces a spinning wheel and symbolizes people’s movements. A doormat with "Welcome" written on it and a set of keys point to the idea of home as a symbol of hope. But in the context of conflict and migration, home becomes something temporary, unstable. Home is not only a physical place but a symbol of the inner world, identity, and rootedness. For foreigners crossing borders in search of safety, this home may not always be available. The symbols of home here remind us of loss and the search, that home can be both a refuge and an elusive dream.
Serafima Sazhina
Pavilion Title: I Don't Know Who I Will Become
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: I Don't Know Who I Will Become
Total Installation
The idea of a foreigner is connected with a person who, after experiencing prolonged isolation, returns to society and feels alienation and a lack of belonging. Such a person lived in a closed group with its own rules and traditions, where the central figure is a leader whose authority is unquestionable. In this group, the person is instilled with the notion of the "true path," opposed to the mistakes of the outside world. The group lives by strict discipline, where daily rituals and practices become part of life and worldview.
Membership in such a group satisfies the need to escape personal responsibility: the choice to live by others’ rules is deliberate, motivated by the desire to avoid uncertainty and the complexity of independent existence. It offers stability and a sense of belonging but requires the sacrifice of personal freedom in favor of shared norms.
However, leaving this environment is fraught with difficulties of adaptation. The previous rules and lifestyle may differ greatly from the norms of the society the person is returning to. The encounter with new conditions creates a sense of loneliness, social disorientation, and a feeling of being "other." This process is represented by the image of a Beast—a cautious, instinctive creature that feels out the boundaries of what is possible and permissible in the new world, gradually adapting to it.
Membership in such a group satisfies the need to escape personal responsibility: the choice to live by others’ rules is deliberate, motivated by the desire to avoid uncertainty and the complexity of independent existence. It offers stability and a sense of belonging but requires the sacrifice of personal freedom in favor of shared norms.
However, leaving this environment is fraught with difficulties of adaptation. The previous rules and lifestyle may differ greatly from the norms of the society the person is returning to. The encounter with new conditions creates a sense of loneliness, social disorientation, and a feeling of being "other." This process is represented by the image of a Beast—a cautious, instinctive creature that feels out the boundaries of what is possible and permissible in the new world, gradually adapting to it.
Sergey Aksyutenko
Pavilion Title: WHITE SPACE
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: WHITE SPACE
Total Installation
Is the exploration and conquest of the unknown an intrinsic part of human nature, or is it a universal trait of any organism?
What drives people to leave the comfort of their familiar lives and risk survival in harsh conditions on our planet and beyond?
This project is based on personal experience working in Antarctica.
What drives people to leave the comfort of their familiar lives and risk survival in harsh conditions on our planet and beyond?
This project is based on personal experience working in Antarctica.
Slava Ptrk
Pavilion Title: Black Series
Street Project Documentation
Pavilion Title: Black Series
Street Project Documentation
A series of street works featuring simple geometric forms, executed in black facade paint. The pure and raw black color helps express feelings and thoughts, while the scale creates an environment and situation with which people can interact.
This project is about searching for and finding oneself; losing one's home; about emigration, relocation, escape; about the anxiety and fear around and within you; about the constant sense of impending disaster and the foreboding of misfortune. Perhaps this catastrophe has already happened, and we failed to notice, still trying to ignore what has happened to our homeland and ourselves. Most of the works were created in abandoned and empty buildings—hotels, homes, factories, churches, and other atmospheric, unique, yet forgotten places.
All drawings were made illegally in Montenegro in 2022-2023.
Photos by Slava Ptrk, Vladimir Abikh, and Bogdan Sinaysky.
This project is about searching for and finding oneself; losing one's home; about emigration, relocation, escape; about the anxiety and fear around and within you; about the constant sense of impending disaster and the foreboding of misfortune. Perhaps this catastrophe has already happened, and we failed to notice, still trying to ignore what has happened to our homeland and ourselves. Most of the works were created in abandoned and empty buildings—hotels, homes, factories, churches, and other atmospheric, unique, yet forgotten places.
All drawings were made illegally in Montenegro in 2022-2023.
Photos by Slava Ptrk, Vladimir Abikh, and Bogdan Sinaysky.
Artist: Larion Tareev
Pavilion Title: Enduring
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: Enduring
Total Installation
The hum of the train, the pleasant rhythmic swaying, the announcement of the next stop—these are signs that the journey is just beginning. With every moment, I delve deeper and deeper into my own thoughts, dreams, unresolved questions. Voices from the past awaken.
Being on a long-distance train, I see as a form of therapy, a psychological detox. It is here where I mentally organize myself, where I am left alone with my thoughts.
Here, when the whole world pauses, I free myself from the clutter of my mind. It’s here that doors to my soul open. With each stop, with every gust of wind from the next stretch of track, this process gains more and more colors and shades, preparing me for new facets of self-discovery.
Sound Artist: Babette.deziree
I wrote this soundscape in one breath, intuitively inspired, because in the last two years, I’ve traveled by train over 12 times and felt immersed in the rhythm of the wheels, the hums, the conversations of fellow passengers, the vibrations, the clattering at night stops, the creaking and rattling. I used fully analog equipment to mimic these clicks and add atmosphere to the field recordings made on trains. I often feel anxiety and claustrophobia on trains, so this work was quite therapeutic for me. I often dive into music creation on the go to distract myself. I often write atonal music with growling sounds, as I like to create the sense that there’s a living organism inside. This soundscape is divided into different parts and stories. I tried to accompany each with cosmic sounds to create a cinematic effect and electrify the space.
Being on a long-distance train, I see as a form of therapy, a psychological detox. It is here where I mentally organize myself, where I am left alone with my thoughts.
Here, when the whole world pauses, I free myself from the clutter of my mind. It’s here that doors to my soul open. With each stop, with every gust of wind from the next stretch of track, this process gains more and more colors and shades, preparing me for new facets of self-discovery.
Sound Artist: Babette.deziree
I wrote this soundscape in one breath, intuitively inspired, because in the last two years, I’ve traveled by train over 12 times and felt immersed in the rhythm of the wheels, the hums, the conversations of fellow passengers, the vibrations, the clattering at night stops, the creaking and rattling. I used fully analog equipment to mimic these clicks and add atmosphere to the field recordings made on trains. I often feel anxiety and claustrophobia on trains, so this work was quite therapeutic for me. I often dive into music creation on the go to distract myself. I often write atonal music with growling sounds, as I like to create the sense that there’s a living organism inside. This soundscape is divided into different parts and stories. I tried to accompany each with cosmic sounds to create a cinematic effect and electrify the space.
Tina Shibalova
Pavilion Title: Reality
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: Reality
Total Installation
WHAT IS GOOD, WHAT IS BAD
In the space of Reality, where everything is as it is, a phrase appears. It visually resembles a careless, unsanctioned work, something that could easily appear in an abandoned space. This way, the text blends in with existing notions of what can be found in such a place. The chosen phrase is not random: it appeared once and stayed.
This phrase is associated with Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem "150,000,000," where the author reflects on revolution. 150,000,000 was the population of the USSR at the end of the 1920s.
In the space of Reality, where everything is as it is, a phrase appears. It visually resembles a careless, unsanctioned work, something that could easily appear in an abandoned space. This way, the text blends in with existing notions of what can be found in such a place. The chosen phrase is not random: it appeared once and stayed.
This phrase is associated with Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem "150,000,000," where the author reflects on revolution. 150,000,000 was the population of the USSR at the end of the 1920s.
Digital Object Alliance
Anya Leonova, Sasha Puchkova
Pavilion Title: To a Happy Life!
Installation
Anya Leonova, Sasha Puchkova
Pavilion Title: To a Happy Life!
Installation
Anya:
Soviet science institutions—now mythologized, closed-off objects where secrets were created over years. The inhabitants of these mystical laboratories, offices, and endless straight corridors with countless compartments-doors participated in this creation. For an outside observer, the sparse and restrained setting of scientific production became a special everyday reality for the staff of CNIGRI. They dedicated their lives to this place and wrote stories and poems about it.
In such spaces, science came first, and people were its workers, servants. Within their assigned roles, they domesticated their workspaces, claiming them as their own. Traces of this gesture can still be found throughout the former workspaces: outdated calendars, notebook fragments with personal notes, and faded posters influence our perception of the place. It seems that these objects are perceived as foreign here and are discarded as unnecessary when the building's life ends. This room collects what reconstructs not the space itself, but its presumed inhabitants.
Sasha:
The laboratory of a geological exploration institute is a place of search, of chemical digging. From all corners of the world, minerals and ores end up here. A person literally walks on potential, black and crunchy underfoot. Practical research science is characterized by stable semiotics with symbols of traditional tools (despite modern progressive geological methods), which pass into modern symbols and emblems, and over time they become "domesticated," creating characters and temporary mascots.
On the tables, one can see a number of artifacts: a fantastic map of elements, a stack of paper with a secret, a folded accordion of graph paper, where secrets can also be found. This is how we create a space of mutation for familiar geological exploration symbols.
Soviet science institutions—now mythologized, closed-off objects where secrets were created over years. The inhabitants of these mystical laboratories, offices, and endless straight corridors with countless compartments-doors participated in this creation. For an outside observer, the sparse and restrained setting of scientific production became a special everyday reality for the staff of CNIGRI. They dedicated their lives to this place and wrote stories and poems about it.
In such spaces, science came first, and people were its workers, servants. Within their assigned roles, they domesticated their workspaces, claiming them as their own. Traces of this gesture can still be found throughout the former workspaces: outdated calendars, notebook fragments with personal notes, and faded posters influence our perception of the place. It seems that these objects are perceived as foreign here and are discarded as unnecessary when the building's life ends. This room collects what reconstructs not the space itself, but its presumed inhabitants.
Sasha:
The laboratory of a geological exploration institute is a place of search, of chemical digging. From all corners of the world, minerals and ores end up here. A person literally walks on potential, black and crunchy underfoot. Practical research science is characterized by stable semiotics with symbols of traditional tools (despite modern progressive geological methods), which pass into modern symbols and emblems, and over time they become "domesticated," creating characters and temporary mascots.
On the tables, one can see a number of artifacts: a fantastic map of elements, a stack of paper with a secret, a folded accordion of graph paper, where secrets can also be found. This is how we create a space of mutation for familiar geological exploration symbols.
Kondratii Sery
Pavilion Title: Russian Pavilion
Total Installation
Pavilion Title: Russian Pavilion
Total Installation
Before you is only an intermediate stage of the project, as the object is supposed to be made from marble.
Let us not delve into details so as not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and instead, let us turn to Friedrich Nietzsche, who, through Zarathustra, exclaimed: "A new pride has taught me my Self, which I teach people: no longer to hide our heads in the sand of heavenly things but to hold it high, the earthly head that creates the meaning of the earth!"
The gray pyramid bears an endless array of symbols and metaphors. It represents both the vertical of power and the blessed hierarchy, as well as the striving upward. The gray pyramid is both a rocket referencing Russia’s glorious past and an innovative building aimed at a grand future. The shades of gray used for the pyramid were specially chosen so that each person, when faced with it, would be filled with immense respect for the deep symbolism it expresses. This symbolism lives in each of us in the form of the slave, which another person squeezes out drop by drop.
Let us not delve into details so as not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and instead, let us turn to Friedrich Nietzsche, who, through Zarathustra, exclaimed: "A new pride has taught me my Self, which I teach people: no longer to hide our heads in the sand of heavenly things but to hold it high, the earthly head that creates the meaning of the earth!"
The gray pyramid bears an endless array of symbols and metaphors. It represents both the vertical of power and the blessed hierarchy, as well as the striving upward. The gray pyramid is both a rocket referencing Russia’s glorious past and an innovative building aimed at a grand future. The shades of gray used for the pyramid were specially chosen so that each person, when faced with it, would be filled with immense respect for the deep symbolism it expresses. This symbolism lives in each of us in the form of the slave, which another person squeezes out drop by drop.
Dasha dada Bludova
Pavilion Title: Adaptationists
Spatial Installation of Objects (Concrete, Glass, and Other Materials)
Pavilion Title: Adaptationists
Spatial Installation of Objects (Concrete, Glass, and Other Materials)
Times dictate their own rules, developing the ability to transform. Mimicry as a way of adapting and surviving in new conditions.
Objects take on emotional weight and experiment with possible ways to integrate into a transformed environment.
Rebirth as a natural process of evolution.
Objects take on emotional weight and experiment with possible ways to integrate into a transformed environment.
Rebirth as a natural process of evolution.
Zhenya Mukha
Pavilion Title: Flower
Total Installation, Painting
Pavilion Title: Flower
Total Installation, Painting
"I built a greenhouse, trying to demonstrate its difference, but in the end, I only realized the difference in my own perceptions of myself."
For the construction of the pavilion, the artist Zhenya Mukha transformed an area of approximately 600 m² of an abandoned attic into a greenhouse, garden, and conservatory. Old glass windows from village houses were used for the build, a wooden walkway was laid across the attic, and the previously dark space was filled with flowers, burdock, a lawn, and a pond. This pavilion became the final point of the entire Bologoe Biennale exhibition.
For the construction of the pavilion, the artist Zhenya Mukha transformed an area of approximately 600 m² of an abandoned attic into a greenhouse, garden, and conservatory. Old glass windows from village houses were used for the build, a wooden walkway was laid across the attic, and the previously dark space was filled with flowers, burdock, a lawn, and a pond. This pavilion became the final point of the entire Bologoe Biennale exhibition.
Maresey Ivashchenko
Pavilion Title: "Comandante"
Pavilion Title: "Comandante"
A killer pavilion
The countdown has begun
If you're not hiding,
It's not my fault
The countdown has begun
If you're not hiding,
It's not my fault
Irina Gulyakina
Pavilion Title: In Your Shoes or the Artist's Resource
Installation: Video Essay, Ready-Made Objects, Painted Stones
Pavilion Title: In Your Shoes or the Artist's Resource
Installation: Video Essay, Ready-Made Objects, Painted Stones
“At the very beginning of working on a project for the Bologoe Biennale, my reflections were drawn to the theme of the 2024 Venice Biennale — ‘Foreigners Everywhere.’ I joyfully thought that I already had a work ready.
In 2021, under the curation of Georgy Mamedov, author of the course ‘Postcolonial Theory’ at the online school ‘Sreda Obucheniya,’ an open call was held for the exhibition ‘Accomplices’ at the Cube.Moscow gallery. My stand-up video performance ‘In Your Shoes’ was exhibited among the works of nine other participants. This is a self-reflection on the ambivalence of the postcolonial in the ‘civilized’ world, where borders blur: reading philosophy and modern critical theory, sympathizing with the sharp question of migration, one can fail to notice their involvement in the exploitation of migrants.”
For the Bologoe Biennale, the work has changed. The context of time (three years have passed since the creation of the performance) and space (the former laboratories of the geological exploration institute) have all influenced the artist’s updated installation.
As a result, the pavilion will feature a video essay on the resources of the modern artist. This is a reflection on the theme of inspiration, site-specific statements (specifically related to this place and the biography of filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky), reflection on the exploitation of personal family stories
In 2021, under the curation of Georgy Mamedov, author of the course ‘Postcolonial Theory’ at the online school ‘Sreda Obucheniya,’ an open call was held for the exhibition ‘Accomplices’ at the Cube.Moscow gallery. My stand-up video performance ‘In Your Shoes’ was exhibited among the works of nine other participants. This is a self-reflection on the ambivalence of the postcolonial in the ‘civilized’ world, where borders blur: reading philosophy and modern critical theory, sympathizing with the sharp question of migration, one can fail to notice their involvement in the exploitation of migrants.”
For the Bologoe Biennale, the work has changed. The context of time (three years have passed since the creation of the performance) and space (the former laboratories of the geological exploration institute) have all influenced the artist’s updated installation.
As a result, the pavilion will feature a video essay on the resources of the modern artist. This is a reflection on the theme of inspiration, site-specific statements (specifically related to this place and the biography of filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky), reflection on the exploitation of personal family stories
Artist Irina Gulyakina, "Community 22" and invited performers
Performance: Garden of Earthly Overcomings in the "Flower" Pavilion by Zhenya Mukha
Performance: Garden of Earthly Overcomings in the "Flower" Pavilion by Zhenya Mukha
Participants and offline participants: Irina Gulyakina, Vasilisa Krasnoyarova, Anastasia Shabalina, Margarita Viktorova, Olya Shershneva, Ira Feda, Elena Chebotareva, Toma Imass, Anastasia Markovskaya, Olga Aksenova
Participants and online participants: Alfiya Shamsutdinova, Oleg Semenovykh, Ksenia Kudasova, Liana Frolova
Installation of mirrors, laptop with online connection of performers, sound art, duration of the performance is about 1 hour
"The Garden of Earthly Overcomings" is a participatory performance of plant thinking from "Community 22" and invited performers.
Inspired by the book "Plant Thinking" by Michael Marder, published this year by Ad Marginem. Philosophy of Vegetative Life" and the practice of the artist Irina Gulyakina.
The performance was shown for the first time at the opening of the "Borovsk Center for Contemporary Art", in the garden. Here, at the Bolotnoye Biennale, one artistic statement starts a dialogue with another - the total installation-greenhouse of Evgenia Mukha.
The fragility and emotionality of the human, a postcolonial view of the greenhouse - as a garden of "others", and the antifragility of the plant.
The viewer is invited to join in the contemplation of himself and the "other" through sliding off thoughts and movement.
A thought that never happens, a movement that never happens. But vigor and intention, and thoughts and movements are preserved.
Participants and online participants: Alfiya Shamsutdinova, Oleg Semenovykh, Ksenia Kudasova, Liana Frolova
Installation of mirrors, laptop with online connection of performers, sound art, duration of the performance is about 1 hour
"The Garden of Earthly Overcomings" is a participatory performance of plant thinking from "Community 22" and invited performers.
Inspired by the book "Plant Thinking" by Michael Marder, published this year by Ad Marginem. Philosophy of Vegetative Life" and the practice of the artist Irina Gulyakina.
The performance was shown for the first time at the opening of the "Borovsk Center for Contemporary Art", in the garden. Here, at the Bolotnoye Biennale, one artistic statement starts a dialogue with another - the total installation-greenhouse of Evgenia Mukha.
The fragility and emotionality of the human, a postcolonial view of the greenhouse - as a garden of "others", and the antifragility of the plant.
The viewer is invited to join in the contemplation of himself and the "other" through sliding off thoughts and movement.
A thought that never happens, a movement that never happens. But vigor and intention, and thoughts and movements are preserved.
Anastasia Kovaleva
Pavilion Title: To the right in the wall, there will be a barely noticeable door that opens heightened senses through magic.
Pavilion Title: To the right in the wall, there will be a barely noticeable door that opens heightened senses through magic.
This quote from a guidebook for a walking game perfectly captures the essence of magical thinking.
Here, the very space is imbued with agency, engaging with us while simultaneously reflecting our own feelings and emotions. In the offices of the geodetic laboratory, where the earth found its voice, this idea feels even more relevant.
In my installation, I allow the walls to “speak.” My lead candle holders are, quite literally, casts and imprints of the earth. If you stare long enough into the flame or at the cracks in the old paint, you might begin to see patterns emerge.
Here, the very space is imbued with agency, engaging with us while simultaneously reflecting our own feelings and emotions. In the offices of the geodetic laboratory, where the earth found its voice, this idea feels even more relevant.
In my installation, I allow the walls to “speak.” My lead candle holders are, quite literally, casts and imprints of the earth. If you stare long enough into the flame or at the cracks in the old paint, you might begin to see patterns emerge.
Alexander Egorov
Pavilion Title: The Summit of Dreams
Pavilion Title: The Summit of Dreams
This pavilion is located on the top floor of the building and speaks to the themes of journey and acceptance.
Through images of mountains, rivers, blooming gardens, and sails, the artist creates a romantic motif of wanderings and discoveries. Upon closer inspection, however, one can notice that the mountain in the photographs is merely a muddy spring snowdrift, and the river is a shallow ditch, reflecting the sun countless times.
The ceramic bowls with single-use tea bags reference the Japanese concept of "ichigo-ichie," meaning "this encounter is unique in life."
In the Summit of Dreams, the journey is also an introspective look, reminding us how our perceptions of the present and future collide with reality.
Through images of mountains, rivers, blooming gardens, and sails, the artist creates a romantic motif of wanderings and discoveries. Upon closer inspection, however, one can notice that the mountain in the photographs is merely a muddy spring snowdrift, and the river is a shallow ditch, reflecting the sun countless times.
The ceramic bowls with single-use tea bags reference the Japanese concept of "ichigo-ichie," meaning "this encounter is unique in life."
In the Summit of Dreams, the journey is also an introspective look, reminding us how our perceptions of the present and future collide with reality.
GALOLBO
Pavilion Title: Welcome / Try walking in my shoes
Installation
Pavilion Title: Welcome / Try walking in my shoes
Installation
The enticing welcome phrases promise that here you will find your true Home… You stand as if in the transfer zone of an international airport. You are a foreigner in the land where you were born, meaning there are no barriers left where you can feel like an outsider.
You’ve never had a place to call your own; you’re always in transit and searching. Are you tired of constantly flitting about? But you don’t have many belongings; you could stop somewhere and rest, wait it out. What’s so great about having your own home? You dream of it, save up, then spend money to furnish it, but anything could happen to it at any moment.
With no property of your own and no country where you aren’t a foreigner, you’re always running up the stairs. Yet, strangely, you always find yourself at Home.
You’ve never had a place to call your own; you’re always in transit and searching. Are you tired of constantly flitting about? But you don’t have many belongings; you could stop somewhere and rest, wait it out. What’s so great about having your own home? You dream of it, save up, then spend money to furnish it, but anything could happen to it at any moment.
With no property of your own and no country where you aren’t a foreigner, you’re always running up the stairs. Yet, strangely, you always find yourself at Home.
Nastya Belova
Pavilion Title: SOC. HELP
Performance
Pavilion Title: SOC. HELP
Performance
I dangle in a red cloak with a scythe at one end of a rope from the fourth-floor landing. The other end of the rope is secured and wrapped around a support post, next to which is a sign that reads: “SOC. HELP.” The audience's reaction to this performance can go one of two ways — either indifference or collaborative assistance: “pulling” the artist up by the rope. There is also the risk that I might cut the rope I’m hanging from, thereby refusing support.
This year, I was invited to participate in PERFORMATICA 2024 in Venice from July 24 to 28 on behalf of the international performance network INPA (invitation attached). Unfortunately, I faced issues with my documentation and was unable to attend.
The performance addresses feelings of apathy and the struggle to overcome it, as well as a cry for help. Support from various structures is rare, and everything depends on timing, personal effort, risk, and luck, as well as the overall societal context. This experiment aims to reveal the reality of both the present and the future.
This year, I was invited to participate in PERFORMATICA 2024 in Venice from July 24 to 28 on behalf of the international performance network INPA (invitation attached). Unfortunately, I faced issues with my documentation and was unable to attend.
The performance addresses feelings of apathy and the struggle to overcome it, as well as a cry for help. Support from various structures is rare, and everything depends on timing, personal effort, risk, and luck, as well as the overall societal context. This experiment aims to reveal the reality of both the present and the future.
Pavilion Title: Shooting Gallery "99 pairs"
Timofey Maximov
Timofey Maximov
The pavilion is a room brimming with oversized, heavily inflated white gloves. These gloves are so puffed up that they resemble hands, furry animals, or even slippery wet fish. The space is completely filled with them—scattered across the floor, perched on shelves, draped over pipes, and even clinging to an exhaust hood. In short, they’re everywhere.
At the entrance, a table blocks the way. On the table, neatly arranged, are paper airplanes crafted from slightly yellowed paper. Peeking around the doorway, you’ll notice signs on either side reading **SHOOTING RANGE**. An instruction sheet hangs nearby, suggesting you burst a glove-balloon by launching a paper airplane at it. However, there’s a twist—you don’t *have* to follow the rules. You could just as easily aim for a window or even at an employee of the shooting range. All of this unfolds to the upbeat, fiery rhythm of the 1980s hit "99 Luftballons" by Nena.
At the entrance, a table blocks the way. On the table, neatly arranged, are paper airplanes crafted from slightly yellowed paper. Peeking around the doorway, you’ll notice signs on either side reading **SHOOTING RANGE**. An instruction sheet hangs nearby, suggesting you burst a glove-balloon by launching a paper airplane at it. However, there’s a twist—you don’t *have* to follow the rules. You could just as easily aim for a window or even at an employee of the shooting range. All of this unfolds to the upbeat, fiery rhythm of the 1980s hit "99 Luftballons" by Nena.
ZenitsaMedunitsa (Pasha Vasin, Ilya Medunitsa)
Pavilion Title: Sound Pavilion: "i'm sitting in a room"
Performance, Sound Experiment
Pavilion Title: Sound Pavilion: "i'm sitting in a room"
Performance, Sound Experiment
The duo ZenitsaMedunitsa will perform their own interpretation and homage to Alvin Lucier’s audio performance “i'm sitting in a room” — a key work in minimalist sound art that explores the uniqueness of acoustic spaces and the distinctiveness of voice. The sound occurring in the room is recorded and played back repeatedly, becoming distorted and echoing off the walls.
