Oleg Kulik
Leonid Tishkov
Tatyana Arzamasova
Lev Evzovitch
Evgeny Svyatsky
Olga Stolpovskaya
Russian Contemporary Art in Video Format. The exhibition features recent work by noted Russian artists Oleg Kulik, Leonid Tishkov, AES (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovitch, Evgeny Svyatsky), and Olga Stolpovskaya. 'Detente' invites a reconsideration of Russian contemporary art being viewed as anachronistic or antiquated. A series of live events and public conversations engaging contemporary Russian art and society will accompany the exhibition.
Russian Contemporary Art in Video Format
Presenting: Oleg Kulik, Leonid Tishkov, AES (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev
Evzovitch, Evgeny Svyatsky), Olga Stolpovskaya
Series Curator: Nina Zaretskaya
Introduction: Aaron Levy
The Slought Foundation, Philadelphia exhibition "Detente: Russian Contemporary
Art in Video Format," curated by Nina Zaretskaya of Moscow-based Art Media
Center "TV Gallery," features recent work by noted Russian artists Oleg Kulik,
Leonid Tishkov, AES (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovitch, Evgeny Svyatsky), and
Olga Stolpovskaya. "Detente" invites a reconsideration of Russian contemporary
art being viewed as anachronistic or antiquated. A series of live events and
public conversations engaging contemporary Russian art and society will
accompany the exhibition.
Biographies:
Oleg Kulik lives and works in Moscow. His exhibitions and performative events
are characterized by 'strong' expression and social provocations, where he
himself assumes the role of an 'artist-animal', or, more specifically,
'artist-dog'; at times, he becomes a bird, a fish, or a bull. Among the most
radical of contemporary Russian artists, he holds a Scholarship of Berlin
Senate (1996) and has displayed work at Manifesta I in Rotterdam, Holland
(1996), the Venice Biennial (1997, 2001), at the Biennials of Istanbul, Turkey
(1997), Cetinje, Montenegro (1997), Sao Paulo, Brazil (1998) and Valencia,
Spain (2001), at the Modern Museum, Stockholm ('After the Wall', 1999),
theTate Modern (2000), the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2002) and at the Freud
Museum London ('The Russian Patient', 2002). His solo exhibitions and events
include the main venues of contemporary art in Moscow (M. Guelman Gallery, XL
Gallery, TV Gallery and Regina Gallery), Deitch Projects, New York ('I Bite
America & America Bites Me,' 1997), Galerie Rabouan-Moussion, Paris (1998),
Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw (2000), and S.M.A.K., Gent ('Deep into Russia,'
2001). 'When we involve the point of view of different biological species in
aesthetic practice, it will produce a new Renaissance and an aesthetic boom
that is hardly imaginable today.' (O Kulik, Ikon 2001).
Leonid Tishkov, a Moscow artist, works in different genres and media including
painting, caricature, book arts, poetry, video and performance, developing
traditions of absurdism and surrealism in Russian culture. '[His work] is
reminiscent of Kruchenykh's fantastic philology and his concept of 'zaumj' as
the manifestation of a spontaneous non-codified language. In that sense,
Tishkov can be compared with religious sectarians who in moments of ecstasy
speak x{2018}in tongues'.' (Grubisic. "L.Tishkov. Creatures", 1993). Solo
exhibitions include "Dabloids and Other Creatures" (Museum of Nonconformist
Art, St. Petersburg, 2000), "The Crystal Stomach of the Angel " (Gallery
Dzyga, Lviv, Ukraine, 1999), "Creatures: Objects and Video installations"
(Contemporary Art Center, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl Art Museum, Russia,
1999), "Dabloid Theater" (Fargfabriken, Center for Contemporary Art,
Stockholm, 1998), "Protodabloids" (Art Media Center 'TV gallery', Moscow,
1997), 'Creatures' (Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, USA, 1993). His
recent videos were shown at the Hamburg FilmFest in 2001 ('The Air Creatures')
and at the Bristol Short Film Festival in 2000 ('The Funeral'). Group shows
include the Russian National (formerly Lenin) Library, Moscow (1993), the
British Library, London (1994), Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington (1997), the
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (1999), Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover
(1999), the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (2000), Contemporary Art Center of
Virginia, USA (2001), Queen's University, Belfast (2003).
AES (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovitch, Evgeny Svyatsky; created 1987) is a
triumvirate of aggressive and provocative artists intent on creating works,
which might be considered as 'political uncorrect', engaging themes such as
violence, body, and Westernization. 'Political correctness is too often a form
of censorship', - they once stated in an unpublished article by the American
artist Archie Galents in connection with their most famous work 'Islamic
Project. AES x{2013} The Witnesses of the Future'. The project was widely covered by
media and shown, often as "AES Travel Agency to the Future", at numerous
venues such as Neue Galerie Studio, Graz, Austria (1997), Festival
Atlantico-99, Lisbon, Portugal (1999), SIETAR Europe Congress 2000, Brussels,
Belgium, Jean-Marc Patras x{2013} N.O.M.A.D.E., Paris, France (2000), and Galerie
Sollertis, Toulouse, France (2001). 'The AES artists assume that they work in
a world of totally deconstructed oppositions and destroyed boundaries where
the polarization of East and West x{2013} which remained the most important
ideological foundation of so called modern art (the art of the post-World War
II period) x{2013} has been lost.' (E. Dyegot. 'The End of the Evidence', 1997).
Solo exhibitions include "The Art of the Possible" (M.Guelman Gallery, Moscow,
1993), "Family Portrait in the Interior" (XL Gallery, Moscow, 1995), "The
Yellow is Cooking, the White is Eating", Art Media Center "TV Gallery", Moscow
(1998), "AES Nomade makes stop in New York", Art in General, New York (1999),
"Le Roi des Aulnesa", Galerie Knoll, Vienna, Austria (2002).
Olga Stolpovskaya, a Moscow-based artist, works in multimedia, film and
theater. From 1999-2002 she was a producer on STS (The Russian TV Stations
Network). Her video "Bruner'$ Trial," premiered at TV Gallery, Moscow in 1998,
and was then purchased by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The script of
'Bruner'$ Trial' is based on the true-life scandalous incident, which received
international coverage. Russian artist Alexander Brener vandalized a
masterpiece by Kazimir Malevich in Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. For painting a
green $ sign on the canvas the extremist was sentenced to half-a-year
imprisonment. 'The Authors of the film made an ironic statement of the story,
almost in 'Mr. Bin' style. Under the influence of their protagonist's action
The European Union makes a decision to abolish the money. People are rejoicing
and tear notes into pieces. If the film was out two years ago Brener had been
acquitted of the crime for sure.' (PREMIER Magazine, August, 1998). Olga
Stolpovskaya's film 'The Subscribers' received the Moscow Media Forum 2001
Award. Works have been shown at various Russian and international venues and
festivals including The Anthology Film Archives, New York, Oberhausen
International Film Festival, Germany; Video Lisboa, International Video
Festival, Lisbon; International Independent Film Festival, Brussels;
Kunsthalle Faust und Medienhaus, Hannover; European Media Art Festival,
Osnabruck; Cortomola Short Film Festival, Bologna; Paralleles Kino, Drei
Russische Filmnachte, Graz; St.Anna Student & Debut Film Festival, Moscow;
Money Exhibition, Stockholm; WRO International Media Art Festival, Wroclaw;
Moscow Film Festival, Moscow.
Nina Zaretskaya lives and works in Moscow and New York. She is a documentary
producer and founding director of Art Media Center 'TV Gallery' (1991), a
Moscow institution responsible for the appearance and development of video art
and the art of new technologies in Russia. Nina Zaretskaya has curated and
organized numerous exhibitions including 'Total Recall' (dedicated to Phillip
K. Dick), 'This Other World of Ours' (video installations by Young British
Artists), and 'Medium is the Message' (presentation of work by Nam June Paik),
introducing contemporary foreign art to Russian audiences. Her recent show
'Femininity's Redress,' held at Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts,
New York, initiates a multi-phase project presenting progressive Russian women
artists to the Western public
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