Semyon Motolyanets
I exist, thus I am? Constant proving of one’s own being is the very existence spilled all over the world today. Do I exist because I see my reflection in the mirror? Do I exist because I have a passport, and it has a series and a number? Do I exist because I have a bank account? Do I exist because I have a right to vote at political elections? Do I exist because I reproduce myself? Do I exist because I’ve been recorded in history? You’ve got no guarantees for your existence, you should admit it. A succession of these statements cannot prove us that we exist. In fact, we need a separate institution and a huge amount of scientists and specialists working in it, who continuously should prove it to us that we exist. We need a circle of people admitting our existence. Today the world wide web plays this role. Today a tool to prove existence has become more important the existence itself, it moved into the zone of information field, and prevailing of information field over the field of reality puts up a question of existence necessity of the latter. Value of existence, sharply felt in borderline situations melts in everyday life. A man’s life is full of such “average being”, that’s why it’s so difficult to detect it on the territory of art. Spectators always need performance, and “overacting” in the first place in order to distract themselves and feel the difference with “average being”. And to avoid tuning the text into an explanation of my understanding of the term of “existentialism”, I wanted to pay attention to the place where we all live. We live in a distant corner. Our existence in the outskirts dictates the terms. Constant opponency to something, whether it is the centre, a cardinal direction, the heads or the masses, flattens the texture of a personal experience. Discrediting the value of one’s existence in this world interferes with the main monologue, turning it at times into a senseless squabble (no idea with whom and what for). An d I think it’s only a consequence of the outlined loss of interest in an individual as a phenomenon, existing in a lively process of self-construction. The value of existence has in some way and subtly started to play a second role. But we must firmly say that WE ARE with all consequences and responsibilities coming with this statement. Indeed, an artist is only an artist in the sense of “What he can allow himself to do”.
PARAZIT Creative Union
There’s an unusual gallery which has been functioning in St Petersburg for almost seven years, which has neither an official legal address, nor employees and curators, no a strict art policy. It’s the Parazit gallery, created to parasite “on the body” of various cultural institutions of the city, which has at present settled down in the corridor of St Petersburg famous Borey gallery.
For the first time an idea of artistic parasitism was carried out in 2000 by members of New Dodos Union, namely Vadim Flyagin and Vladimir Kozin. The story of today’s Parazit started when it was brought back to life in 2004 by Vladimir Kozin, Yuri Nikiforov and Igor Mezheritsky, leaders of three well-known, but non-existing at that time art groups. It should be noted, that a group of artists of Parazit gallery consists of artists, absolutely different in trend and technique. An important thing is absence of curator’s figure or some other administrator; all issues were resolved only at the artists’ collective meeting. The list of gallery artists changes from time to time: somebody leaves it, somebody joins it. A peculiar “youth section” of the gallery has formed up. It’s significant, that an age difference between the youngest and the oldest Parazit group member is 40 years. Such democracy is a rare thing in St Petersburg artistic life, where generations of artists pretty often “get closed” on themselves. In fact, Parazit gallery is a free association of artists, for whom Borey corridor has become a temporary exhibition place, and this hasn’t put any obligations on their individual projects. From time to time Parazit artists step out of the corridor and make big collective shows in Borey galley main halls or in other city galleries. |
