Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya
Dresses for the project “The Zoo”
Jacket and dress are symbolizing two hypertrophied male and female principles as a mirror image of the victory of wild capitalism in contemporary Russia . We are compo rising the binary oppositions between rich and poor classes with male and female alienation. We think that politic influence on the people s understanding of relations and our target is to show that working in this micro politic level is also very important .
This drawing was made after we have gotten an invitation to exhibit the group chto delat in the legendary ICA /London . After a several years of the official refusal and the persecution of the group in Russia it was important moment of the international recognition .
Scarlet sails is a symbol of the highest target /a sublime dream . We can see the last convulsions of the black costumes ,peddled in the red sea . Black costumes symbolizing the implementers of the society . White dress in the hill it is a victory of course ).It is relating with the our FFC film Scarlet Sales which based on the story of the soviet writer Alexander Green about the immovable believe to the miracle and a dignified dream ,written in 1916-1922.
Russia, 2009.
14 minutes
Declaration
We think that art should help people.
If you’ve been fired from your job and you’re in despair,
The ballerinas of the Vaganova Academy are willing to give you a helping hand,
And even a foot, and they’ll even give you their hearts.
The monstrous alienation that exists among people will be overcome.
There can be no doubt about this.
The way we move our bodies, like how we feel, can be transformed.
When you’re suspended between spaces,
When you’re stuck between stable structures,
Then your condition is revolutionary!
Reinvent yourself!
Zoo is the film largely focused on the concept of female solidarity.
According to our survey in collaboration with sociologists from Undependent institute of sociological research and Smolnii university /st-Petersburg ,female friendship poorely compares with male brotherhood.
Why is this happening? Answering this question can take a lifetime.
The research preceded the film. We created the situation of temporary club called «Laments about men». We have written our scenario based on listening to a number of stories. One of the women represents a wide-spread symptom of a «manlike woman», a female, whose conscience is constructed by patriarchal dominating attitudes. She is successful in her career, but pathologically unhappy in her lovelife. The other heroine represents conservative female position. She is all pity and she is unusually passive in her actions. Both women are wrong. They are the victims of the system and will continue being unfree untill they realize their symptom and strart acting.