Sketches for the Antigone Update 2023

Sketches for the Antigone Update /Installation and Performance at solo -show in Framer Framed , To those who have not time to play 2022-23 

Drawings in relation to the exhibition To those who have no time to play /2023

Framer Framed Amsterdam

Club of Unpredictable Drawing 2023

Performative encounter with PACT + Students

Spontaneous drawing session is dedicated to Well Being.

Wellbeing is an abstract notion and because of the nature of its abstract universality it is open for our interpretations. I propose to think about the wellbeing through the lenses of imagination and unpredictability. Unpredictability can be resolved through the spontaneousness, which in turn can be understood as a result of the freedom to do the action which is coinciding with our entire feeling of truth, which in other turn can be understood as a creation of the entire free space which might lead to the act of the creativity.

The other notion I propose to explore during our encounter is the movement. We are all migrants and defending the idea of the rights of migration we are interested in moving matters. A combination of moving and drawing might bring us to the de-conventionalization of the idea of a drawing as just sitting in one place and focusing on the particularity.

When we are lost the time is our friend.

Practical realization :

The group of 4 students, 2 observers ( Misty and Renee ), several parents ( some of them might be with kids ) and artist Gluklya are gathering in the circle . Gluklya invite everybody to share a thought about well-being. What it might mean for each of us. Gluklya also explain the rule of this session: everybody has to speak not more than 3 min. We will do one or two rounds of speaking like this. One of the Observers is controlling the time and after every 3 min is saying: Clock!

After that, when all the ideas about the well-being is collected, the wests with the drawing tools will be introduced to people and everybody is welcomed to dress them on.

Gluklya will explain the rules: Everybody are invited to move freely in the room, trying to mark the surface of paper by the attached drawing tool.

We might do two sessions: one with closed eyes and other with open eyes

Students are invited to listen carefully one by one each of the parents and write down or record the impressions of different outcome: with open eyes and close eyes.

After the session Gluklya and students and all participants are connecting stains made by unpredictable drawing session together by the red color.

Session finished.

The graphic outcomes might be used by Pact in their future campaigns.

Utopian Unemployment Union /London 23

by invitationto the project Drawing in Social Space Project 2

I was invited to be the Project Artist for ‘Drawing in Social Space Project 2’, a knowledge exchange project with Camberwell College of Arts Fine Art and Drawing Room in London exploring drawing beyond the gallery walls.  

Always feel more friend than a teacher and this workshop fully served this intention, which was exciting!

The outcome of the process was a performative drawing session in St. Michaels Church with the art students and local mothers from PACT, which is a sort of a caring club for local migrant community who are gathering regularly at the church to support their wellbeing. It was the most organic place for the workshop which was planned with and supported by curators Renee Odjidja (Camberwell) and Misty Ingham (Drawing Room).

I proposed to extend the idea of drawing to the scale of the body and came up with the preposition for the original design of the “VESTS WITH ATTACHED PENCILS ” allowing to draw and dance at the same time. The workshop starts with short breathing and movement exercises, which Renee kindly shared with the group, and then we talk using the spiral conversation technique (round talk with the care control over the time) about well-being, and what it means for each of the participants.

I proposed to think about Wellbeing as something which embraced also the dark side of each of us and asked Misty to read part of my proposal for this encounter which was on the abstract notion of wellbeing, spontaneousness and movement. 

“We are all migrants and defending the idea of the rights of migration, we are interested in moving matters. A combination of moving and drawing might bring us to the de conventionalisation of the idea of drawing as just seating in one place and focusing on the particular subject in the classical way.

When we are lost the time is our friend.”

After that, with the help of Irish music, everybody starts to draw on the carefully prepared paper over the windows. Wonderfully, Misty took the initiative to announce the start of this process.

Migrant mothers came with kids and there was a special place for them that was organized so that they can draw as well.

After the drawing session was accomplished and the mothers left us, we talked with students and staff from PACT about the process.

Club of Unpredictable Drawing

Performative encounter with PACT + Students

Spontaneous drawing session is dedicated to Well Being.

Wellbeing is an abstract notion and because of the nature of its abstract universality it is open for our interpretations. I propose to think about the wellbeing through the lenses of imagination and unpredictability. Unpredictability can be resolved through the spontaneousness, which in turn can be understood as a result of the freedom to do the action which is coinciding with our entire feeling of truth, which in other turn can be understood as a creation of the entire free space which might lead to the act of the creativity.

The other notion I propose to explore during our encounter is the movement. We are all migrants and defending the idea of the rights of migration we are interested in moving matters. A combination of moving and drawing might bring us to the de-conventionalization of the idea of a drawing as just sitting in one place and focusing on the particularity.

When we are lost the time is our friend.

Practical realization :

The group of 4 students, 2 observers ( Misty and Renee ), several parents ( some of them might be with kids ) and artist Gluklya are gathering in the circle . Gluklya invite everybody to share a thought about well-being. What it might mean for each of us. Gluklya also explain the rule of this session: everybody has to speak not more than 3 min. We will do one or two rounds of speaking like this. One of the Observers is controlling the time and after every 3 min is saying: Clock!

After that, when all the ideas about the well-being is collected, the wests with the drawing tools will be introduced to people and everybody is welcomed to dress them on.

Gluklya will explain the rules: Everybody are invited to move freely in the room, trying to mark the surface of paper by the attached drawing tool.

We might do two sessions: one with closed eyes and other with open eyes

Students are invited to listen carefully one by one each of the parents and write down or record the impressions of different outcome: with open eyes and close eyes.

After the session Gluklya and students and all participants are connecting stains made by unpredictable drawing session together by the red color.

Session finished.

The graphic outcomes might be used by Pact in their future campaigns.

Drawings in relation to the exhibition To those who have no time to play /2023

1 May 2017,2018,2019

The film consists of the video documentation of the demonstrations unfolded in the streets of St. Petersburg on 1 May 2017, 2018 and 2019. Demonstrations had happened almost every year since Soviet times untill 2020.  

1 May – the day of Labour and Spring – became the possibility for the artistic community of St. Petersburg to express political protest. This day was only one during which it could be imaginable to unite progressive critical thinkers with other citizens. Year after year ,1 May demonstration became a protest art event. More and more people were joining. The imagination of artists brought unique aesthetic to the protest.

We began to film the 1 May demonstrations in 2017, by inviting Nastya Molchanova as a camera person. Later she invited her friend Gleb Milian

to work with other camera. In preparation, I invited people for a workshop at my studio in St. Petersburg to create costumes to wear during the protest and the dress banners , by the using their clothes (I had conceived of these banners, clothes on conceptual sticks, during one of the first protests in 2012). We decided to name our group at the demonstration Column of Fragility. Our costumes took the form of a green cucumbers, referencing the young mind as a reflection on the slow process of raising critical voices among the Russian population. There is expression in Russian : you are like a green cucamber ,which means not mature ,infantile mind. Already in the first 10 minutes of our appearance at the square where the march would depart from, the police came and demanded to make a hole in the costumes, explaining that it was forbidden to cover one’s face during the demonstration. We subordinated to the demand with regret.

In 2018, I invited the Union of Convalescents *to join the demonstration together and filmed it myself. The debate of this year revolved around the topic of forced hospitalization in mental institutions and stigmatization of people with diagnoses of mental illness. We reflected on both problems: the topic of sending disobidient people to psychiatric hospitals to shut them up and the orthodox condition of the post-Soviet countries regarding correct diagnoses, horrible treatment of patients and the lack of the support for institutions of care in general.

2019 brought the topic of police corruption, abuse of power, cruel torture of prisoners and extreme work conditions, especially for migrants. This year filming was done by Ivan Shatravin-Donsov and Natalia Nikulenkova would film the police. But this year we faced a new obstacle; the police had installed a check point, like in an airport, and investigated every item of our protest banners. They asked, why is this written here? What does it mean? Why are they looking so ugly and so on… And then they confiscated it all and threw it in the garbage! After the demonstration, we came back and took what had survived.

I do not know when or if the 1 May demonstrations will ever be possible again. Most of the artistic groups and individuals seen in the videos – my dear friends – are now facing investigations by the Russian government for their political position, with many forced to evacuate the country.

Union of Convalescents consisted of: Natalia Nikulenkova, Egor Safronov and Pavel Mitenko.

Special thanks for Natalia Nikulenkova by editing the material and assistance.

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Solo Show: To those who have no time to play

EXHIBITION OPENING: 13 October, 19:00 ARTIST: Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) SUPPORTED BY: Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap; Gemeente Amsterdam; AFK; Stichting DOEN; Van Abbemuseum IN COLLABORATION WITH: Moawya Alkhadra BiSCA (Saadat Aitalieva) Shepherd Camara Roger Cremers Liah Frank Natalia Grezina Marianne Koeman Vladimir Rannev Benjamin Roth Gulmira Tursunbaeva Anna Bitkina Shaiymkan Chylgobaeva Kunduz Asanakunova Anisa Ibrayeva Nurlan Alymseitov Dinara Akylova Rahat Bolotbek Kyzy Zayna Ayazbekova Open Line Foundation CURATOR: Charles Esche Framer Framed presents To those who have no time to play, the largest solo exhibition for the Amsterdam-based artist Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya), curated by Charles Esche. In keeping with her previous work, the exhibition involves many collaborators from Kyrgyz textile workers and recent migrants to the Netherlands to musicians and writers. The exhibition is structured around four elements, each with its own unique architecture. These are two yurts, a dome, and a stage on which there will be occasional live performances. The works take us from Amsterdam to Bishkek, and via St. Petersburg back to Amsterdam again. Although conditions in Bishkek or St. Petersburg might seem far from Dutch society, bringing these different social and emotional geographies together through art emphasises connections between them. It is impossible to ignore the many disasters looming on the horizon: the climate crisis, extreme social inequality, the war in Ukraine and the harsh working lives of people supplying cheap goods to Western high streets. Gluklya relates it all in a surreal landscape, where humour appears unexpectedly. She takes us on an associative journey through global abuses, whether they be forced labour and migration, economic exploitation or abuse of power. CONTACT: www.framerframed.nl info@framerframed.nl ADDRESS: Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71, 1093 KS Amsterdam OPENING TIMES: Tue – Sun (12:00 - 18:00) Free Entree
Inspired by Natalie Pershina | Copyright © 2018