Two Diaries, 2017

Two Diaries, an artist’s book, is the culmination of a two-year project between Gluklya, an artist of Russian origin, and Murad Zorava, a Kurdish activist and poet.

In 2017-18, Gluklya was renting a studio in one of the towers of Bijlmerbajes, a former prison in Amsterdam. After a year of workshops, meetings, and conversations with refugees, local artists, activists, and academics resulted in The Carnival of Oppressed Feelings, a whole-day performance on Amsterdam’s streets, and in the exhibition halls of the Van Abbemuseum during the Positions-4, 2018-19, curated by Charles Esche. During that year, Gluklya searched for ways to communicate with many of the refugees through a diary collaboration. Murad Zorava responded to her invitation and wrote a diary which became the true result of the project.

Two Diaries, a document of our time, illustrates through the lens of the position of refugees in Europe, critical issues of today’s society. The book unfolds several layers of the meaning of “prison” – the prison of language, the prison of artistic labels, the prison of social status, time, architecture and authority. Gluklya’s diary speaks to the artist’s struggle with the de-humanized system, while Murad Zorava’s diary focuses on his process of seeking asylum in the Netherlands. The book raises several questions; What does equality mean? When it is equality between a refugee and an artist, between, so to speak, educated artists and the person who did not study art at all? Can we imagine rethinking and abandoning ideas of the Enlightenment? How do diversity and inclusivity fit into this narrative? How to deal with the notion of care without falling into sentimental care, into patronizing, but soberly staying within the frame of radical care? 

Two Diaries focuses on the notion that refugees need something more profound than “things” for survival if they are to be seen as equal and full-right members of society. The idea is to rethink social change using art as a tool.

The book will be designed by Bardhi Haliti, in-kind support by Framer Framed in Amsterdam, and Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The proposed publisher is Walter Koenig.

“Two Diaries” Project Drawings Gallery

Diary

Afspraak afzeggen 2016

These drawing was made some time back ,during my time for the preparation to Dutch exam for getting the Eu passport. The sentence Afspraak afzeggen ,written in the shirts ,means :Appointment Canceled . It is about how you are feeling when your appointment, which you are waiting and carefully preparing suddenly canceled.

Material : whatecolour,64x50sm

Resistance Strategies. The Strange Never Surrender

This winter an exhibition «Resistance Strategies. The strange don’t surrender» by Gluklya (Natalya Pershinina-Yakimanskaya) took place in the Saint Petersburg branch of the State Center for Contemporary Art. Gluklya answered questions of Aroundart.

Olga Zhitlina: In the manifesto of the FFC (Factory of Found Clothes) you and Tzaplya write about sentimentality, but about a non-Hollywood type of it.  How can an artist re-appropriate feelings from Hollywood?

Gluklya: We just wanted to work with feelings, and that’s all. The statement was actually written while polemicizing with those artists, who are afraid of working with feelings, because everything is like appropriated by this dirty capitalist world. But if we follow this chaste way, it seems like we’ll fall into hermeticity. Let’s choose our own language (and aesthetics is a language), and let people learn this new language! And at this point I have a question: “How will they actually learn it”? Maybe, we should still leave some codes that will allow people to recognize themselves if they conceive a wish to share the artist’s convictions? Continue reading “Resistance Strategies. The Strange Never Surrender”

THE SNAKE OF THE MULTICULTURALISM / 2012

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The sketch for the up-going performance with migrants from Tadgikistan and artists community in St-Petersburg.I am playing with the forms ,trying to find the perfect image for the performance . The snake mean the ambivalence of the any political idea ,which usually brings people a lot of problems .The idea of multiculturalism sounds very good ,but probably faced with the reality became less attractive .

REQUIEM PYRAMID /2012

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The sketch for the performance “Migrants and Dancers Unite “. Continuation  of my research about migrants Diasporas in St-Petersburg . The drawing was inspired by the migrants death statistic . The statistic shows unbelievable  facts of brutal violation and murders toward migrants . The example of such statistics you can find in the document in attachment . In the drawing you can see the one part of the statistic (right corner down)
Kuziboev Hikamatullo Usmanovich
14.01.1976      Dushanbe    01.03.2011    Cause of death: whole-body cold exposure

THE SKETCH FOR THE CHTO DELAT FILM PARTISAN SONGSPIEL /2011

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The drawing is reflecting on the important message in the movie , the alienation from each other  between minorities as well as the usual disagreements   inside the left communities . In the left corner ,the protagonists of the movie : gipsy , worker ,lesbian and veteran shouting on each other . While the wise wolf in the middle pronouncing :  “During your debates the “blacks” already prepared the  battle ,and they are ready to attack “.
The group of the white partisans in the right caring the portret of  Vincent Van gog ,showing the parallel with the cutting earby Vincent  and cutting the finger by the worker in the Belgrad story . They are also showing the slogan : “We wish that they must stop arguing “
The worker is staying with his cutted  finger in the left corner up .

SHELTERS FOR MIGRANTS /2011

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Sketch for the Chto delat songspiel “The Nederland’s 20XX “ . The imaginary dance where actors ,who are playing with the special objects-shelters which we have created for them.

Inspired by Natalie Pershina | Copyright © 2018