FFC Performance during the second Queer festival in St-Petersburg
Installations Utopian Unions
Installation ММОМА/Moscow/2013
PERFORMACE “ENCOUNTER” 2013
UMID AND NATASHA 2013
Performance on the Opening
DIE WELT BEWEGT SICH
Austria-Russia
KATY DEEPWELL
”The relationship between big and small things” Tsaplya and Gluklya, Factory of Found Clothes: Interview by Katy Deepwell’ volume 27 n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal (Jan 2011) Women’s Work pp. 81-92
http://www.ktpress.co.uk/nparadoxa-volume-details.asp?volumeid=27
DANCE FOR ALL!
The problem of migration is one of socio-political problems that have been stirring the Western social conscience up for the last few decades, generating all kinds of attitudes: from roaring optimism to deep disillusionment with the methods and strategies of the Western state multicultural policy.
All the more urgent is this problem for Russia which, unlike Western countries, does not have any elaborate and long-term migration policy. That is why sanguinary conflicts between people from different cultural backgrounds on the same territory arise regularly and lead to predictable consequences. In other words, uncompromising ethnical and cultural clashes and deliberate confrontations of various groups became a regular cultural mechanism in Russia, and its price is the human right to life. Thus the state principle of dividing and ruling is implemented in Russia. Naturally, any productive cultural dialogue and social unity on the basis of diversity is out of question. Continue reading “DANCE FOR ALL!”
The Last Resistance, 2012
The performance is structured as a confrontation between two social positions presented by two written narratives as well as a physical confrontation between the participants. The participants do battle over the main idea of the performance, the conflict between the artist and the system. Needless to say, in the current political climate of a full frontal assault by the right wing it has become essential for the artists to clearly define their social stance and principles.
In the course of the performance the two participants physically confront each other while reading text passages. Participant number one (Gluklya) represents the utopian consciousness of an artist. She reads a narrative about current events in Russia and the place of an artist in society. Participant number two (Thomas) reads corporate guidelines on conflict resolution at the work place.
The juxtaposition of the corporate manual designed to effectively manage the employees and the poetic narrative by an artist describing Russia’s ills is highly symbolic and serves as a metaphor for the fundamental conflict underlying the modern-day society.
Artists are faced with a creative/moral dilemma whether to surrender to marketplace forces or to take a stand of “eternal resistance”.
Performance takes place within a specially designed set that consists of three mattresses, a desk, and two microphones. Once faced with an impact of falling body mattresses produce a sound of metal springs set into motion.
The set of rules was created for the performance. The participants had an option to interrupt the action by pressing the red button. The button would set off the alarm accompanied by blinking lights. The first participant to press the button loses a point while his/her opponent gains one.
Our performance is a logical continuation of the previous performance study under the title FFC “Utopian Trade Union of Unemployed). As we were conducting the research for the project we interviewed a group of young men and women to identify their social positions and aspirations. To our surprise we discovered how little they knew about the idea of “equality” as a necessary component of a relationship, or else of the idea of resistance.
It is very important in our opinion to examine the juxtaposition between the idea of struggle/resistance as opposed to the temptations of comfort. This commitment to struggle and nonconformity is becoming increasingly important in the contemporary Russian society. This is particularly pertinent in the case of Russia, a country undergoing profound capitalist transformation, where the human interaction is often subsumed by the imperatives of naked power.
THE ADVERTISE FOR THE OPENING THE SCHOOL FOR LEARNING UZBEK LAUNGUAGE/ 2012
with the portret of Olga Gitlina in the image of the midle age poet Babur
Wings of Migrants. A transparent reseach
Wings of Migrants
| September 8 – October 13, 2012 Opening September 8, 5 – 7 pm |
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| Gluklya – Wings of Migrants | |
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| Gluklya, ‘Wings of Migrants’, 2012, still from video | |
| AKINCI proudly announces the first exhibition of Factory of Found Clothes (FFC) presented by the Russian artist Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) with the project ‘Wings of Migrants’.
This project by Gluklya is presented at AKINCI as a ‘transparent research’ and focuses on migrants who come to Russia from the former Soviet Union. Migrants are often used as unskilled and low-paid workers, as a rule displaced to the periphery of society. This closure is determined by the deprived and often illegal status of migrants, as well as by the culture and language differences. The film ‘Wings of Migrants’ which forms part of the show, is a collective collaboration with the “No dance company” in St-Petersburg. It started from the idea to create a long term project: ‘Theatre for migrants’. There is a historical link to the ‘Proletkult theatre’ (1920) of Ezenshtain and Tretyakov, who went to the GAZ factory (Gazovii Zavod) to play theatre. The idea of FFC was to create an encounter with dancers and migrant workers in order to invite them to become part of an utopian situation where they all can exist together in an equal position. The film was realized in one of the oldest factories in St-Petersburg. The film ‘Wings of Migrants’ was supported by the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, UvA and co-produced with Dr. Olga Sezneva. Financial support also came from Hugh Scott (Adventures of seeing), free lance curator from the UK and Leyla Akinci, Amsterdam. Special thanks go to the great artist and feminist, Susan Morlan from the UK, as well as all who participated in the research : No Dance Company, Olga Denisova, Andrei Yakimov from Memorial, Aya Yakimova, Urii Shtopakov , Tsaplya Egorova, Angelika Artuh, and others. On September 27th at 7 pm AKINCI will host a round table discussion focusing on issues connected to the use of aesthetics in exploring and intervening in socio-political realities with: Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya), artist, founding member of FFC and member of Chto Delat? Olga Sezneva, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Co-director of IMES, UvA Gluklya (Natalia Pershina Yakimanskaya) works within two collectives (since 1995 she collaborates with Olga Eorova (Tsaplya) in ‘The Factory of Found Clothes’ and since 2003 Gluklya is part of the artist group ‘Chto delat?’) as well as doing her own research, combining performance, environmental works, situationist actions, video, and direct contact. Glukly’s work has been exhibited in Russia and abroad, including the MUMOK, Vienna (2012). the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden Baden (2011), Shedhalle, Zurich (2011), SMART Project Space, Amsterdam (2011), Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (2011), Kunsthalle, Vienna (2011), ICA, London (2010), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2011 & 2009), Thessaloniki Biennale (2009), Museum of Contemporary Art, Kalmar (2008), Botkyrka Konsthall,Stokholm (2007), National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2006), National contemporary art museum Oslo (2005) |
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