Garage Center for Contemporary Culture and Performa present a major new
collaborative project entitled 33 Fragments of Russian Performance as
part of Performa 11, the fourth edition of the new visual art performance
biennial in New York City (1–21 November), on view 2 to 23 November 2011. The
exhibition will include performance archives, photographs and videos
documenting Russian performance in both the historical avant-garde of the 1920s
and contemporary periods. Presented at the Performa Hub and curated by Garage
curator Yulia Aksenova in collaboration with Performa Founding Director and
Curator RoseLee Goldberg, the exhibition will also include a lecture by
renowned Russian art critic Alexandra Obukhova and a performance by Andrey
Kuzkin.
33 Fragments will explore the rich tradition of performance in Russia
and its development during the 20th and 21st centuries. Performance art, or
‘live’ art, emerged strongly in the Russian art scene of the 1960s, although
performance was popular in the projects of the avant-garde at the beginning of
the 20th century. The avant-garde artists of the 1920s were pioneers who
created entirely new means for articulating ideas to reach the mass public
emancipated by the revolution. Using experimental techniques and mixing genres,
they sought to release their works from the constraints of traditional,
established artistic media, focusing instead on their bodies within time and
space.
Presented in two parts; the first section will trace the early development of
performance with documentation from visionary early Russian performance artists
Mikhail Larionov, Ilya Zdanevich, Mikhail Matyushin, Alexey Kruchenykh, Nina
Kogan, Valentin Parnakh, Vera Maya, Nikolai Forreger, Arseniy Avramov, Vsevolod
Meyerhold, Sergey Eisenstein and others. The second part will be devoted to
performance’s resurgence in the politically turbulent 1960s and 1970s and
follows the genre’s evolution into its current form in the 21st century. The
exhibition illustrates the crucial position of performance and its discourses
for non-official, underground movements, notably Moscow Conceptualism, Sots Art
and their key protagonists: Collective Actions and Komar and Melamid. 33
Fragments documents performance’s changing tactics, from ‘New Wave’s
mocking sarcasm to the anarchic gestures of Moscow Actionism, to finally
present its most vocal current practitioners: Elena Kovylina, Andrei Kuzkin,
Liza Morozova and others.
Presenting Russian performance in all its diversity, the exhibition
demonstrates the integral role it has played in the country’s artistic
development and the crucial means for freedom of speech it has offered in a
century marked by political repression and censorship. Performance in Russia
became an essential vehicle for engaging with a multitude of discourses in art,
politics and society at the most critical moments in Russian history. This has
persisted into the 21st century as a new generation of performance artists
continues to tackle issues at the core of contemporary Russian society.
As one of the biennial’s historical themes, centering on Russian
Constructivism, Performa 11 will present a series of seminars, workshops and
conferences which contemplates the early 20th century Russian avant-garde and
considers its power and continuing relevance. 33 Fragments also marks
a continued partnership between Performa and Garage which began with the third
installment of the exhibition 100 Years of Performance, curated by RoseLee
Goldberg and Klaus Biesenbach, and presented at Garage in Moscow in 2010.
Roselee Goldberg, Founding Director & Curator, Performa
RoseLee Goldberg, Founding Director and Curator of Performa, is
an art historian, critic, and curator whose book Performance Art: From
Futurism to the Present, first published in 1979, pioneered the study of
performance art. Former Director of the Royal College of Art Gallery in London
and Curator at The Kitchen in New York, she is also the author of
Performance: Live Art Since 1960 (1998) and Laurie Anderson
(2000), and is a frequent contributor to Artforum and other publications.
Recent awards and grants include two awards from the International Association
of Art Critics (2011), the Agnes Gund Curatorial Award from Independent
Curators International (2010), Curatorial Research Fellowship from the Warhol
Foundation (2008), and Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the
French Government (2006). In 2004, she founded Performa, a non profit arts
organization committed to the research, development, and presentation of
performance by visual artists from around the world, and launched New York’s
first performance biennial, Performa 05 (2005), followed by Performa 07 (2007),
and Performa 09 (2009). In 2011, Performa will present its fourth biennial,
Performa 11 (November 1–21, 2011). Goldberg has taught at New York University
since 1987.
Yulia Aksenova, Curator, Garage Center for Contemporary
Culture
Yulia Aksenova studied History of Art and Curating Contemporary Art at the
Russian State University of the Humanities (1998-2002) and attended the
Programme of New Art Strategy for Artists and Art Critics at the Soros Center
of Contemporary Art (2000-2002). She later attended the International
Curatorial Training Program de Appel in Amsterdam. Aksenova has held curatorial
positions at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow Center of Art and Garage.
Yulia has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions over the last 5 years.
These include Russian Pop-art (2005) and Sots-Art: Political art
in Russia (2007) at the Moscow State Tretyakov Gallery; numerous
exhibitions at the Moscow Center of Art; Red October Gallery; Masters
Hamfrey`s Clock, De Appel, Amsterdam (2008); Russian Utopias
(2010) and Fantom Monuments (2011) at Garage. Aksenova has also
written for several influential exhibition publications.
Performa 11, the fourth edition of the internationally
acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, will be
held in New York City from November 1–21, 2011. The three-week biennial will
showcase new work by more than 100 of the most exciting artists working today,
in an innovative program breaking down the boundaries between visual art,
music, dance, poetry, fashion, architecture, graphic design, and the culinary
arts. Presented in collaboration with a consortium of more than 50 arts
institutions and 25 curators, as well as a network of public spaces and private
venues across the city, Performa 11 will ignite New York City with energy and
ideas, acting as a vital “think tank” linking minds across the five boroughs
and bringing audiences together for brilliant new performances in all
disciplines.
Founded in 2004 by art historian and curator RoseLee Goldberg, Performa is the
leading organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live
performance in the history of twentieth-century art and to encouraging new
directions in performance for the twenty-first century. Performa launched New
York’s first performance biennial, Performa 05, in 2005, followed by Performa
07 (2007), and Performa 09 (2009).
Performa
100 West 23rd Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Tel: + 1 212 366 5700
www.performa-arts.org
