We presented Russian artists The MishMash Group at ARCOmadrid as
part of the museum program for Focus Russia during the fair.
The MishMash Group invited visitors to become part of their performance
Volumes of Desires and Various Types of Voids at Circulo de Bellas
Artes. During the performance, the group encouraged visitors to ‘sculpt their
wishes’. As visitors sat, the artists cast the void between the visitor’s hands
in plaster, while the visitor sat in a symbolic pose of prayer and
contemplation. By the end of the performance, all the casts were assimilated
into a large sculptural panel, which represented the relics left from visitors’
thoughts during the day. The artists wanted all visitors to become part of the
performance with their individual thoughts and most precious prayers
materialized into a large joint artwork.
Volumes of Desires and Various Types of Voids presented a reoccurring
theme in The MishMash Group’s work. In the past, the artists have invited the
public to become part of their art in order to create a collective work where
the role of viewer and artist is merged. It touched on many of the areas
present in their work such as eternity, time, space and the idea of sacred.
Garage curator Yulia Aksenova commented, “Their performance connects to our
contemporary experience what is sacred or in fact religious, with issues of
faith being linked to the secular and routine rather than the sublime and
otherworldly.”
In addition to their performance, The MishMash Group created a special
installation within the ARCOmadrid fair. Once again, the artists invited
visitors to be part of their performance and installation. The Group erected a
large blank papered wall, behind which they had created an engraved panel
designed with details of art works exhibited in Garage’s space in the last few
years. Visitors were invited to playfully reveal the design with waxes, similar
to the process of brass rubbing in a sacred space. The resulting work gave
visitors a snapshot of Garage whilst encouraging them to ‘make their mark’ in
the process.
Artists Biographies
The MishMash Group
Masha SUMNINA (born 1977) graduated from Moscow Academy of
Printing in 2001. Misha LEYKIN (born 1968) graduated from
Moscow Architectural Institute in 1994, member of Iced architects Group. Both
now live and work in Moscow. The group has exhibited both in Russia and
internationally, most recently at First Moscow International Performance
Festival, Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture (2010); ArtPlay, Moscow
(2010); NCCA, Moscow and Lyon (2010); Open Gallery, Moscow (2010); Europian
Atelier at CHA, Moscow (2009); Absolut Creative Future at Winzavod, Moscow
(2009); Russian Dreams at Buss Museum, Miami, USA. They have also been short
listed for the Kandinsky Award, Russia.
