The Spirit Of MARCHI Was Encoded In VKHUTEMAS

The Spirit Of MARCHI Was Encoded In VKHUTEMAS
The Spirit Of MARCHI Was Encoded In VKHUTEMAS

Video: The Spirit Of MARCHI Was Encoded In VKHUTEMAS

Video: The Spirit Of MARCHI Was Encoded In VKHUTEMAS
Video: Lessons of VKHUTEMAS - Уроки ВХУТЕМАСА 2024, March
Anonim

This is not the first time Lisa Schmitz has worked with students of the Moscow Architectural Institute. Several years ago, at the Young Art Biennale, they jointly presented two spatial installations under the general title "Labyrinth". The first installation consisted of suspended serpentine strips and a pile of pressed paper, while the second one consisted of bright yellow paper cones, symbolizing the perception of the labyrinth shape throughout the history of mankind.

This time, they thought about creating an ornament for the space of the VKHUTEMAS gallery for several months. A lot of material was filmed at the Moscow Architectural Institute. The place was not chosen by chance, because they wanted to do something that would be close to the spirit of the Architectural Institute. As a result, the motives for the ornament became two main elements - a rectangular door handle from the sixties and a hook from a wardrobe, covered with several layers of paint. When these two elements were combined in a different sequence at different angles, a drawing was obtained, somewhat reminiscent of Arabic script. In the gallery space, the drawing is located in orange dots - on the walls, chairs, and even over the posters of the "Cities" exhibition, which had opened the day before.

After a full day of work on the correct placement of the orange circles on all possible surfaces in the gallery, the work was completed at seven o'clock in the evening. This was followed by a photo session of the "new" space, absolutely empty. He was photographed from one, the only correct point of view. As soon as people began to descend into the exhibition hall, the drawing was disturbed, strictly speaking, nothing really remained of it, except for fractional lines of orange dots, similar to graffiti.

It is characteristic that the ornament is fully visible only from one point of the gallery - from the high parapet, from where the stairs lead down to the exhibition space. From here and photographed. Separate fragments open from other places, and there is no feeling that the ornament owns the space, it looks more like a decoration. This feeling is enhanced by the contrast of orange dots and blue posters - photo chronicles of the recently held Goroda festival in Kargopol. The dots are laid on top of everything like Christmas tree tinsel.

The task was more than substantive, I would even say “super” - to change the space with the help of ornament, and not just to change, but also to pour into it the “spirit of the place” (so beloved by architects in general and in the Moscow Architectural Institute in particular). That is, the task is an architectural, artistic, spatial task. The name of the action speaks for itself - "Space Installation", installation of space or "spatial installation". It seems to be quite an architectural approach, especially when you consider that now architecture is fond of ornamentation.

Ornament is a powerful thing. As op-art once demonstrated, with a simple (but aggressive) pattern, you can zoom in and out, tilt, straighten, and break into pieces. You can hide and emphasize the shape, compress or expand the space. Yes, in skillful hands - this is the fifth dimension.

But nothing of the kind happens in this case. At first, the drawing loses its meaning, because the drawn squiggles do not look like door handles or wardrobe hooks (they are just like hooks, but it's difficult to talk about layers of paint after redrawing). Then they throw it in a thin layer (New Year's tinsel would look more active) around the hall, where unobtrusive orange things finally lose touch with the prototype, keeping - very distant - with the pattern. It does not produce any dominant ornament, no optical and emotional effects. From the name of the installation, one could assume that the ingenious drawing, invented in long torment, would try to somehow change the space. Not at all. Well, just not a bit.

Hence, one must assume either - that the installation has failed, since the intended artistic impression does not occur. Or - that its meaning lies in something else. For example, not in the plastic assimilation and change of space and not in the transmission of the spirit of MArchI, but in its coding. A certain meaning was coded into the hall of the VKHUTEMAS gallery. Twice. First, when the squiggles of handles and hooks were redrawn. Then - when the resulting squiggles discretely - in dots - were transferred to the walls and chairs. There are, frankly, problems with decoding. Neither one nor the other is read without explanation. An encrypted message without a "key" is not read. That is, before us is a sign that has been invented for a long time, and its meaning is lost before our eyes, just like it itself - it melts as soon as people enter the hall. A sort of short-lived sign system. A game.

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