Record, transcript below.
Archi.ru:
Why lion and unicorn?
Anton Kalgaev:
The lion and the unicorn is very simple, because it was the lion and the unicorn that Alexey Shchusev placed on the gates of the Russian Pavilion in 1914. Unfortunately, those same carved wooden gates were lost, and for most of the 20th century, the pavilion stood orphaned, without a lion and a unicorn. Then in 2012 they were returned, but the gates did not become more open from this. Each Biennale they open to the audience, but for many generations of artists, architects and curators they remain closed, because the very procedure for selecting projects for the Russian Pavilion is incomprehensible. And we, without trying to do anything with this procedure, decided to make our own Virtual Russian Pavilion, projects for which will be selected on a competitive basis, as is customary throughout the world. Trying to define our attitude to the theme of this year's Freespace Biennale, we realized that Freespace is defined for us in three important words - this is “free”, this is “open” and this is “independent”. This is exactly what we made the Virtual Russian Pavilion. "Free" - because we did not ask anyone for permission to do it or not to do it here or elsewhere. “Open” - because in the future it will be a platform for open and transparent competitions for projects in the Virtual Russian Pavilion. "Independent" - because we have neither government nor commercial funding. These are our own funds, we chipped in and made this project.
So the project has nothing to do with Strelka Institute?
No, he has nothing to do with the Strelka Institute, except that Strelka is the alma mater of almost all the participants in this project, six out of seven.
Will you only do it in Venice?
The opening is exactly in Venice. The same as now: we opened it here, but then we can show it in Venice anywhere, and in Moscow anywhere. Further, this project lives in the "Coat" gallery mode, when you can agree, meet with a person who has a VR set with this project, and just watch it. This is also an unexpected moment for an architectural exhibition, again direct communication between people who made and who are watching. What is important is that we are making the Virtual Russian Pavilion, which means that we do not in any way intrude into the space of the real Russian pavilion and, in fact, do not pretend to it in any way. In addition, it is not necessary to exhibit just one project, you can exhibit several.
Are you sure you don’t pretend and don’t think that the real Russian pavilion will not consider it an intervention?
The intervention has practically already taken place, because the London PR specialists of the Russian Pavilion, their own, mistook us for them. But we honestly and in detail say that we are not official.
Who owns the idea?
Hard to tell. This is the group "Lion and Unicorn" with an unpronounceable name, in fact, because the name is written with emoji. These are seven people (Pekka Airaksin, Liza Dorrer, Karina Golubenko, Anton Kalgaev, Maria Kachalova, Maria Kosareva, Ivan Kuryachiy) who at different times came up with different parts of this whole project. Someone came up with an identity, someone came up with a VR exhibition, we somehow came up with it, tightened it up to a whole pavilion and a competitive procedure. Therefore, the author is an initiative group
- those same lion and unicorn on the gates of the Russian Pavilion, which are happy to open up to architects, artists and curators.
Who made the project that you are now showing with glasses?
This is a joint activity with Elena Viskovich, Valtteri Osara and Vladimir Goncharov, but we can say that the project of the "Lion and Unicorn" group is wearing glasses.
And how will the selection take place, on what basis?
It is difficult to say so far, because the competitive procedure is such a thing that it needs to be worked out in great detail. So far, we can only say that it will be a transparent, clear and open international competition procedure for the project of the Virtual Russian Pavilion.
Are you planning to hold this at every biennial?
So far, the plan is only for 2020, but in the future, it is possible to expand both geography (it is not necessary to do only a virtual Russian pavilion), and technology (it is not necessary to do this only in virtual reality), and topics - (perhaps it will be architectural exhibitions, and art exhibitions).
Do you have a website now?
There is a website called russianpavillion.space.
