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C E N T R A L A S I A P A V I L I O N

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Yelena Vorobyeva and Victor Vorobyev form both a family and a creative art ist ic couple. However they began their careers separately in the early 1990s: Elena was a painter and Victor was a sculptor. At some point, they decided to try working together; in addit ion, this type of format is acceptable in con-temporary art. Victor jokes: “First we made great chi ldren and then thought: Why don’t we make art together?” They l ive in their own house in Akbulak Vi l lage, in outskirts of Almaty. There is a beauti ful view of the f ields, which are far from vanity or turmoil . No other thing can make an art ist to construct a specif ic art ist ic world - the world that resolutely rejects any pathos, whose ground is the authors’ everyday l i fe and their direct reaction to everything taking place around. Elena and Victor earnestly play with the world using paint ing, photography, humor, stone, video, vegetables from their garden in the kitchen, people’s reaction, and many other things. Despite the mixture of techniques and genres, the result is the styl ish mult i- layer work that makes some people ref lex upon serious l i fe problems and others - simply enjoy l i fe. In 1999 the Vorobyevs became the f irst Kazakhstan art ists invited to par-t ic ipate in the Sixth Istanbul Modern Art Biennale. Their project “The Classics Farewell to the People” was a sophist icated performance: burning of huge candles, which the art ists molded in the form of classical sculptures – Venus, Homer, Laocoon, etc. I t l ighted up the night in a crowded walkway and attracted passers-by. The Vorobyevs have their own unique vision of the world, interpret everything in an unusual manner. Thus unripe tomatoes from their ki tchen garden were transformed into water-melons: the art ists drew black str ipes on them. The tomatoes-turned-watermelons were used for the project “ I prefer watermelons”.

During the International mobile workshop, “Non-si lk Road – The Asian Extreme”, the Vorobyevs brought the residents of remote Kazakhstan provinces to world culture centers: Paris, Moscow, and New York. The project cal led “The Memory Picture” or “Taking the Mountain to Mohammed…” gave an opportunity to ordinary people who have never traveled abroad to take pictures against one of three backgrounds: the Eiffel Tower, the Twin Towers, or the Moscow Kremlin. The photos also contained parts of provincial areas (steppe, semi-demolished houses, and dirt roads). The part icipants of the project could receive their picture by mail . The project raised vital social problems, using quite simple act ion - play.

Though art i facts creation seems to be an optimist ical ly easy process, the Vorobyevs’ projects are in fact targeting social problems incidental to Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and the rest of the world. One of the latest projects, “Transformation of Blue”, examines the processes of the country’s evolut ion from the soviet “red” symbolism to the new “blue” one. National f lag of Kazakhstan is turquoise-blue, and interest ingly enough, new color stereotypes are being formed in Kazakh consciousness, as most popular color nowadays is sky-blue. Currently everything is as blue as the sky: fences, slogans, roofs, domes, doors, etc. In the project the art ists ask their i ronic questions not trying to f l i r t with t imeserving cultural values. Perhaps, that is the reason for Vorobyevs’ populari ty abroad and the fact that they are unpopular in Kazakhstan.

Yulia Sorokina

Yelena Vorobyeva & Viktor Vorobyev. Kazakhstan. Blue period. Photo, 2002-2005

Åëåíà Âî!îáüåâà, Âèêòî! Âî!îáüåâ. Êàçàõñòàí. Ãîëóáîé ïå!èîä. Ôîòî

Yelena Vorobyeva and Victor Vorobyev

Kazakhstan. The blue period

We got interested in “social–coloristic” relations in 2002 during our trip in the South of Kazakhstan. As participants of the international project “Non-silk road” we visited several provincial towns. In Taraz town our attention was attracted by decorative bas-reliefs with picture of blue banners on one of the old administrative buildings. Before it were red. Sincere repainting of the Soviet decoration was striking and in the best way it illustrated the change of political epochs.

Idealized by the communists national symbols were subject to total “desacral-ization”. The red color, as an essential sign of the “Soviet” was pushed out at the all post-Soviet space by other privileged colors.

The Kazakh flag, after declaration of the republican independence, became blue. More precisely, the color could be named in Kazakh language – “kok”. This word means both blue and green colors. Besides that, “kok” is – sky, “koktem” – spring, “kokteu” – getting green etc. Meaningly symbolizing many things – “the God skies” in tengrianstvo, pagan celebration of spring “nau-ryz”, blue domes of the Islamic mosques, a dream about inaccessible sea larg-es, the blue color was accepted by the majority and it entered into the mind of the people as the best, “correct” color. People loved it, otherwise how one can explain the everywhere repainting, which reminded an obsession. There are already no questions in coloristics – if it is necessary to paint something – there is always a ready solution – “kok” color. This is the most demanded paint now. Everything is painted with it: fences, kiosks, walls, benches, tomb-crosses etc. The sphere of use of the “blue” is large as the life itself. Objects of the “blue color period” are everywhere in the most different places and in strange combinations. There is a feeling that you live inside a “project”, and the Steppe, as a huge expositional field, demonstrates a set of artefacts. The “cultural” stratums, which are accumulated here during the time of its development by man, are perceived specifically so. Materialized in color “blue dream” about an “eternal spring” spreaded in all the territory of Kazakhstan, having added to our not bright steppe nature some optimistic lustre.

Possibly, in such a way, the socium, “missing” the past union, reacts to non-stability and change of situation of the transitional period. Aspiration for unity is subconsciously realized in the form of identification signs – color marks, meaning not only belonging to a concrete society, but connection to the “God’s”, to the power.

This is a kind of a charm, used for “just in case”…

Yelena Vorobieva

Yelena Vorobyeva & Viktor Vorobyev. Kazakhstan. Blue period. Photo, 2002-2005

Åëåíà Âî!îáüåâà, Âèêòî! Âî!îáüåâ. Êàçàõñòàí. Ãîëóáîé ïå!èîä. Ôîòî

Êàçàõñòàí. Ãîëóáîé ïå!èîä

«Ñîöèàëüíî-êîëî!èñòè÷åñêèìè» îòíîøåíèÿìè ìû çàèíòå!åñîâàëèñü â 2002 ãîäó, âî â!åìÿ ïóòåøåñòâèÿ ïî "ãó Êàçàõñòàíà. Êàê ó÷àñòíèêè ìåæäóíà!îäíîãî ï!îåêòà «Íåøåëêîâûé ïóòü», ìû îáúåçäèëè íåñêîëüêî ï!îâèíöèàëüíûõ ãî!îäîâ. Â ãî!îäå Òà!àçå íà îäíîì èç ñòà!ûõ àäìèíèñò!àòèâíûõ çäàíèé íàøå âíèìàíèå ï!èâëåêëè äåêî!àòèâíûå áà!åëüåôû ñ èçîá!àæåíèåì ãîëóáûõ çíàìåí. #àíüøå, îíè áûëè ê!àñíûìè. Îòê!îâåííàÿ ïå!åê!àñêà ñîâåòñêîãî óê!àøåíèÿ á!îñàëàñü â ãëàçà è, êàê íåëüçÿ ëó÷øå, èëë"ñò!è!îâàëà ñìåíó èñòî!è÷åñêèõ $ïîõ.

Êàíîíèçè!îâàííûå êîììóíèñòàìè ãîññèìâîëû ïîäâå!ãëèñü òîòàëüíîé «äåñàê!àëèçàöèè». Ê!àñíûé öâåò, êàê îñíîâíîé ï!èçíàê «ñîâåòñêîãî» áûë âûòåñíåí íà âñåì ïîñòñîâåòñêîì ï!îñò!àíñòâå ä!óãèìè ï!èâèëåãè!îâàííûìè öâåòàìè.

Êàçàõñòàíñêèé ôëàã, ïîñëå îáúÿâëåíèÿ !åñïóáëèêîé íåçàâèñèìîñòè, ñòàë ãîëóáûì. Âå!íåå, öâåò åãî ìîæíî íàçâàòü ïî-êàçàõñêè - «êîê». %òèì ñëîâîì îáîçíà÷à"ò è ãîëóáîé è çåëåíûé öâåòà. Ê!îìå, òîãî, «êîê» - $òî åùå è íåáî, «êîêòåì» - âåñíà, «êîêòåó» - çåëåíåòü è ò.ä. Ìíîãîçíà÷èòåëüíî ñèìâîëèçè!óÿ ìàññó âåùåé - «áîæåñòâåííûå íåáåñà» â òåíã!èàíñòâå, ÿçû÷åñêîå ï!àçäíîâàíèå âåñíû «íàó!ûç», ãîëóáûå êóïîëà èñëàìñêèõ ìå÷åòåé, ìå÷òó î íåäîñòóïíûõ ìî!ñêèõ ï!îñòî!àõ, ãîëóáîé öâåò óñò!îèë ìíîãèõ è âîøåë â ñîçíàíèå ìàññ, êàê ëó÷øèé, «ï!àâèëüíûé» öâåò. Îí ñòàë ë"áèì íà!îäîì, èíà÷å, êàê ìîæíî îáúÿñíèòü $òî ïîâñåìåñòíîå ïå!åê!àøèâàíèå, íàïîìèíà"ùó" íàâÿç÷èâó" èäå". Âîï!îñîâ î êîëî!èñòèêå óæå íå âîçíèêàåò - åñëè íóæíî, ÷òî-ëèáî îê!àñèòü, âñåãäà åñòü ãîòîâîå !åøåíèå – öâåò «êîê». Ñåé÷àñ, $òî ñàìàÿ õîäîâàÿ ê!àñêà. Å" ê!àñÿò âñå: çàáî!û, êèîñêè, ñòåíû, ñêàìåéêè, ìîãèëüíûå ê!åñòû è ò.ä. Ñôå!à ï!èìåíåíèÿ «ãîëóáèçíû» øè!îêà, êàê ñàìà æèçíü. Îáúåêòû «ãîëóáîãî ïå!èîäà» íàõîäÿòñÿ âñ"äó â ñàìûõ !àçíûõ ìåñòàõ è ñò!àííûõ ñî÷åòàíèÿõ. Ñîçäàåòñÿ îùóùåíèå, ÷òî æèâåøü âíóò!è «ï!îåêòà», à Ñòåïü, êàê ãèãàíòñêîå $êñïîçèöèîííîå ïîëå, äåìîíñò!è!óåò íàáî! à!òåôàêòîâ. Èìåííî òàê âîñï!èíèìà"òñÿ òåïå!ü «êóëüòó!íûå» íàñëîåíèÿ, ÷òî íàêîïèëèñü çäåñü çà âñå â!åìÿ îñâîåíèÿ åå ÷åëîâåêîì. Ìàòå!èàëèçîâàííàÿ â öâåòå «ãîëóáàÿ ìå÷òà» î «âå÷íîé âåñíå» !àçëèëàñü ïî âñåé òå!!èòî!èè Êàçàõñòàíà, äîáàâèâ íàøåé íåÿ!êîé ñòåïíîé ï!è!îäå îïòèìèñòè÷åñêîãî áëåñêó.

Âîçìîæíî, òàêèì îá!àçîì, ñîöèóì, «òîñêóÿ» î áûëîé öåëîñòíîñòè, !åàãè!óåò íà íåñòàáèëüíîñòü è ïîäâèæíîñòü ñèòóàöèè ïå!åõîäíîãî â!åìåíè. Ñò!åìëåíèå ê åäèíåíè", ïîäñîçíàòåëüíî, !åàëèçóåòñÿ â âèäå èäåíòèôèêàöèîííûõ çíàêîâ – öâåòîâûõ ìåòîê, îáîçíà÷à"ùèõ íå òîëüêî ï!èíàäëåæíîñòü ê êîíê!åòíîìó ñîîáùåñòâó, íî è ï!è÷àñòíîñòü ê «áîæåñòâåííîìó», ê âëàñòè.

%òî, ñâîåãî !îäà, îáå!åã, ï!èìåíÿåìûé «íà âñÿêèé ñëó÷àé»…

Åëåíà Âî!îáüåâà

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Viktor MisianoBorn in 1957 in Moscow. Graduated from the Art History and Theory Department of the Moscow State University History Faculty. From 1980 to 1990 worked as a researcher in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Founder and editor-in-chief of the Khudozhestvenny zhurnal [Moscow Art Magazine] and Manifesta Journal. Journal of Contemporary Curatorship (Amsterdam). Author of numerous articles and a book “Drugoi” i razniye [“Other” and Diverse] (Moscow: NLO, 2004). Art projects curator at the Istanbul Biennale (1992), Rotterdam (1996), Valencia (2001), São Paulo (2002, 2004), Venice (1995, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2007). In 2007, carried through a large-scale Progressive Nostalgia project (Contemporary Art from the Former USSR) at the KUMU Art Museum (Tallinn, Estonia), Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art (Prato, Italy), the Benaki Museum (Athens, Greece), Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA (Helsinki, Finland).

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Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor VorobyovBorn in 1959 in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanKeepsake Photographs. If the MountainWon’t Come to Mohammed… Installation (photo action)(2002) 2007Late in April, 2002, we took part in “Non-Silk Road,” an international traveling exhibition organized by Almaty-based artists and Asia-Art+ artistic public association.It was a 10-day journey around southern Kazakhstan. Our group was international, with artists and curators from Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Armenia, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and UK in addition to the Kazakhs. We traversed the endless roads of the steppe in a little bus, going from town to town.Along the way we worked on our project, Keepsake Photographs. If the Mountain Won’t Come to Mohammed… Complete strangers volunteered to be a part of our interactive action, as it is called these days. Armed with all the necessary equipment and accoutrements, we

acted as touring photographers, inviting anyone who wanted their picture taken to select the background. We had big posters picturing standard tourist sites: the Kremlin, the Eiffel Tower and New York City’s skyline with the now-gone towers of World Trade Center. People willingly posed once they found out it was free of charge. They imagined themselves transported to a completely different world – from the remote Kazakh provinces to famous centers of the Western world. There was something poignant about the concentration and trust in people’s faces as they looked into our camera’s lens. They would put aside for a time their everyday troubles. For the most part, young girls wanted to be in Paris, males preferred New York, while middle-aged women chose Moscow. We did what we could to make their dreams come true.After the journey we printed more than 50 photographs. All of them were sent by post to Zhanatas, Taraz, Turkestan and Shimkent to the addresses of our random acquaintances. Ye.V.

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Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor VorobyovBorn in 1959 in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanKeepsake Photographs. If the MountainWon’t Come to Mohammed… Installation (photo action)(2002) 2007Late in April, 2002, we took part in “Non-Silk Road,” an international traveling exhibition organized by Almaty-based artists and Asia-Art+ artistic public association.It was a 10-day journey around southern Kazakhstan. Our group was international, with artists and curators from Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Armenia, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and UK in addition to the Kazakhs. We traversed the endless roads of the steppe in a little bus, going from town to town.Along the way we worked on our project, Keepsake Photographs. If the Mountain Won’t Come to Mohammed… Complete strangers volunteered to be a part of our interactive action, as it is called these days. Armed with all the necessary equipment and accoutrements, we

acted as touring photographers, inviting anyone who wanted their picture taken to select the background. We had big posters picturing standard tourist sites: the Kremlin, the Eiffel Tower and New York City’s skyline with the now-gone towers of World Trade Center. People willingly posed once they found out it was free of charge. They imagined themselves transported to a completely different world – from the remote Kazakh provinces to famous centers of the Western world. There was something poignant about the concentration and trust in people’s faces as they looked into our camera’s lens. They would put aside for a time their everyday troubles. For the most part, young girls wanted to be in Paris, males preferred New York, while middle-aged women chose Moscow. We did what we could to make their dreams come true.After the journey we printed more than 50 photographs. All of them were sent by post to Zhanatas, Taraz, Turkestan and Shimkent to the addresses of our random acquaintances. Ye.V.

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Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor VorobyovBorn in 1959 in Pavlodar, KazakhstanLives in Almaty, KazakhstanKazakhstan. Blue PeriodPhotography2002–2005We became interested in “socio-coloristic” relations while traveling in the south of Kazakhstan in 2002. As participants of the Non-Silk Road international project, we visited several provincial towns. In the town of Taraz our attention was drawn to decorative bas-reliefs of blue banners on an old administrative building. The banners used to be red. This blatant repainting of Soviet decorations struck us as the best possible illustration of the shift of historical epochs.The canonical state symbols of the communists had been subjected to total desacralization. The main attribute of all things Soviet, the color red has been supplanted by other privileged colors throughout the post-Soviet space.

The color of the new independent Kazakhstan is blue, or perhaps better defined by the Kazakh word kok. That word is used to designate both “blue” and “green.” Kok also means “sky,” while koktem means “spring” and kokteu means “to be green,” etc. Fraught with meaning and symbolizing many things – the heavenly blue sky in Tengriism, the nauryz pagan celebration of spring, the blue domes of Islamic mosques, the dream of the inaccessible ocean's vast expanses – the color blue satisfied the majority and entered the mass consciousness as the best color, the “right” color. It became loved by the masses; how else can one explain why so many people repainted things blue, as though obsessed? Color is no longer a choice. If something has to be painted, there is an automatic solution: kok. Kok is Kazakhstan's best-selling shade of paint. It is used to paint everything: fences, kiosks, walls, benches, graves… Its sphere of application is as broad as life itself. Artifacts of the “blue period” are everywhere, in the most unexpected places and in the strangest combinations. You

get the feeling that you are living in some sort of exhibition, and that the steppe is a huge display case demonstrating a collection of objects. That is how the strata of culture that accumulated in Central Asia throughout its human history are perceived. The blue dream of eternal spring, manifest in color, has spilled across Kazakhstan, adding some optimistic luster to our dim steppe vistas. Perhaps society, pining for its bygone integrity, is reacting to the instability and fluidity of the transitional period. The aspiration for unity is subconsciously realized through signs of identification – colors that do not only designate affiliation with a concrete community, but also proximity to the divine, to power. It is a kind of a charm, used just in case…Ye.V.

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$%/"'#$.8, E3' $%6'A."./* <-#/* <% +/# +(#78 '/+'#$.8 ## E#"'+#6'7. P%3#(.%".-<'+%$$%8 + D+#3# «0'"1)%8 7#E3%» ' «+#E-$'@ +#/$#» (%<"."%/* A' +/#@ 3#((.3'(.. ;%<%=/3%$%, -')%+.+ $%G#@ $#8(6'@ /3#A-$'@ A(.('-# 'A3.7./3.E#/6'0' )"#/6%.&'<7'I$', /'D.17, «3'/618» ' )F"'@ D#"'/3$'/3., 3%6.7 ')(%<'7 (#%0.(1#3 $% $#/3%)."*$'/3* . A'-+.I$'/3* /.31%D.. A#(#='-$'0' +(#7#$.. C3(#7"#$.# 6 #-.-$#$.H A'-/'<$%3#"*$' (#%".<1#3/8 + +.-# .-#$3.J.6%D.'$$F= <$%6'+ – D+#3'+F= 7#3'6, ')'<$%E%HO.= $# 3'"*6' A(.$%--"#I$'/3* 6 6'$6(#3$'71 /'')O#/3+1, $' . A(.E%/3$'/3* 6 «)'I#/3+#$$'71», 6 +"%/3.. N3' /+'#0' ('-% ')#(#0, A(.7#$8#7F@ «$% +/86.@ /"1E%@»…!. ".

Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor VorobyovBorn in 1959 in Pavlodar, KazakhstanLives in Almaty, KazakhstanKazakhstan. Blue PeriodPhotography2002–2005We became interested in “socio-coloristic” relations while traveling in the south of Kazakhstan in 2002. As participants of the Non-Silk Road international project, we visited several provincial towns. In the town of Taraz our attention was drawn to decorative bas-reliefs of blue banners on an old administrative building. The banners used to be red. This blatant repainting of Soviet decorations struck us as the best possible illustration of the shift of historical epochs.The canonical state symbols of the communists had been subjected to total desacralization. The main attribute of all things Soviet, the color red has been supplanted by other privileged colors throughout the post-Soviet space.

The color of the new independent Kazakhstan is blue, or perhaps better defined by the Kazakh word kok. That word is used to designate both “blue” and “green.” Kok also means “sky,” while koktem means “spring” and kokteu means “to be green,” etc. Fraught with meaning and symbolizing many things – the heavenly blue sky in Tengriism, the nauryz pagan celebration of spring, the blue domes of Islamic mosques, the dream of the inaccessible ocean's vast expanses – the color blue satisfied the majority and entered the mass consciousness as the best color, the “right” color. It became loved by the masses; how else can one explain why so many people repainted things blue, as though obsessed? Color is no longer a choice. If something has to be painted, there is an automatic solution: kok. Kok is Kazakhstan's best-selling shade of paint. It is used to paint everything: fences, kiosks, walls, benches, graves… Its sphere of application is as broad as life itself. Artifacts of the “blue period” are everywhere, in the most unexpected places and in the strangest combinations. You

get the feeling that you are living in some sort of exhibition, and that the steppe is a huge display case demonstrating a collection of objects. That is how the strata of culture that accumulated in Central Asia throughout its human history are perceived. The blue dream of eternal spring, manifest in color, has spilled across Kazakhstan, adding some optimistic luster to our dim steppe vistas. Perhaps society, pining for its bygone integrity, is reacting to the instability and fluidity of the transitional period. The aspiration for unity is subconsciously realized through signs of identification – colors that do not only designate affiliation with a concrete community, but also proximity to the divine, to power. It is a kind of a charm, used just in case…Ye.V.

112 113

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Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor Vorobyov Born in 1959 in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanDay and NightMultimedia installation (mural and video)2007The sun. What could be more routine and more necessary? It is always within sight. It is a banal and predictable given. No one takes particular interest in this blazing sphere while going about his petty affairs.But without His Shining Majesty, all plunges into pitch darkness and indistinctness, the world is black and viscous, undifferentiated and undifferentiating. It does not matter where Europe is or where Asia is. The omnipresence of night makes us shudder in fear; it forces us to remember that we, too, are nature. Only our silly confidence that the sun will always rise at its appointed time and will not crash down on our heads from its zenith saves us from madness and despair. The sun’s appearance is as

exciting as a spectacular show, while its disappearance forces us to reconcile ourselves with temporary loss. Every morning it breaks free from its prison, and every evening it falls in the same trap, thus setting the pattern for our perceptions of the relativity of freedom and captivity.It is a guard dog, running on his leash from east to west and never the other way round. It protects us.The horizon – a giant divider – stretches on forever, regardless of countries and continents, covering all ends of the earth. It surrounds you, and you will always be in the center, wherever you may be. Your position is advantageous and convenient – while moving, you move the center. Notions of “periphery,” “provinciality” and “marginality” lose meaning. Your country is always the Land of the Rising Sun.How can one explain the widespread love for prison cell bars in the form of the sun’s rays but by a subconscious desire to always be with the sun? The colder and less inviting the outside world, the more electric suns shine in our windows. Their clumsy, metallic rays soundly secure peace and calm for all inhabitants of the former Soviet Union. Such a vulgar materialization of a divine

heavenly body should not scare off an intellectualized aesthete. It is nothing more than a manifestation of man’s self-defense complex. Strange as it may seem, we only feel truly safe behind bars, and the ever-present sunsets and sunrises soothe us and instill the hope that Night might not come. Our voluntary captivity amounts to our freedom, and it is ennobled by contemplation of the eternal horizon. The horizon is nearby, you can touch it, it hugs the whole landscape outside our window. The horizon is impenetrable from without, its line does not let you in, and the sentinel sun will never fail in its duty – no cosmic force can divert it from its course. Protecting, soothing and beautiful, this everyday object possesses the magic of significance and involvement in the higher spheres. The sun has gone its long way in culture from its freefall out of heaven to barring openings with its own rays. Tracing the chain from the sun as a product of nature to the sun as a product of culture, we will add new links by integrating it into the context of contemporary art.Ye.V.

112 113

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Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor Vorobyov Born in 1959 in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanDay and NightMultimedia installation (mural and video)2007The sun. What could be more routine and more necessary? It is always within sight. It is a banal and predictable given. No one takes particular interest in this blazing sphere while going about his petty affairs.But without His Shining Majesty, all plunges into pitch darkness and indistinctness, the world is black and viscous, undifferentiated and undifferentiating. It does not matter where Europe is or where Asia is. The omnipresence of night makes us shudder in fear; it forces us to remember that we, too, are nature. Only our silly confidence that the sun will always rise at its appointed time and will not crash down on our heads from its zenith saves us from madness and despair. The sun’s appearance is as

exciting as a spectacular show, while its disappearance forces us to reconcile ourselves with temporary loss. Every morning it breaks free from its prison, and every evening it falls in the same trap, thus setting the pattern for our perceptions of the relativity of freedom and captivity.It is a guard dog, running on his leash from east to west and never the other way round. It protects us.The horizon – a giant divider – stretches on forever, regardless of countries and continents, covering all ends of the earth. It surrounds you, and you will always be in the center, wherever you may be. Your position is advantageous and convenient – while moving, you move the center. Notions of “periphery,” “provinciality” and “marginality” lose meaning. Your country is always the Land of the Rising Sun.How can one explain the widespread love for prison cell bars in the form of the sun’s rays but by a subconscious desire to always be with the sun? The colder and less inviting the outside world, the more electric suns shine in our windows. Their clumsy, metallic rays soundly secure peace and calm for all inhabitants of the former Soviet Union. Such a vulgar materialization of a divine

heavenly body should not scare off an intellectualized aesthete. It is nothing more than a manifestation of man’s self-defense complex. Strange as it may seem, we only feel truly safe behind bars, and the ever-present sunsets and sunrises soothe us and instill the hope that Night might not come. Our voluntary captivity amounts to our freedom, and it is ennobled by contemplation of the eternal horizon. The horizon is nearby, you can touch it, it hugs the whole landscape outside our window. The horizon is impenetrable from without, its line does not let you in, and the sentinel sun will never fail in its duty – no cosmic force can divert it from its course. Protecting, soothing and beautiful, this everyday object possesses the magic of significance and involvement in the higher spheres. The sun has gone its long way in culture from its freefall out of heaven to barring openings with its own rays. Tracing the chain from the sun as a product of nature to the sun as a product of culture, we will add new links by integrating it into the context of contemporary art.Ye.V.

202 203

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«E(.-+%3.<%A.8» <+1J%"' +/# J%K#, . ')K#-/3+#$$%8 /'A.%"./3.J#/6%8 /')/3+#$$'/3* )D/3(' E#(#G"% + J%/3$D# (16.. 2' )'"*-G.$/3+' $%/#"#$.8 '/3%"'/* $. / J#7. 2%-' )D"' 6%6-3' +DH.+%3*, . 7$'0.#, + '/$'+$'7 E#$/.'$#(D, +D$'/.". .< /+'.= 6+%(3.( $% E('-%H1 +/#, J3' $% .= +<0"8-

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Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor VorobyovBorn in 1959 in Pavlodar, KazakhstanLives in Almaty, KazakhstanBazarMultimedia installation (photography, objects)2007The 1990s were a time of profound change for Kazakhstan. The collapse of the Soviet system and new sovereignty destroyed the usual existent social relations, the economy was in a state of decline, money lost its value. What had recently been forbidden – private enterprise and the free market, condemned as “speculation” – became the economic foundation of a new state. The fashionable word “privatization” was heard more and more frequently, and socialist public property quickly fell into private hands. But most of the population got nothing. People had to do something to survive, and many, mostly senior citizens, sold everything in

their apartments that they thought had even the smallest value. The streets of Almaty became one big trading ground. Everything was for sale: shabby clothes, glassware, spoons, police uniforms, nails, records, used plastic utensils, and an array of books ranging from the Marxist-Leninist classics to the Bible…This phenomenon seemed interesting to us, both as something characteristic of the time and as an aesthetic event. The goods laid out on the ground represented a kind of still life that could tell everything about the seller, about his personal story, his passions and skills… We took photos of these objects and made a purchase as a sign of gratitude (usually something absolutely useless). A short conversation would follow the purchase. One old woman selling two packs of cigarettes left by her dead husband said, “What do I need them for? I don’t smoke…” Another woman who sold us old photographs of Soviet actors told us she had been collecting them since she was a child.Taken as a whole, these still lifes could not draw a better picture of a changing

epoch. Ideological symbols like records of the Soviet anthem stood alongside battered Chinese-made Barbie dolls or “brand-name” cosmetics of dubious origin. The “eternal” values of the communist past depreciated, and were sold for trifling sums along with the mass-produced wares of the consumerist present. Indeed, the same phenomenon occurred in all the regions of the former Soviet Union. And now identical goods can be found at similar bazars in Russia, Ukraine or Kyrgyzstan. Since we all had a common history for 70 years, national specificity yields to the international. Little by little, we accumulated a rather sizeable collection of these things and photographs of outdoor still lifes. By installing it all in an exhibition space, we would like to show interrelated realities – the reality of an exhibited object that can be touched, the documented reality of the place where this object was sold, the reality of the existence of each person (the objects’ owners), the reality of time (history), and finally, the reality of direct personal contact.Ye.V.

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Yelena VorobyovaBorn in 1959 in Nebit-Dag, Turkmenistan Lives in Almaty, KazakhstanViktor VorobyovBorn in 1959 in Pavlodar, KazakhstanLives in Almaty, KazakhstanBazarMultimedia installation (photography, objects)2007The 1990s were a time of profound change for Kazakhstan. The collapse of the Soviet system and new sovereignty destroyed the usual existent social relations, the economy was in a state of decline, money lost its value. What had recently been forbidden – private enterprise and the free market, condemned as “speculation” – became the economic foundation of a new state. The fashionable word “privatization” was heard more and more frequently, and socialist public property quickly fell into private hands. But most of the population got nothing. People had to do something to survive, and many, mostly senior citizens, sold everything in

their apartments that they thought had even the smallest value. The streets of Almaty became one big trading ground. Everything was for sale: shabby clothes, glassware, spoons, police uniforms, nails, records, used plastic utensils, and an array of books ranging from the Marxist-Leninist classics to the Bible…This phenomenon seemed interesting to us, both as something characteristic of the time and as an aesthetic event. The goods laid out on the ground represented a kind of still life that could tell everything about the seller, about his personal story, his passions and skills… We took photos of these objects and made a purchase as a sign of gratitude (usually something absolutely useless). A short conversation would follow the purchase. One old woman selling two packs of cigarettes left by her dead husband said, “What do I need them for? I don’t smoke…” Another woman who sold us old photographs of Soviet actors told us she had been collecting them since she was a child.Taken as a whole, these still lifes could not draw a better picture of a changing

epoch. Ideological symbols like records of the Soviet anthem stood alongside battered Chinese-made Barbie dolls or “brand-name” cosmetics of dubious origin. The “eternal” values of the communist past depreciated, and were sold for trifling sums along with the mass-produced wares of the consumerist present. Indeed, the same phenomenon occurred in all the regions of the former Soviet Union. And now identical goods can be found at similar bazars in Russia, Ukraine or Kyrgyzstan. Since we all had a common history for 70 years, national specificity yields to the international. Little by little, we accumulated a rather sizeable collection of these things and photographs of outdoor still lifes. By installing it all in an exhibition space, we would like to show interrelated realities – the reality of an exhibited object that can be touched, the documented reality of the place where this object was sold, the reality of the existence of each person (the objects’ owners), the reality of time (history), and finally, the reality of direct personal contact.Ye.V.

Yelena Vorobyeva & Viktor Vorobyev’ last decade works @Milan

The well-known Kazakh couple, Yelena Vorobyeva and Viktor Vorobyev, present four major projects dating from between 2002 and 2012, therefore covering the last decade. The exhibition Provincial Sets , curated by Marco Scotini, brings together some of the most signi!cant works by these two representatives of the Central Asian art scene.

Creators of photographic databases, archives of documentary images, for years Yelena Vorobyeva and Viktor Vorobyev have been compiling a precise record of the negligible details of daily life, local particulars, subjects that are not exactly photogenic. They do it in series, according to typologies, producing not single shots but coherent groupings of images. While seemingly insigni!cant (and exhibited unmistakably for what they are), these details (of objects, colours and customs) end up revealing many signs of a macro-history as well as new social metaphors and camou"aged symbols of power.

But the Vorobyevs research cannot be de!ned as an exhaustive or systematic investigation, nor are they intended as such. It is rather an occasional and discontinuous taxonomy to which the “conceptual” practice of photography (and its neutral conventions) turns out to be most suitable when transforming the traces of day-to-day experience into both document and pure sign. Indeed, these groupings of images (Sunsets and Sunrises, Kazakhstan.Blue period, Bazar and The Fence) present unique methods of collection and assemblage, where subjects acquire ready-made socio-cultural features on the one hand and (once they have been de-contextualised and repeated) become abstract !gures within ornamental sequences on the other.

This double level, like the micro-macro shift in scale, never ceases to interpret the real conditions and !ctitious projections (social aspirations, remote nostalgia, new lifestyles) of contemporary post-Soviet reality. Contrary to many other present-day artists, the Vorobyevs’ work does not address the socialist past or its memory. It is focused instead (through clear-minded criticism) on the present regime’s more or less direct succession to the previous totalitarian power within the ex-Soviet periphery: what the Vorobyevs call “decorative democracy”. Fragmentation, neo-nationalism, the destruction of all sense of community, nostalgia for patriarchal authenticity and the new turquoise blue of the Kazakh "ag, these are all recurring features of neo-totalitarian Central Asian society that the Vorobyevs’ images never cease to highlight.

Each one of these projects requires a very long period for the actual gathering of traces and assembling of material. In The Fence (2004-2012), what was once the Iron Curtain, on a mental level, is transformed into a real multiplication of the new enclosures of private property which started to appear once again following the perestrojka. Sheets of metal bearing socialist emblems are recycled in improvised fences in the outskirts of Almaty and communist red is painted over with Islamic green. Here too, as in Blue Period, colour is capable of identifying both the members of a community and metaphysical symbols. Semiotic reconversion betrays an identical political hegemony despite the mutated context.In the absence of any alternatives, the new social classes of the post-Soviet periphery cannot but face up to the ever tightening grip of the models of Western capitalism. In the cycle Photo for Memory. If a Mountain Doesn’t Go to Mahomet …(2002) the Vorobyevs underline the gap between reality and expectations, the people of the steppes are photographed against a background of posters of Western capitals. Features of disillusion and impossibility reach their apex in the multimedia work Day and Night (2007) where the horizon is de!nitively closed o#. The classic bars on windows, which from 1991 onwards have become a common feature in Central Asian housing, substitute the rays of the sun (rising and setting) with their metal grid. For the Vorobyevs this system of domestic protection becomes a potent symbol of unconditional imprisonment under the sign of the Eastern sun.

Yelena Vorobyeva was born in 1959 in Nebit-Dag (Turkmenistan). Viktor Vorobyev was born in 1959 in Pavlodar (Kazakhstan). They live in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The wanderers

Eslite Gallery ends the year with a clear-sighted show about nomadism

in contemporary society

By Noah Buchan / Staff reporter

In a recent opinion piece in Art+Auction titled Why Art Galleries Matter, Dorsey

Yelena and Victor Vorobyev, Photo for Memory. If a Mountain Doesn’t go to Mahomet (2002).Photo courtesy of Eslite Gallery

represented their countries at the Venice Biennale and Documenta, are “deeply

and the hearth, the secure and the violent, the domestic and the predatory, the

No-Mad-Ness in No Man’s Land runs until Dec. 22 at Eslite Gallery, 5F,

11 Songgao Rd, Taipei City, tel: (02) 8789-3388 X1588.

Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm.

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