Save
Exhibition
H.L.A.M. Gallery, Voronezh, 2024
Nikolay Alekseev's exhibition 'Save', installation view
Explication
Andrei Monastyrsky writes:
Andrei Monastyrsky writes:
“I am not interested in what
may happen to me
because in these places
I have never been
and never will be
I do not know where they are”
may happen to me
because in these places
I have never been
and never will be
I do not know where they are”
“there is nothing in you
of foam or of snow
there is nothing in you
knocked together or windblown
there is nothing in you
left by me forever”
of foam or of snow
there is nothing in you
knocked together or windblown
there is nothing in you
left by me forever”
Andrei Monastyrsky2 writes:
“it was shattered
everything was shattered
shattering was everywhere
nothing was ever more shattered
everywhere the shattered everything shattered”
everything was shattered
shattering was everywhere
nothing was ever more shattered
everywhere the shattered everything shattered”
4. It is funny that the original text for the exhibition, including a reference to Japan, implied that this series would be shown, but much of what I wanted to display did not make it into the exhibition.
P. S. I wanted to tell you something else important, but I forgot.
P. S. I wanted to tell you something else important, but I forgot.
3. Andrei Viktorovich appears here as a cultural figure; you may choose another container instead if you like. But I insist on Monastyrsky.
1. A ‘dead language' here means English. Lately, a number of officials and the media have been calling it that. It is amusing that the sign saying ‘Sanskrit Lovers Club' still hangs on Gramsci Street. But the text on it has faded and can no longer be read.
2. Andrei Monastyrsky is a poet and artist. He runs a YouTube channel, @podjachevdva, , which I have watched almost every day for several years.
2. Andrei Monastyrsky is a poet and artist. He runs a YouTube channel, @podjachevdva, , which I have watched almost every day for several years.
c) In 1989, the magazine ‘Yuny Tekhnik' enthusiastically reported that all texts ever written by humanity could fit on a hard drive. Everything I know about Japan is the words of Vera Nikolaevna Markova4 and images that could fit on one flash card — and yet I will not stop loving them.
b) When nothing is allowed, everything is allowed. One may even surrender to delight. In the video the poet3 opens a ceramic bear; inside its belly is a Micro-SD memory card with the archive of his whole life. Next to it, the same archive in weighty catalogue volumes and folders. The poet compares the volumes and is delighted.
a) Waiting. A breakdown in communication. There are words that cannot be spoken; it is better to keep them to yourself, to save them. There are dead languages1 — for the first time I name an exhibition with a word in such a language. There are great tasks that cannot be carried out. There is a feeling that a time will come when it will be possible, and for now one must continue in energy-saving mode.
Installation view
The Mir Station
Selected works
At the exhibition in K.'s studio, I turned an event I remember very well into quotation marks. I like this container and the repetition — let the quotation marks be here too.
In the March 2001 evening news on ORT, footage was shown of the de-orbiting of the Mir space station over the Spacecraft Cemetery. The report began with the words:
"Mir has returned to Earth," as they prefer to say now at Mission Control.
The March evening news continued with a story: "A certain resident of Taiwan, deciding this was the end of the world, could not bear the tension and took his own life. But this is the only victim."
"Mir has returned to Earth," as they prefer to say now at Mission Control.
The March evening news continued with a story: "A certain resident of Taiwan, deciding this was the end of the world, could not bear the tension and took his own life. But this is the only victim."
The Mir Station, oil on canvas, 40×30 cm, 2022
The Mir Station, oil on canvas, 40×30 cm, 2022
My New Favourite Artist 2
Completely by chance I came across the website of the young New Zealand artist Steve Carr. His sculpture "A Pillow with a River Rock" is a stone pillow with a river rock on it. Great, right?
I started redrawing artists' works found by chance and putting them into a special folder.
I started redrawing artists' works found by chance and putting them into a special folder.
My New Favourite Artist 2, watercolour on paper, 30×21 cm, 2024
The Ceramic Bear
Andrei Monastyrsky has a small collection of Chinese ceramic animals — caskets. Inside them are stored MicroSD cards with an archive of works. He showed the animals in the video "ASMR 100% EVENTNESS (original)" — please watch it.
How does an event relate to an archive? How fully does a card describe a territory? It seems to me that this is especially important today.
How does an event relate to an archive? How fully does a card describe a territory? It seems to me that this is especially important today.
The Ceramic Bear, oil on canvas, 160×90 cm, 2024
Dust
The Wikipedia article on dust has a lead illustration. It is a photograph by Andrea Booher. New York, NY, September 20, 2001 — a dust-covered office in a building near the World Trade Center. Photo by Andrea Booher / FEMA News Photo.
I once painted this room on a tiny canvas. When A. asked "what is this dust?", I answered: "just dust." I still doubt the answer.
I once painted this room on a tiny canvas. When A. asked "what is this dust?", I answered: "just dust." I still doubt the answer.
Dust, oil on canvas, 160×90 cm, 2024
Illustrations for the book Nerazumnaya [The Unreasonable One] by Adelaide Gertsyk
K. asked me to make illustrations for their new book. I was very worried that my illustrations “illustrate nothing.” When A. saw them on this wall, he asked: “they don’t illustrate anything, do they?” I assured him that they almost didn’t.
The book was published by Nosorog in 2024.
The book was published by Nosorog in 2024.
Illustration for "Nerazumnaya", watercolour on paper, 30×20 cm, 2023
watercolour on paper, 30×20 cm, 2023
Dog
S. shows a video of dogs running on the water in Taganrog Bay, a hundred metres from the shore. Not far from here stands a small house where Chekhov was born.
M. asked: "Is it normal that at an exhibition I’m only interested in a cocktail with a flower?" She was smiling, though it was "not her style."
In six months a North Korean schooner will be driven by a storm onto the rocks of Russky Island. There will be no people on the schooner.
M. asked: "Is it normal that at an exhibition I’m only interested in a cocktail with a flower?" She was smiling, though it was "not her style."
In six months a North Korean schooner will be driven by a storm onto the rocks of Russky Island. There will be no people on the schooner.
Dog, oil on canvas, 70×90 cm, 2024
Flashes
From notes in Google Keep:
Today I saw a dog with different-coloured eyes
I saw a man with partly different skin
The student discount at the barber’s is bigger than the children’s Everywhere on the aggressive (?) ground poppies grow.
N. saw a rubbish collector in a white shirt
The church is laid with white lilies
Seagulls, at first glance meaningless parasites, do good by slowing down time.
An aeroplane is humming again
Today I saw a dog with different-coloured eyes
I saw a man with partly different skin
The student discount at the barber’s is bigger than the children’s Everywhere on the aggressive (?) ground poppies grow.
N. saw a rubbish collector in a white shirt
The church is laid with white lilies
Seagulls, at first glance meaningless parasites, do good by slowing down time.
An aeroplane is humming again
On Andrei Monastyrsky’s YouTube channel there is a record of his daily (since 1997) game of Magic: The Gathering. Since 8.02.2010 he has recorded the results of 10-round tournaments, playing with the Abysmal Onslaught deck (every day).
I started playing Magic again in the spring of 2022. Whatever happens in the morning, before bed — YouTube of Andrei Monastyrsky.
I started playing Magic again in the spring of 2022. Whatever happens in the morning, before bed — YouTube of Andrei Monastyrsky.
Swamp \ Flashfires
Flashes, oil on canvas, 20×25 cm, 2023
Swamp \ Flashfires, oil on canvas, 60×50 cm, 2023
The Pink House
Surprisingly, in hotels the "sense of home" is stronger. A huge number of places I have never been and people I have never met have become dear to me.
I often film wind on video. I think that if a collection of wind recordings like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault does not yet exist, it should be created. Space probes are usually equipped with sound-recording apparatus and transmit to Earth the sound of wind from other planets. One of the most famous recordings was transmitted by the Huygens probe from Titan. When you listen to it for the first time, you expect to hear anything — but not the wind familiar from childhood, quietly stirring the microphone membrane.
On a YouTube video, while falling asleep, I heard that the déjà vu effect arises from a brain error in which it identifies a room as a face.
I often film wind on video. I think that if a collection of wind recordings like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault does not yet exist, it should be created. Space probes are usually equipped with sound-recording apparatus and transmit to Earth the sound of wind from other planets. One of the most famous recordings was transmitted by the Huygens probe from Titan. When you listen to it for the first time, you expect to hear anything — but not the wind familiar from childhood, quietly stirring the microphone membrane.
On a YouTube video, while falling asleep, I heard that the déjà vu effect arises from a brain error in which it identifies a room as a face.
The 585th arrived a little earlier. O. sent me and A. a photograph of the bus and the pink house wrapped in netting.
Together with O. and S. we went for a walk around the VDNKh area. O. kept looking out for the 585th. I joined the game, although I don’t even know where it goes — but I keep looking for it around the corner.
Before getting off at Zolotushka station, she closed Kuprin’s book, then opened it again to read the page number. Memory will keep it for a few minutes. Then it will erase it.
Together with O. and S. we went for a walk around the VDNKh area. O. kept looking out for the 585th. I joined the game, although I don’t even know where it goes — but I keep looking for it around the corner.
Before getting off at Zolotushka station, she closed Kuprin’s book, then opened it again to read the page number. Memory will keep it for a few minutes. Then it will erase it.
Five Hundred and Eighty-Fifth
The Pink House, oil on canvas, 90×70 cm, 2023
Five Hundred and Eighty-Fifth, oil on canvas, 90×70 cm, 2023
The Sea Pier
In October 1999, with my school class, I danced a quadrille at a military hospital. Before the concert I stained the sleeve of my white shirt with ink that had leaked from a pen, and I was very upset.
In October 1942, during the battles for Voronezh, the architect Ivan Leonidov makes a sketch of the "City of the Sun", with a monument in the city centre to the last soldier killed in the last war.
The Sea Pier is a bus stop in the village of Gornyatsky in the Rostov region. Of course, there is no sea there.
In October 1942, during the battles for Voronezh, the architect Ivan Leonidov makes a sketch of the "City of the Sun", with a monument in the city centre to the last soldier killed in the last war.
The Sea Pier is a bus stop in the village of Gornyatsky in the Rostov region. Of course, there is no sea there.
The Sea Pier, oil on canvas, 100×120 cm, 2024
Works
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Design: Nikolay Alekseev's Workshop, 2024 / 2026
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Design: Nikolay Alekseev's Workshop, 2024 / 2026
Curatorial Projects
Works