Skip to main content

Oprichnaya Book - futuristic Moscow in 2028: art exhibition in Tbilisi, Georgia



The Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in Tbilisi, Georgia, is currently displaying the art exhibition, Oprichnaya Book, from 23 June to 31 August 2018. 

In 2007, Yaroslav Schwarzstein showed Vladimir Sorokin some drawings called ‘The New Oprichniks’ (‘The New State Police’) and Sorokin wrote a story about them. The book, A Day of Oprichnik, described Moscow, Russia, in the year 2028. The book visualised a system of an Orthodox Monarchy and new technologies – which Sorokin describes as ‘stylistically something of a Russian Cyberpunk. 

Schwarzstein and Sorokin collaborated on the illustrations for the book, merging Schwarzstein’s graphics with Sorokin’s calligraphy. Sorokin wanted to create an unusual genre – ‘artistically elite’ – to ‘challenge the Gutenberg’s era devoured by digital technologies’ but not in a traditionally published form.

They shared their vision with collector, producer, and photographer Leonid Ogarev, who suggested an art object book with a set of graphical sheets – but it had to be an ‘unidentifiable artwork, like a meteorite, flown from the macabre, fancy, feudal-high-tech Moscow of 2028. 

To be a product in the library space, on the shelf, in the gallery, and on the walls as an object of pure art, they decided on the size of the sheets (50cm x 65 cm) and the technology (manual overprint) with the aim of producing 20 copies. This took them two years. 

When it was shown to a small audience, they realised that they had created ‘a beautiful and horrible thing’ reminiscent of Salvador Dali’s ’Premonition of Civil War.’

The Oprichnaya Book, or Oprrichnik’s Book, ‘visualises Russian authorities, hidden behind the beauty of the painted splints and severe luxury of the Kremlin, behind the ruddy-smiles of the matrioshkas, palace brocade of the courtiers and rustling silk of the lackeys and dancers.’

The first exhibition of The Oprichnaya Book was at the Moscow Multimedia Art Museum (MAMM), established in 2010, where, at auction, the first and the last pages of the book sold successfully. As the artists say, ‘all the success won’t replace a fateful question of the audience standing in front of our art-object and pensively leafing through the pages: So, what is this anyway?’






















MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more