Cyfest-14 Exhibition

From the series “Matter of Chance” Media Installation, 2019 OpenCV, Python; 3D printing, ink on paper, stepper motors, servomotors, microcontroller, Raspberry Pi, webcamera, oil on plywood   Engineers Alexey Grachev, Alexander Bochkov, Viсtor Timofeev; 3D modeling Alexey Grachev, Alexander Bochkov; Python programming Alexey Grachev, Ruslan Khadzhimirzoev   Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, Kolodzei Art Foundation, USA Supported by CYLAND Media Art Lab   “Artist Union. Still life” is a reflection on the law of large numbers. Is it applicable in visual arts — to colors in painting, lines in graphics, forms in sculpture, and the image integrity in installations? The law of large numbers is a principle that describes the completion of the same experiment many times. According to this law, the joint action of a large number of random factors leads to a result almost independent of the chance. For example, in the XVI century the length of the English foot was defined, by a royal order, as the arithmetic average length of the foot of the first 16 people leaving the church on Sunday matins. Although the law of large numbers was not yet defined, it serves as the basis for the principle of arithmetic mean used in determining the length of a foot.

Interactive sound installation, 2015–present time Tapestry, AR, Artivive Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, Kolodzei Art Foundation, USA A series of tapestries together forms an installation that presents a sequence of film frames from the movie “Sleeper” by Woody Allen. The movie has been glitched and accidentally “edited” by the artist’s crashed computer, becoming completely transformed and practically unrecognizable. The order of narrative development has been rigorously preserved: the still images are arranged in the same sequence as they appear in the film. The tapestries convey the movie’s plot, but in their own way, where some parts have been lost and others have remained. The size of each tapestry is 58×77 cm, which corresponds to the television and film format (4×3) of the 20th century. The artist uses an old visual technique: the art of weaving. Even if contemporary digital media were destroyed, this technique would be preserved.    By pointing a tablet with an AR application at a tapestry, visitors can watch a video which gives an explanation for each tapestry. The video is made from the perspective of human descendants / space travelers, who have found the tapestries 2000 years later. Their conclusion is that the tapestry is a way to archive film and video from the 20th-21st centuries. The film they find is Sleeper, a science fiction movie about a dystopian world. 

A solar panel powers up a small pump that runs water particles within plastic tube circuit. The speed of water movement depends on the intensity of the Sun, visualizes and thus represents the energy flow.   If you think about it, every form of life, every living being could be seen as a matter transformation process driven by our suns energy. Every process has its own time period and frequency. Some of them last for ages, other finish within seconds. On the other hand, it is hard to say where one starts and the other ends, everything is connected in this planetary scale fermentation process. Only one remains the same, the Sun, the catalyst doing its job. Each plant is a perfect illustration of this concept, especially since they transform sunlight directly. Edible plants make it even better, because when we consume them we convert further. I welcome every visitor of the Summer house. Here you will find herbal tea leaves that I’ve collected and processed during this summer in my native forest in Russia. I kindly offer you to brew a hot cup of tea and review a short story of each herb with a glimpse of the idea of global transformation. We all are a part of one chain. We have to care for each other and everything around us. Please, have a good time.

Installation, 2020 (edition of 2021) OpenCV, Python, Arduino; 3x black box (thermally insulated), heaters, temperature and humidity sensor, HD webcam, flood light, DIN rail, microcontroller modules, Raspberry PI, Korg Monotron Delay, fruits Engineers Andrew Strokov, Alexey Grachev, Alexander Bochkov; 3D modeling Alexander Bochkov; Python programming Andrew Strokov Supported by CYLAND Media Art Lab Three fruits on pedestals are contained inside a black box. In artificially created and regularly maintained conditions, the fruits pass through three chemical reactions — caramelization, the Maillard reaction and enzymatic browning. Usually, these processes take place within minutes in cooking. Here they are intentionally prolonged in time. Inside the box constant humidity and a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius are maintained, thus killing bacteria which cause decay. In ideal and constantly controlled conditions, the fruits preserve their form, and burn up inside from day to day at the lowest possible speed. Visitors can observe the slowly burning still life by watching it in real-time on the video panel placed on the boxes. But the main activity remains hidden and takes place at the molecular level. Its tangible manifestation is a monotonous soundtrack performed by the fruits themselves. Information about the external appearance of each fruit is converted into sound waves. The processes inside the box are analyzed and sonified by an analog synthesizer. The sound pitch and timbre depend on temperature, humidity, fruit size and color. As the fruit burns up, the sound “burns up” as well and becomes increasingly dull and quiet. The process is an artificially prolonged borderline state of “in between”. The metamorphosis is too slow to perceive by the naked eye. Because of the unnatural maximum delay, all differences vanish in the abyss of time to the accompaniment of a droning trio. However, it is still an open question as to whether the process will proceed in the way that was intended. Every effort has been made, all we can do is to wait and see what will happen next. Image caption: Vasilii Bakanov and Andrew Strokov, Slow burning. Still Life (open-ended), Installation, 2020 © Authors and CYLAND MediaArtLab, image by Alexander Bochkov

Objects; ceramics, glaze, 2022 The project builds upon Sergey Katran’s years of research exploring the ways in which the biocentric concept impacts ethical ties and building special society networks. That said, we register a certain correlation between grassroots initiatives of artistic communities’ networks, and mycelia. Both are based on thin, interlaced fibers of daily existence. Various forms of cooperation and mutual assistance act as a binding principle in all this. Altruism is viewed as an inalienable component of the biocenosis and aided by the ethical element in anarchist ideas, and these two permanent constituents are present in the life of animal communities, plants and fungi, and occur in natural environments, as well as in human society. Self-organization as a grassroots, independent initiative, confirms the viability of its alternative ethical practices and behaviors that radically differ from those adopted by capitalist societies geared for profit, and based on manipulation to achieve higher standards of living. Mutual communal support is a vital component of artistic practices. By self-organizing as groups, artists find optimal ways of existence steeped in equality and mutual responsibility. The first handshake upon meeting becomes the metaphor for an encounter of kindred artistic souls. Mushroom anarchy, as a metaphor for grassroots symbiotic artistic communities, establishes the hubs of respect for those living entities that are prone to empathetic behaviors and for interspecies altruism in their joint search for a way out of the environmental and cognitive impasse.

Installation, 2016  Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, Kolodzei Art Foundation, USA Usually, Time is regarded as a line (theoretically, a line of endless length), on which the present moment is a point in constant motion. But this line may also be regarded as a succession of points in different positions, so that any moving or changing object may be interpreted as a number of motionless versions of “shots” of oneself. The artists observe the serene flow of life, but at the same time disrupt the “arrow of time”. Life consists of repetitions which seem to combine to form a single “river”. The video of people floating serenely along the river from one screen to another actually shows the same moment, which is multiplied and repeated, devoid of past and future, and joined into a cycle.

Installation, performance, 2021 (edition of 2022)  The artists on the bikes regulate the sound and rhythm by their pedaling, and together create the final work. How the “symphony” is performed depends on the motion of both cyclists. The intentions and aspirations of the participant acquire sonic expression. They may become synchronized, and try to turn the pedals in the same rhythm, to be in harmony. Or they may intentionally disturb this and cause harmonic fluctuations, creating complex combinations of sounds that arise when movements are not synchronized.  This is an experiment on what an object is capable of besides its original purpose. The functionality of a technological object here is valued not for its usability, but for the distinguishing feature which determines what sound will be created. The other aim of the work is to reveal  rhythms and connections in space whose existence usually is not grasped in everyday life. Potentially, a sound may be produced from any object. In this project, the source of sound is the “bicycle-human” techno-assemblage. The abstract sound of a bicycle incorporated in the installation refers to all the “wordless” processes and objects which elude direct observation, but still play an important role determining the sort of world that we live in.