Pavel Peppershtein

Was born in Moscow. Studied at The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He is a founding member of the group Medical Hermeneutics Inspection. Participated in the first Triennale of Contemporary Art “Bergen Assembly” (2013), the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) and the 26th Sao Paulo Biennale (2004). Heis known as a critic, art theorist and author. His published writings include ‘Mythogenic Love of Castes’ (1999) and ‘Prague Night’ (2011).Winner of Kandinsky Prize in 2014 for his “Holy Politics”.

Miracles in swamp

The distaste in history is an interesting phenomenon which deserves closer scrutiny. Today this subject is of serious matter given by the fact that “the End of History” manifested by postmodernist ideology did not come off. Postmodernist Utopia regarded “the end of history” as the triumph of museum, of museumification principle. In recent years we observe the omnipresent death-blow of that principle –barbarian destruction of ancient heritage that miraculously survived to our unthankful
days. Thus, history continues in rude and coarse forms that seemed to have been gone forever. If the past still stimulates aggressive actions of this kind – then it is alive. The writer of Prague Kafka suggested that there is power, able to confront history. He defined this force as a “swamp”. A swamp is counter-historical by nature; all the challenging projects of
reinvention, colonizing and emancipatory impulses – roughly speaking, everything sinks and sticks within it.A swamp is a territory where the surface and the depth change places. Kafka’s opponent in this fictional gladiator fight is Malevich. The exhibition makes up a phantom dialogue, or a dispute between these uncompromising concerns. There will be supremas, architects, political figures, managers and other agents of active abstraction behind the of Kafka stand the flowering of swamp lotus, fagots, gollums, magister Yoda, swam, fairies, agrarians, books, mushrooms, , museum collections. Who wins?