Bogdan Mamonov

mamonov_08_0Bogdan Mamonov (b. 1964) – artist, curator, art critic, author of installations, paintings, video and slide-films, performances and book illustrations. Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Printing, participated in the “Group without a name”. Subsequently founded with Valery Izenberg, Liza Morozova and Anton Litvin the programme Escape – the most prominent art group of the beginning of the 2000s, in the programme it was a nominee for “The Black Square” and “Arsenal” awards, he represented Russia in the 51st Venetian Biennale. He is the curator of a private gallery in Talin. His works are held in collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, in the Museum of Modern Art of New Jersey and also in private collections of Russia, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Switzerland.

The tranquilisation of memory

The project is the first part of a trilogy The tranquilisation of memory. It is related to the personality and archive of my great grandfather Grigory Schpeyer — a German engineer who became a victim of repression in 1932 and ended his days in prison. The Intimate Life… has its origin in my childhood, but is related to the general historical context.The question may arise: why does the author consider it interesting for the contemporary viewer to immerse himself into the world of some family archive, into the life, albeit real, but still of a hardly noteworthy man?
I am convinced that today for the society it is exceedingly important to reconsider history. In contrast to, for example, Germany, in Russia a true analysis of the results of the 20th century has not been undertaken. The whole historical layer has comfortably settled in the depths of the collective unconscious, which, of course, brings the danger of a collective neurosis, the symptoms of which we constantly observe.
Reference to the past carries, in such a way, a therapeutic character which may be considered as the main function of culture today. It is from this that the title of the trilogy is derived: tranquillizers — sedatives and antidepressants. At the same time this word is connected with the name of the Roman historian Guy Svetony Tranquill, whose text influenced this project. I think that the successful use of cultural therapy can take place only if history will be looked at through the personal existence of a personage with whom the viewer is able to identify.

Bogdan Mamonov


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