Елагина Елена и Игорь Макаревич Elagina Elena & Igor Makarevich

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The special project “Makarevich Elagina: Analysis of AiTcontinuesa series of exhibitions created by the artists for expositions of well known European art in significant museum around the world. One of the projects in this series was installed by Makarevic and Elagina in the halls of the old masters (Bruegef, Rembrandt) in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in 2009. In these analytical projects the artists assign particular importance to the conceptual idea of the definition of the creative processes of great masters from different eras and nations, and to the interaction of art with general, underlying principals of art history.

The multipart compositions are located in halls 27 and 28 of the permanent exposition of XX century art In hall 27, against the backdrop of a neon caption and “ladders” upward, beyond the exhibition space, stands the central sculptural piece—”Large, Festive Mushroom” which is crowned with a model of Tallin’s Monument to the Third International. This composition illustrates, leading the viewer’s gaze the ties of the Russian avantgarde with the traditions of both early and contemporary art Wirelike “hoses” inking the various parts of the installation to the “Large, Festive Mushroom” become symbols of communication and interrelation of these artistic traditions through time and space. The hoses, which unite the artistic elements and contain concealed information, become transporters and translators of informational The resulting communicative system also includes a process of direct contact with the viewer. Its symbols are the mailboxes situated along the left wall.

In hall 28. among the paintings of Soviet artists of the post war period, Makarevich and Elagina arranged three installations on podiums behind glass, referred to by the art sts as “Machines of Art”. These machines form an artistic laboratory, where we can identify the links between individu a artworks, different artistic and creative processes, traditions and epochs, and where we can “weigh” and compare such general at categories, as “visibility’’ Soviet paintings and conceptual art alike.

This special project is a new ,way of exhibiting both contemporary and traditional art for the Russian museum. The simultaneous showcasing of artworks of conceptualtst masters and painters of the post war period in an analytical comparison not only highlights the deferences in the creative processes of these artists, but also allows us to see the similarities in their approach to the main questions of Russian national art of the second half of the XX century.

инсталляция в зале №28 ГТГ