ПГ_21_153

Myznikova Galina

The artists work in various spheres of contemporary art employing a wide range of multi-media means:performance,video art, experimental films,photography,installation, fashion.In 2005, PROVMYZA represented Russia with innovative tactile project “Idiot Wind” at 51st Venice Biennial,that generated widespread discussion among the professional community.After the success of the opera “Marevo” (2012), which won the
“Innovation prize” artists focus on projects using performance practices.

Oratorium SARXSOMA (performance for high-rise construction)

The manifesto of the Artaud’s “The Theatre and the Plague” is transformed by the authors into glossolalia performed by bass profundo.The name is Latin,it consists of two words: sarx (flesh) and soma (body).That is,”flesh of corporeality”,its quintessence,and at the same time-“dead body”.A 10 meters high construction is transformed by the artists into a steep crossing of sorts which receives and returns various bodies and objects.Up and down move alive and dead substances on hanging hooks: from dogs,sliding down the mountain and trying to climb back up,to half-rotted horse and compressed cars swirling in a fascinating mourning waltz.The narrative turns into a cycle of living pictures.They swell,ooze and burst with hidden quotes,allusions, paraphrases.And whereas the Artaud’s plague acts swiftly,burning through everything lightning-like,the chronotope of the performance is a row of arranged static shots.The image of culture,exhausted under the load of its own knowledge and its own learning.Every shot awakens a referent either from the world of classical art(pieta, Goya’s etchings)or from the world of intellectual cinema and painting of the Soviet period(Zhilinskiy),and also from contemporary arty.As a result, the performance is perceived as a precious crystal; in order to comprehend its light and mysteries, one has to twirl it in one’s hands for a long time, which sometimes might be agonizing and with a fainting heart.

Provmyza_Oratorium Sarxsoma_2020_additional visual material.pdf