Bogdan Mamonov

mamonov Was born in 1964 in Moscow. He is an artist, curator, and theoretic. Graduated in 1987 from the Moscow Polygraphic Institute. His work is represented in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Museum of Modern Art in New Jersey, and in private collections. Represented Russia the Venice Bienniales at 2005 as a member of ESCAPE group. Also as a member of ESCAPE group, was awarded the Black Square and Arsenal prizes

Ttranquilization of Memory

The exhibition “Ttranquilization of Memory” is dedicated by the artist to his grandfather – engineer and gifted hobby photographer Grigori Shpeyer. Grigori Shpeyer was one of the first Russian stereoscopic photography enthusiasts who brought home from France a “Taksifot” – a stereoscopic image viewing device. Most of the stereoscopic photographs, depicting the life of Grigori Shpeyer’s family date back to 1913. Grigori Shpeyer was arrested and died in the years of the Stalin terror, but the photographs and the Taksifot miraculously survived the turbulent era.
The artist treats the duality of a stereoscopic image not just as an optical trick, but as a metaphor for understanding of the history that offers two or more viewpoints for any event. An ancestor of such type of historical analysis Roman Guy Svetoniy Trankvill made sure he had two versions of the biography of any Caesar he wrote about. This stereoscopic duality ties the three epochs – ancient Rome, pre-revolutionary years of Russia and the present together in the exhibition of paintings and video art. The artist’s family photo archive itself has become an important element of the project.

Богдан Мамонов. Проект «Транквилизация памяти». 2013. © Автор / Bogdan Mamonov. The project “Ttranquilization of Memory”. 2013. © Author