Recycle

The Recycle Art Group was founded in 2005. Andrei Blokhin was born in 1987 in Krasnodar. Egor Kuznetsov was born in 1985 in Stavropol. Both graduated from the Krasnodar State Academy of Culture and Arts in 2010. They were longlisted for the Kandinsky Prize in 2009 and won the 2010 Kandinsky Prize in the category Young Artist  —  Project of the Year. They live and work in Krasnodar.

These new works represent an original turn in Recycle’s oeuvre — from the recycling of everyday materials and archaeological projections of the present into the future to the conquering of virtual reality. Recycle has discovered the features of a brand-new social system in social networks, with its own laws, customs and rituals. Our era differs from others in that it dwells not only in real but also in virtual space. “It is neither material nor spiritual and yet it promises the individual — or rather, his or her ‘profile’— eternal life by adopting the functions of religion. None of the data entered on Facebook is deleted, and sometimes the pages of users who vanished long ago continue to send messages. Sometimes this profile also gets spam; it continues to have ‘friends’ and exchange ‘likes,’” say the members of the group. One of the principal symbols of this world and its inhabitants is the letter “F” — the first letter of the word Facebook, which Recycle has turned into a gigantic installation (“Letter F”). The laws of social networks have in a way become the commandments of the 21st century: A person who violates them is denied access to eternal life within the network. “The Tablet of the Covenant” is the bearer of these precepts — these Ten Commandments — and by following them you are guaranteed immortality.