March 6 in the Gallery XL opens an exhibition of naturalist Ilya Dolgov. The total installation continues the eponymous project "Reef", which was first realized in the Gallery XL in March of last year and was not an art project or a complex system with internal life, but a set of observations and experience moments that were translated into the language of images and modeled in an exhibition -report. Its main motive was associated with a specific place - the fort "Reef", located in the west of the island of Kotlin and previously served as a military base. In his project, Dolgov reduced the artistic level, exposing the language and images of the structures under investigation.
The key themes of last year's "Reef" were consciousness and imitation, or rather their connection. Observing similarities in living and inanimate nature, Dolgov comes to the conclusion that the imitation effect is the foundation of all life processes. A single consciousness in such a picture of the world is impossible, it is not a center for controlling matter, but a common space for creating special relations.
The new "Reef" is more generalized, and its connection with the island is not so obvious. The basis of the work is a mock-up that will produce and train new imaginary creatures. The main objective of the project is to isolate individuals from the metabolic community. The design of the model assumes the experience of some educational experience for dreamlike semi-imaginary creatures. The installation includes a pair of training videos and cell cells the size of a human growth, inside which you can and even will need to climb. Cells-hexagons consist of aluminum tubes and contain cones of technical polyethylene, which you can go to pack, having experienced a special bodily experience. Above the cell are open - this is not a refuge, but a portal to a harsh plant of nature. Through a translucent heavy film, you can see other people in other cells.
According to Dolgov, there is a small share of artistic hooliganism in the work, but there is also a serious doubt about the need to constantly make a new, unique, going forward. If the last Reef was poetic, elusive and weak, then the new Reef is very simple, clear and purposeful. This educational project must teach to drop out of the ocean consciousness into darkness and alienation fire and be included in the production chains. Nature is a metallurgical plant, and in order to go to the furnace, it is necessary to learn the basics of the profession.
Three exhibitions of Ilya Dolgov ("The Model of Nature" — "Reef" — "Reef") form a kind of triptych of methods of inclusion in nature: contemplation-cognition / poetry-imitation / darkness-production.
Ilya Dolgov: "Reef" is a training model for young five-eyed little sisters. With his help (in the most general terms) it is possible to understand and test the metabolic scheme of production of individuals. The existence of individuals is not necessarily and unobvious and, therefore, requires a separate interpretation. The layout consists of metabolites as a refuge / trap, metabolism / us, seed / worm, production / chain.
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