'live forget live forget' — a reflection on life and death, memory and oblivion. The artist is interested in contradictory semantic attitudes and internal conflict where a person finds himself nowadays.
The exposition consists of two artistic statements — the project 'I am still alive' and the large-scale installation 'The Gift of Oblivion or Formula of Empty World' that were shown at the Fabrika Center for Creative Industries in Moscow in 2021 and 2019, respectively.
On the first floor of the gallery is the project 'I'm still alive', in which the artist invites everyone to participate in a performative action and write the text on the prepared A4 white sheets: 'I'm still alive. Name, Surname, data, signature'. The 'note' is immediately framed, hung on the wall and becomes part of the exhibition. In this project Kuzkin reflects on the value of human life and the temporality of existence. Handwritten documents compiled by the audience are collected in an archive where the words that sound especially fragile and ephemeral, 'I am still alive' are an attempt to preserve a personal voice and affirm the value of a single life.
On the second floor of the gallery there is an installation 'The Gift of oblivion or Formula of the empty world' — a metaphor of the existing reality. In this work, Kuzkin deduces the 'formula of the empty world' and tells what tools the state power uses to control other people. Unlike the project 'I am still alive', where Kuzkin reminds us of the temporality of everything that is happening, in 'The Gift of Oblivion' he directly confronts us with the mechanisms of forgetting historical tragedies and collective traumas.
'The works presented at the exhibition were created at different times,' says the director of the gallery and curator of the exhibition Liliana Marre. — 'Several years have passed, but not only have they not lost their relevance, but, on the contrary, they most acutely and truthfully reflect modern times. This is the power and significance of Kuzkin's art, which we can already appreciate now.'
Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased at the gallery.
Standard – 200 rubles
Consession – 100 rubels
Media partner: Gathering
