[03.09.–24.11.2019]

AGENCY OF SINGULAR INVESTIGATIONS (STANISLAV SHURIPA, ANNA TITOVA):
SEMIONAUTS IN THE FOREST



[FIN] Alkovissa esillä ollut näyttelykokonaisuus, rakentui taiteilija-duon Anna Titova ja Stanislav Shuripa / Agency Of Singular Investigations (ASI) laajemman teossarjan kahdesta elementistä: ‘Semionaut’s Travel Gear’ (koostuu eräänlaisista salaisten agenttien, tiedustelijoiden ja metsästäjien asuista, joita käytetään matkustamiseen, tarkkailuun ja erilaisiin kokeisiin, sekä ritualistis-symbolisiin toimiin ei-lineaarisissa vuorovaikutus-ympäristöissä) sekä ‘Thicket of Slogans’ (esimerkki semioottisesta hypertilasta, joka muodostuu Perestroikan ajan iskulauseista) jotka olivat osa Moskovan modernin taiteen museossa alkuvuonna 2019 esillä ollutta ‘FLOWER POWER.ARCHIVE’ näyttelyä. Näyttely käsitteli laaja-alaisesti ajan käsitettä, sen ilmenemismuotoja ja esittämisen tapoja, arkisto- sekä jäännösmateriaaleja sekä rekonstruktioina, joka liittyivät Flower Power-yhteisön (rakennettuun) tarinaan.

Tämä näyttely liittyi Alkovin painotukseen HIAP:in Connecting Points-ohjelman puitteissa keskittyen tiedon tuotannon ja tiedon muodostumisen kysymyksiin. ASI:n praktiikka huomioi oleellisesti jatkuvan tarpeemme tulkita, aktivoida ja muokata havaitsemaamme, sekä myös sitä millä keinoilla vuorovaikutamme.

ASI: Agency Of Singular Investigations (ASI) on näyttelyihin, keskusteluihin, esityksiin ja muihin taiteellisia käytäntöjä nykyisissä sosiaalisissa ja kulttuurillisissa prosesseissa tarkasteleviin tapahtumiin keskittyvä yhteisö. Stanislav Shuripa ja Anna Titova perustivat ASI:n vuonna 2014, vuodesta 2015 ASI on toiminut Moskovassa Fabrika- taidekeskuksen tiloissa. Näyttelyiden, seminaarien, keskusteluiden ja erilaisten esityskäytäntöjen välimaastossa toimiva ASI tarkastelee työssään esteettisten kokemusten ja historiallisten tilanteiden suhteita, sekä taiteellisten sisältöjen esiin tulemisen mahdollisuuksia julkisessa tilassa. ASIn järjestämät tapahtumat liittyvät ajankohtaisiin, kulttuurillisten ja taiteellisten ympäristön aiheisiin. Nämä aiheet tarttuvat taiteellisen praktiikan kontekstiin ja vaikutukseen tietoyhteiskunnassa, kuten vuorovaikutukseen taiteilijan ja katsojan kanssa, havaintoon ja keskusteluun, visuaaliseen sekä sosiaaliseen, ja kuvien virtuaaliseen luonteeseen ja sosiaalisen toiminnan todellisuuteen, esteettiseen kokemukseen ja moninaisiin tiedon muotoihin

[ENG] Alkovi presented an exhibition compiled of two fragments of a project ‘FLOWER POWER. ARCHIVE’ by Agency of Singular Investigations / Stanislav Shuripa and Anna Titova. ‘Semionaut’s Travel Gear’ (reconstructed outfits for secret agents, scouts and hunters that were used for travel, observation, experiments and ritualistic-symbolic activity in non-linear communication environments) and ‘Thicket of Slogans’ (an example of semiotic hyperspace formed by specially germinated slogans of the Perestroika era) were presented jointly as elements of engagement of ‘political environmentology of meanings (PEM, as it is described by ASI)’ [the belief that] ‘hyperspaces formed by discursive flows can […] yield better opportunities to develop alternative versions of history and ritual hunting of semiofauna.’

The ‘FLOWER POWER. ARCHIVE’ was initially an exhibition held at Moscow Museum of Modern Art from February to April 2019 and consisted of multiple pieces dealing with the concepts of time and its depiction, its presentation as archival and residual materials, as reconstructions and with visual and semantic guides – all tied into the reconstructed story of a secret society called ‘Flower Power’. This installment at Alkovi consisted of just a couple of elements from this exhibition entity, the costumes of semionauts and the slogans, that form their own display of re-routing and re-viewing the past as attached to a possibility of “unearthing” techniques of history-making as materializations of time.

When dealing with the past, we deal with the concept of the (de-)pressing present. As Stanislav Shuripa states in the catalogue publication related to the MMOMA exhibition that: "The most important thing for us is the present. It is in any case comprised of both past experiences and future expectations. Many avenues of historical experience and expectations are almost or completely invisible, forgotten, lost. But then you have the torrents of messaging and data that not only conceal the opportunities and erase memory but also, conversely and unexpectedly, uncover the forgotten and lost, reanimate images that seemed to have been neglected to the past for good. The present of today is full of reflections of other eras, resuscitated patterns, something along the lines of undead modernity. A prominent attribute of our time us that the image of the future has lost its usual appeal. It appears to have been washed out, lost the energy of popular hopefulness; there is no longer certainty in the conviction that progress will bring about happiness for all. The place of future images has been taken by images of the past. They come from different worlds and histories. A key role in our practices is taken by the feeling of co-presence of different times and versions of history. And we engage this multiplicity to speak about the splendors and miseries of hope for more just and freer world."

Tied to the focus that Alkovi has had within the collaborating project under the HIAP’s Connecting Points-programme on ‘knowledge production’ (or knowledge formation as we like to see it) ASI’s focus and artistic practice points to the incessant need to interpret, activate and adjust what we perceive and through what means we engage on this correspondence. Signaling systems form their own landscapes or terrains, through the navigation of which is not a simple task of exposure. Anna Titova (quoted from the same publication): "We believe that the reality that surrounds us is not a homogeneous panorama of events that happen around a subject but a large number of collisions, fusions, transitions between contexts. The echoes of what could be called zeitgeist-under the tension that emerges as a result of numerous collisions of expectations, interests, notions. This differentiation, intercrossing of realities id the subject in many of our projects. This is not about "objective" knowledge but rather about inconspicuous, damped, weak effects of communications. The projects of ASI are not so much some "pure art" but acts of communication, attempts to exchange signals. Each object is a witness or a place of transition between different worlds. Objects and images combine into a kind of map of parallel reality."

About the ASI The Agency of Singular Investigations (ASI) is a platform for exhibitions, discussions, performances and other events aimed at a rethink of the role of artistic practice in current socio-cultural processes. The ASI was founded in 2014 by Stanislav Shuripa and Anna Titova. Since 2015 ASI has been operating from the Centre of Creative Industries Fabrika. The ASI aims to explore the relations between aesthetic experience and historical conditions, and also the potential to produce artistic meaning in a public space. The ASI was set up to become the platform for the development of scenarios operating at the intersection of exhibition, seminar, discussion and presentation formats. The events organized by the ASI are dedicated to issues indicative of the current cultural and artistic environment. These key topics concern the context and impact of artistic practice in the communications society, such as the interaction between the artist and viewer, perception and discourse, visual and social, the virtual nature of images and reality of social action, aesthetic experience and various forms of knowledge. More info of ASI:




asi.moscow/index-eng.html







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