"Departure"/ actoin

“I want to note that in the state where the establishment of the institutions of the newest art and their introduction into the global context was planned for the first time, there was simply no budget and funds. Therefore, on a volunteer basis, the first squats, private galleries, magazines, contract exhibitions, meetings, etc. began to appear. In our case, during the default, only what we carried with us and what was at hand served as means for work. The way out of this situation was the formation of a fictional, conceptual shell called “Fiction Gallery Expedition”. Naturally, in the conceptual dimension of freedom not only our squat, but the globe and even the cosmos can be designated, and we liked this idea.

Ideas come through trial, error, experience, and, of course, the “magic case” - when you do not wait, this is the most “sudden” thing. Once again, passing from the hostel is thin. Institute in the workshop on the street Olegovskaya, we paid attention to the sea boat, which was located almost at the intersection of two streets: Lukyanovskaya and Olegovskaya. By that time, the assembly point was ripe and one puzzle was missing, namely, the place where its “Departure” would take place.

And so, on Mount Schekavitsa (there is a variant of the name of the mountain from the ancient Slavic word Schek - nightingale) in blessed, May, turning into summer weather, we all gathered together to go on a journey in an unknown direction. Each of the participants put his duplicate body (avatar) in the boat, where he would like to sit down himself. A TV with a VCR was placed in the center of the boat, and power was taken from the electric pole that was nearby. The video was shown in the genre of documentary chronicles, revealing the secrets of the birth of "avatars". That "birth" was the leitmotif of everything that happens. The “birth” is essentially an anthropological gallery-work, different from the work-artifact, because instead of a certain fixed form, it has a duration in time and space similar to human life. Therefore, the "sailing" of the boat should not be considered as a separate form (or stock), but as the beginning of the FGE path for the realization of itself.

“Departure” began traditionally from the moment of breaking the bottle of “Soviet champagne” on the side of the boat. The bottle was broken the second time. Then they said that it was necessary to take imported champagne - his glass is thinner. Maybe that's why the “ascent” of FGE turned out to be lengthy, until the very beginning of the 21st century. 

To be continued ... >>>

Konovalov Igor.