By devoting so much space to the photographers of yesterday, the Moscow Biennale acknowledges the educational importance of photography. The ties between the past and the future are sometimes very close. “Photography is more and more becoming a part of our daily lives. The photograph ‘eats’ words; it’s much easier to communicate through an image than through words,” says MAMM director Olga Sviblova. She reminds us how much photography has become a veritable language for the young Russian generation, as is the case for other people with restricted freedom.
For the 10th edition, the country’s young talents are all at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (whose acronym is a clear imitation of New York’s modern art museum), the Fondation Ekaterina and the Zurab Tsereteli Gallery of Arts. There’s Dmitry Lukianov’s Palace of Culture, a series of interiors and exteriors in obsolete Soviet cultural centers, Sofia Tatarinova’s series Udmurtia, which tells the story of country widows, Nikita Shokov’s series Moscow Night Life, and the oddly named EliKuka Group (Oleg Eliseev and Evgeny Kukoverov) whosePropaganda of Photographing reflects on our photographic habits. Perhaps the most intelligent exhibition at the biennale, this interactive installation lets visitors photograph themselves against different backdrops. “Elikuka is certainly a future star of Russian photography,” says Sviblova. “Beyond its exploration of the stereotypes of today’s images, the installation is a fun and interactive project for children and adults. Also, Nikita Shokov received a World Press Photo Award for a series of posed portraits of nudists.”
Sviblova is also very proud of “her” Russian students, especially those from the Rodchenko Art School, whose goal is to produce at least three professional artists out of the thirty admitted annually. Her biggest current plan is a center to be named Rodchenko Plus, which will open next January in a new building donated by the city. “It will be a methodical education center for children and adults. There will be arts, math, physics and biology. The goal of this structure won’t only be to teach, but also to produce professors who can teach throughout Russia, especially in the Moscow suburbs. We hope to start in Moscow and continue with subsidiaries in other regions of the country. Culture is personality. Even in a period of political strife, we must save the young and those with potential. Right now a fog has descended on Russia. But the fog always passes.”
10th Photography Biennale in Moscow
Through June 8th, 2014
http://www.mamm-mdf.ru/en/festivals/filter/biennale-of-photography/
