Description: In a semi-dark room there are packed and unwanted items lying around: wrapped chairs, sofas, household items. This abandoned room has been turned into storage. A video is projected on the wall in front of the sofa, showing only a gobelin carpet. The landscape on the carpet presents a fairy-tale composition: distant countryside, hills, a river, an autumn forest. A deer is depicted in the foreground. It breathes of peace and tranquillity. Such carpets were very popular in the 60s–80s of the last century in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities. In the video, sunlight slowly drifts across the carpet, transforming a kitschy image into an Italian Renaissance painting due to the play of light and shadow. The video is accompanied by the sound of the Sun obtained by NASA’s spacecraft by converting electromagnetic waves into sound.
This work is about the time within us. The wrapped items inside the room are a symbolic image of our profane world, our established perceptions. The installation invites the viewer to stop and observe the “earth movement” signified by the motion of light across a fairytale landscape with a deer from their childhood and to recall their presence in outer space.
Ivan Govorkov Artist. Born in 1949 in Leningrad, USSR. Graduated from the Ilya Repin State Academy Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Leningrad, USSR). He is engaged in philosophy, psychology, painting, drawing, sculpture and installations; he works at the junction of traditional art and cutting-edge technologies. Professor of drawing at the Ilya Repin Institute. Recipient of the Sergey Kuryokhin Award (Russia, 2012) in the category “Best Work of Visual Art” (together with Elena Gubanova). His works have been exhibited at major Russian and foreign venues, including the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), Museum of Moscow (Moscow, Russia), University Ca’ Foscari (Venice, Italy), Chelsea Art Museum (New York, USA), Kunstquartier Bethanien (Berlin, Germany), Sky Gallery 2 (Tokyo, Japan). Participant of the Manifesta 10 Biennale Parallel Program (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2014) and several exhibitions parallel to Venice Biennale (Italy, 2011, 2013, 2015); regular participant of Cyfest. Since 1990, he has been working in collaboration with Elena Gubanova. Lives in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Elena Gubanova Artist, curator. Born in 1960 in Ulyanovsk, USSR. Graduated from the Ilya Repin State Academy Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Leningrad, USSR). She works in painting, sculpture, installations, and video. Gubanova’s principal interest as an artist is to explore the time-space notion in a social context and to present scienti c discoveries through the gurative language of art. Recipient of the Sergey Kuryokhin Award (Russia, 2012) in the category “Best Work of Visual Art” (together with Ivan Govorkov). Her works have been exhibited at major Russian and foreign venues, including the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), Museum of Moscow (Moscow, Russia), University Ca’ Foscari (Venice, Italy), Chelsea Art Museum (New York, USA), Kunstquartier Bethanien (Berlin, Germany). Participant of the Manifesta 10 Biennale Parallel Program (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2014) and several exhibitions parallel to Venice Biennale (Italy, 2011, 2013, 2015); regular participant of Cyfest. Since 1990, she has been working in collaboration with Ivan Govorkov. Lives in St. Petersburg, Russia.
