Windsocks, fans, programming, RSS feed analysis
Engineering: Alexey Grachev
Computer programming: Sergey Komarov
By analyzing the mention of each selected country in mass media of the capitals (Moscow, Washington, Peking, Brussels, London), the artists are drawing forth the map of foreign-policy relations at the current time. They unify the number of mentions in the press of a particular country at a certain moment of time into a common algorithm, and they use fans and wind socks to demonstrate the chart of this information.
For instance, if the Chinese mass-media sources show the greatest number of mentions of Russia, then the wind sock installed on the conditional “map of the world” at the “Peking point” turns into the direction of “Moscow point”. And if in London, during this stretch of time, the chief concern was about the relationship with Washington, then the wind pennant turns in the direction of conditional “Washington”. In this fashion, the map of political interests will resemble a helicopter pad blown over by various winds with multidirectional wind socks.
The viewer will be able to observe how the political atmosphere among major countries-players changes in real time.
Artist. Born in 1949 in Leningrad, USSR. Graduated from the Ilya Repin State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Leningrad, USSR). Works in the fields of philosophy, psychology, painting, drawing, sculpture and installations. Professor of drawing at the Ilya Repin Institute. Recipient of Sergey Kuryokhin Award (Russia, 2012) as “Best Work of Visual Art” (together with Elena Gubanova). His works were exhibited at major Russian and foreign venues, including the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), Russian Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), Museum of Moscow (Moscow, Russia), Chelsea Art Museum (New York, USA), Kunstquartier Bethanien (Berlin, Germany), Sky Gallery 2 (Tokyo, Japan). Participant of the Manifesta 10 parallel program (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2014) and several exhibitions parallel to Venice Biennale (biannually since 2011). Since 1990, he has been working in collaboration with Elena Gubanova. Lives and works in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Elena Gubanova
Artist, curator. Born in 1960 in Ulyanovsk, USSR. Graduated from the Ilya Repin State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Leningrad, USSR). Works in the fields of painting, sculpture, installations, and video. Recipient of Sergey Kuryokhin Award (Russia, 2012) as “Best Work of Visual Art” (together with Ivan Govorkov). Her works were 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), Chelsea Art Museum (New York, USA), Kunstquartier Bethanien (Berlin, Germany). Participant of the Manifesta 10 parallel program (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2014) and several exhibitions parallel to Venice Biennale (biannually since 2011). Since 1990, she has been working in collaboration with Ivan Govorkov. Lives and works in St. Petersburg, Russia.
www.elenagubanova.com