Upward! Community

Russia, Upward!

Mpeg4, 00:12:00, 4:3

This work was created by Petr Zhukov and Daniil Zinchenko. Video-film about the emotional experience of a typical Russian intellectual.The protagonist of the film full of deep Russian existential metaphysics wanders in a strange suburban space in spring off-season, where the mud exposes the reality in all its ineffability, wanders among the ruins, among the garbage along the banks of the river, on the field and somewhere near the power lines. And everywhere he proclaims in the inner impulse: “Russia upward!”, “Achieve levitation in the Russian Federation”. Metaphorically, he represents a typical Russian intellectual, who is permanently trying to overcome the insurmountable existential reality surrounding him, using only the force of ideas, the impulses of the soul. As a result, the only thing he can do is to get off the ground and try to rush up into outer space calling his country with him.

Young artists working with the ideas of Russian cosmism gathered in 2010 and funded the “Upward!” community.

The community works with the theoretical problems of media and possibilities of cultural interaction of art, religion, science and politics. Typical themes are: space and earth, death and death of the medium, resurrection, the idea of Motherland, art as religion, etc.

Besides theoretical work, there are two main directions of the community’s activity: the production of video films, based on the ideas of cosmism and developing them in culture, and the organization of exhibitions of the community members and close artists in non artistic spaces, often in nature (documentations of this exhibitions, like artifact, can be then presented in the museum space).

In the period 2010-2012 a series of four outdoor exhibitions have been held – one for each season. Going out from traditional artistic space was important for discovering new functional possibilities of art and it’s presentation. The correlation with seasons comes from the moment of finding in contemporary culture art being perceived in a religious way, much in the antique meaning with special cults for each season, determined by social reasons. And it was to observe analogies of art being used in contemporary culture.

Nastya Dergacheva, 14.02.1987 Video artist. Member of Upward! community 2010 – 2011

Petr Zhukov, 19.01.1982 Video artist, curator. Member of Upward! community 2010 – present

Daniil Zinchenko, 16.12.1984 Video artist. Member of Upward! community 2010 – present

Mikhail Maximov, 12.09.1977 Media artist. Member of Upward! community 2010 – 2011

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