MOST Contemporary Art Festival
Kaluga
October 18 - November 3
2020

LAST MEETING

The exhibition becomes a commentary on ongoing processes, and the former objects of the factory take their last breath before being sent to the landfill. The personal lockers for the author become "living" witnesses of the period of the plant's life, on them one can still find the inscriptions of their owners, pasted calendars, clippings from magazines and work clothes. Cases are collected in the center of the hall, archival documents are scattered throughout the space - this is a symbolic "last meeting". On the walls of the hall, the author places works from the "Inside" series, in which he captures memorable moments of the labor past of the Soviet industry.

The "Last meeting" project was created at the former ELMAT plant, Kaluga, in one of its workshops. Previously, the workshop was used to create household electrical appliances, kitchen hoods and air cleaners. To create the installation, the author used factory items that had already been prepared for disposal: personal metal cabinets that served for decades to more than one generation of workers, archival documents: production logs, timesheets, invoices, instructions and orders - everything that ensured the circulation of vital plant processes. The fate of the plant becomes an example of a great trend, when, under the conditions of the new capitalism, the former production turns out to be deeply unprofitable and therefore closes. Spaces are undergoing gentrification, and artlasters, lofts, and office spaces appear in place of industrial zones. Industrial capital is replaced by post-industrial capital, which "ennoble" the territory with cultural events such as the MOST festival, within which the project was shown.

Eng

CHRONICLES OF ISOLATION

KIRILL BLAGOLEPOV,
32 YEARS OLD, MOSCOW