By the Sun

Dyr bul shchyl ubesh shchur skum vy so bu r l èz — Alexei Kruchenykh, 1912 'Dyr bul schyl', the famous poem by Alexei Kruchenykh, written in December 1912 and published for the first time in January 1913, begins with these words. It marked the beginning of the abstruse language of Russian futurists. May 1913, Sergei Diaghilev organizes the ballet 'The Rite of Spring' by composer Igor Stravinsky at the theater on the Champs Elysees in Paris, the scenery and costumes for which were created by the artist Nicholas Roerich. The production addresses pre-Christian culture and informs the viewer about the ritual of sacrifice designed to bring spring closer. In December 1913, the premiere of 'Victory over the Sun' took place, a futuristic opera by Mikhail Matyushin and Alexei Kruchenykh, in which in one of the acts the prototype of Kazimir Malevich’s 'Black Square' appears for the first time. 'Victory over the Sun' talks about the future, glorifying technological progress, the triumphant march of science, and the harnessing of the forces of nature. Futurists inform the viewer about the inevitable future, for which we must abandon the existing language, including visual. It was these cultural happenings and their first appearance in public in one year that served as the starting point for the collaboration of Zukhra Salakhova and Artur Golyakov on the exhibition. The artists focused their attention on the fact that at the same time two stage productions appeared in the cultural field, which went down in history as landmark events in the field of art and representing opposing views, ideologies and approaches to working with music, choreography and image. By creating a speculative collision of these two works, based on their belonging to the same era, the artists raise questions about the nature of duality and the oppositions we are familiar with that exist in culture and the public field. Taking 'The Rite of Spring' and 'Victory over the Sun' as a basis, the authors create their own conflict: different visual languages, means of expression and personal experience.