IN ARCHIVIO

AES+F “THE GREEN PARADISE…”

February 15 > April 27, 2008

curated by Olga Sviblova

MACRO Future

Image: Last riot 2,The Tank and Waterfall, 2007

MACRO Future, the experimental site of MACRO in the Testaccio quarter, holds the first-ever personal exhibition in an Italian museum of the Russian AES+F collective, curated by the Director of the Multimedia Art Center Moscow, Olga Sviblova.

The group was set up initially in 1987 under the name of AES by Tatiana Arzamasova (1955), Lev Evzovich (1958) and Evgeny Sviatsky (1957); in 1995 it was joined by the photographer Vladimir Friedkes (1956) and was re-named AES+F.

AES+F | Action, half life, episode 2, 2003

AES+F | Last riot 1, 2007

The title of the exhibition “The green Paradise…” is meant as a tribute to Charles Baudelaire (it is a quotation from his verse "... the green paradise of childish love..." contained in "Moesta et Errabunda", a poem included in "Les fleurs du mal") and refers to the years of childhood and youth.

The guiding thread in the works by AES+F is given by the subjects selected for their art: extraordinarily beautiful children and youths, with ethereal, angelical traits, are the main characters in their works; they let no emotions or bodily tensions transpire. Another feature consists in the search for the perfect image, which is achieved with the help of different languages such as those developed by advertising, graphics, fashion pictures and video games.

The exhibition shows a selection of videos, photographic works and sculptures from projects developed over the past decade (1997-2007).
Among the works on show, the 3D Video Last Riot (2007) represented Russia at the 52nd Venice Biennial. In a virtual world, very young warriors are fighting a ceaseless war-insurrection that is an end in itself - against the ambiguity and anxiety of contemporary life. In this apocalyptic Paradise, where time is staid, there are no opposing groups or factions; in fact, all are key players in this armed revolution where there is neither blood nor death.

AES+F | Last riot 2, tondo 12,2007

AES+F | Action, half life sculptures, warrior 3, 2005

The photographic projects on show include Last Riot 2, Action Half Life, the cycle The King of the Forest, Rich Boy, and Suspects.
The King of the Forest (2001-2003) is a cycle of projects made up by performances implemented at Catherine's Palace in Puskin, close to St. Petersburg (Le Roi des Aulnes); near Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo (More than Paradise), and in Times Square, New York (King of the Forest: New York).
Children with different cultural and social backgrounds, selected by modelling agencies of the individual cities, were left free to express themselves before cameras. The unaffected and, at the same time, homogeneous behaviour displayed in front of the camera is a feature shared by all these projects - which show to what extent media messages and models can "flatten" individuals ever since childhood.

In Last Riot 2 (2005-2007) the scenario is an artificial paradise in which youths fighting with toy weapons are the only presences reminiscent of reality. It is a fight of all against all in the absence of any belongingness feeling - which mirrors the fall of mass ideologies.

Action Half Life is named after a well-known video game. The background is the Sinai desert; the young characters personify the age of heroism and recklessness and hold weapons of destruction without putting them to use.

Suspects is a collection of 14 photo-portraits of girls, arranged at random. Seven girls come from juvenile detention facilities and have committed terrible crimes, whilst the remaining 7 girls are from junior schools in Moscow. It is meant to draw attention to the fact that social and economic crises lead man towards aggressive, ill-advised behaviour to a greater degree than is usually the case.

The exhibition also includes a group of sculptures: First Rider; Last Riot Sculptures; Action Half Life Sculptures.