The soul of the arts in Russia is withering. In Ukraine it is being obliterated, literally. In this second blog, Maria is speaking to the loss of personal freedoms occurring in Russia that is deeply disturbing, and another fall out of the war. In Ukraine, the loss of life and destruction of the cultural infrastructure is of another terrible order. In the past month, Berlin has become a safe harbor for many Russian and Ukranian artists. Maria is temporarily living at UfaFabrik International Art Center. —Clayton Campbell
February 27, 2022- Maria and team work on a project that will not be released. Her team has requested their names not be used for their security and safety.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54jVwEXMwL8
February 27th, 5 seconds
March 31, 2022
Two years had passed since the start of the pandemic, and my practice and projects had been on hold. Finally, this past January I was full of hope and anticipation about new horizons; I anticipated a fresh wave of creative activity.
On March 3rd I was scheduled to open my new art work, Pulse of the Earth is Your Pulse, a collaboration with the new digital-art platform. I had spent months on my mult-disciplinary project that included performance, sound art, and a limited collection of designer clothes based on my digital designs. I realized it would be unethical to open a project in Russia during a state of war. We couldn’t maintain the illusion of normality; the world was turned upside down. When there is so much violence in the world, it’s hard to think about art.
From the project “Pulse of the earth is your pulse”. 2 minutes. Sound art Dario Duarte Nunez.
Maria’s practice proposes “an alternative scenario in which the human body will develop not in the direction of manufacturability, but in the direction of natural symbiosis, as a result of which new forms of life are synthesized – no longer a person, but not yet a plant or animal, but something borderline.” Environmental and climate change priorities have been diminished because of the war. The video of Pulse……is its first appearance in the US.
https://vimeo.com/429195488
The team collaborating on Pulse of the Earth is Your Pulse assembled on February 27th. We were going to finish my project, knowing that it would not be released. I was recording a voiceover for the final interactive part. Working was the only thing that kept us from losing our minds. We were all beginning to experience real trauma in our bodies from the stress. I was shaking as I recorded a text I had written for the piece. I spoke about the unpredictability of just being, about how humanity has entered an era of complete unpredictability, how we can no longer imagine what lies ahead. I talked about how the laws of the past will no longer work in the future and some kind of global restructuring/reassembly awaits us. I wrote this text a month before the war, not imagining it was already underway.
Ukrainian-Russian artist Aljoscha art action on February 24, first day of the war:
“As an European artist of Ukrainian-Russian origin, I stood naked and unprotected as an animals and plants are in the silent protest against any kind of ideological madness. Stop insanity, seek for kindness!”
Over the years artists, curators, gallery owners, and critics had painstakingly helped build an openminded cultural environment in Russia. But now, contemporary culture has been rolled back. It is devastating on so many levels. International projects are cancelled because artists cannot come to Russia. Many Russian artists have gone into exile and do not see a future for themselves where they cannot freely express their opinion.
I have been asked by my colleagues not to use in my blog their names or the name of the platform where we were going to launch my project. It is for their protection. They are all frightened and worried that any affiliation with the blog will be seen by state security and held against them, ruining their chances for future work. Some of them have left Russia, others are still there.
04/04/2022 rally at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, in response to the actions of the Russian army in Bucha, Ukraine.
Russia is waging two wars, one on the territory of Ukraine and the second inside the country with its dissidents. Every day new laws are coming out that restrict personal freedoms. People who do not agree with them are looking for opportunities to leave Russia. This month all independent media in Russia was closed and banned. Expressing an opinion not coinciding with the policy of the authorities has become a criminal prosecution. This stressful emotional reality, which we all felt every minute with the start of the war is suffocating. It is hard to imagine that humanity can still repeat these terrible scenarios after all the historical experience that we have lived through.
I hope my journey will lead me back in Los Angeles in a few months, and then my family will start over again.
In next week’s blog I share thoughts from Ukrainian musician Alexy Karpenko and Russian artist Nikita Shokhov.
—Maria Agureeva
Editor’s Note: If you would like to donate to Ukrainian relief efforts, you may make a direct contribution to the Global Giving Ukrainian Relief Fund at this link. Or please donate to a charity of your choice that will assist the people of Ukraine.
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/ukraine-crisis-relief-fund/
Maria: Thank you for your bravery in speaking about your experiences on this very public platform. Your story is a cautionary tale for the rest of the “free” world to not take our liberties for granted.
Dear Sean, thank you.
It’s unfortunate that Russian artists and art organizations are being targeted in parts of the world: shows canceled, etc. We are not representatives of our heads of state; art transcends borders of nation states.
Best wishes on your journey.
Sending you strength and solidarity from Hong Kong.
I feel Sean has a great point. We could so easily lose our personal freedoms in the US, especially the contemporary arts community. What we may think of as trangressive art strategies are taken as direct cultural threats by half the population. The wave of restricitive laws being passed nationwide (voter suppression, anti-gay, trans; anti-immigrant, pro-life, etc, etc.) should have us alarmed. Artist have to ways to bridge the aggression and growing hatred in this country.