"Art Must Have a Chance to be Boring"

// Vremya Novostey. Faina BALAKHOVSKAYA met Fulya ERDEMCI.
23 august 2006

The second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art with the planned budget of 52 mln. rubles opens on February 22, 2007, and it will be devoted to the theme of Geopolitics, Markets, Amnesia. FOOTNOTES.

Fulya Erdemci, an art critic from Istanbul, is its new curator who joined the team which prepares for second Moscow biennale. For many years she was the director of the Istanbul International Biennale, taught at Ankara and Istanbul universities. While last year all the curators of the Moscow Biennale were working on a common exhibition, this time there will be several projects. Fulya Erdemci and Rosa Martinez, who was the curator of the 5th Istanbul Biennale, by the way, are working together on the show titled After Everything. Faina BALAKHOVSKAYA met Fulya.

"It is good to see you in Moscow. The experience of the last biennale made me feel that international curators who are always traveling over countries and cities overloaded with orders showed no particular interest in the location of the exhibition."

"Location is the main thing for me. That is why it was important for me not only to meet the artists, but also to see the city itself, to feel it. I have come for just four days, it's quite little. Yet, Moscow produced a very strong impression on me – it is an absolutely unique city which has no equivalent either in the West, or in the East. The energy flowing up from its soil makes it resemble Istanbul and Sao Paulo a bit, a Utopia city of contemporary architecture. A biennale is an international event, of course, but the show is made for the city, for the people who live here. The title of our show – After Everything – is directly associated with Moscow. Surely, the show is linked to many issues of our time, to permanent changes that involve now every corner of the world, but Moscow is the place where Utopia was born and where it died. After Everything also refers to Modernism, Post-Modernism, feminism, a number of ideas of things, after John Lennon, for instance. In fact, it just means the present: the now. Russia and Moscow are experiencing quite specific period today, and we took it into consideration when we conceived our show.

"Curators are interested in global ideas, but do you think of arousing interest in local public, of its reaction?"

"I have been working at the Istanbul Biennale for seven years, and it was very difficult. Today contemporary art is perceived as absolutely normal phenomenon in Istanbul. And before the first biennale and during its first years we faced extremely varied reactions. The public was accustomed to quite traditional artworks, it loved them and had no idea of what contemporary art is like, it had no chance to get to know it and like it. The biennale provided a new opportunity for many people which not all of them used, of course. At the last Venice Biennale, for instance, Rem Koolhaas made a project collecting statistic data showing how many people are interested in art in general and in contemporary art in particular. I don't remember the exact figures, but only about 15 or 20% of people all over the globe visited museums, and only 3 or 5% of these people go to the shows of contemporary art. The situation is approximately the same in different countries, but there is also a problem concerning form language, various kinds of discourse. In this sense contemporary art is much easier to understand than classic art because it is very difficult to form a link with an artwork if you do not know Renaissance or the Jewish-Christian or Muslim art traditions. Quite often people believe that art is comprehensible if it is figurative, but its meaning remains concealed, in fact. And contemporary art strives for communication, it wants to be sociable. It exists for the viewer, speaking the contemporary language, echoing political, social topics which are crucial for people, focusing on what remains unnoticed in the general bustle. It is very open aesthetics, yet, even if you know the language, you must learn to listen or you'll never understand what it is all about. I believe that the biennale makes the language of contemporary art more comprehensible to the wide public. And this process requires time."

"Have you faced serious resistance during the preparations for the Istanbul biennale?.."

"Of course. The biennale shook up the situation arousing immense problems, we were even attacked by the art market. It was due to the fact that there were artists who made a lot of money infinitely copying themselves, and there were investors who put money in these artists and in the galleries which sold their works. And the biennale provided an opportunity for the viewer to compare contemporary art and the copies of Modernism in commercial art. There are a hundred and fifty galleries in Istanbul, and only two of them work with contemporary art even now. Collectors still do not purchase video works. It's alright with installations, but conceptual video works – no, not that."

"Religiously orthodox must be quite numerous in Istanbul, you faced their resistance. It is a grave problem for Moscow, sometimes we even witness raids of shows and court action."

"It seems that these people have no inkling of contemporary art's existence in Istanbul. We were extremely worried when we displayed the works of Shirin Neshat who operates with the Muslim topicality, we expected raids, for instance, but nothing happened. People of that sort do not visit displays of art. But the show of Oleg Kulik in 1997 aroused protests, complaints, not only on the part of radically minded people, but also in the press. We were really glad to provide an opportunity to discuss contemporary art."

"Let's go back to the Moscow Biennale. Have you already decided what artists will be involved in the show you are working on in cooperation with Rosa Martinez?"

"It would not be correct to cite their names, for we shall be able to involve quite a limited number of artists in our show, so we must think everything over again, discuss it with the curators of other shows. I can only say that I'm quite impressed by the scale of local artists' work. I've met quite famous artists and young ones, I saw quite different works of different level, technique, style, but these were really powerful artworks. It is great that art has not been made standard here, that everything looks quite fresh. I was able to visit the Tretyakov Gallery, its display of contemporary art. There were some quite famous names there, of course, such as Ilya Kabakov, but other artists were also impressive. Contemporary art has a powerful foundation here, it hasn't emerged out of nothing."

"It is quite understandable that a large show needs new intellectual trends, but could anything be done for the general public? People from the street sometimes find it difficult even to understand what it is all about."

"This time the Moscow Biennale is going to present works of famous artists at special programs. Generally speaking, the issue of establishing communication between art and ordinary people from the street appears everywhere. The art of some artists is more communicative, the art of others is more enclosed, but even with a cell phone you have to read a user's guide before operating it. Art needs the support of universities, of art colleges, other institutions. We have passed this road in Istanbul trying not to repel the public by the works that are too complicated."

"People often regard contemporary art as just boring. It is not the complexity that repels viewers – it can be overcome – but what can we do about boredom?..."

"Art detaches itself from the society of the performance, of total entertainment. For there is no need to have fun every minute, you can feel sad and bored if you are a human being. I'm really afraid when art strives to reach widest masses... Today many things strive to be commercial. There is a market for art, of course, but a biennale gives art a chance to live according to the free laws, not those of the market, even to be boring if art feels like it. For nobody can afford to be boring in the market where it is necessary to buy and sell. It is commerce. Yet, to avoid capitalist outlook, art must have a chance to be boring. Human perception is a complicated phenomenon, life is not just entertainment. Works of art cannot be funny or sad, but even boring artworks have their function. They are directed against the consumer society since art strives to mark things that are not noticed in everyday life. Artworks may be quite expressive, but sometimes – as a reaction to the market – they may look unfinished, not quite beautiful, a bit dirty. For it is the market that urges an artist to produce..."

"The art market has existed here for a decade and a half, and we feel that this kind of reaction to the market is a bit artificial, borrowed from the West..."

"Everybody has a TV set at home, there are broadcasts, films, they are not waiting for anything, they invade our life. You might be right from the point of view of inherent development, but we live in the time that is really swift, mind the development of globalization and monstrous corruption, of media, television, entertainment and consumption culture."

"It seems that in a situation of this sort artists and curators are more preoccupied with important trends like consumerism etc. and less with the things they are interested in, with creation."

"I believe that Russian artists have one peculiarity which is not regarded as a voguish trend and which is not quite widespread in the world – it is spirituality. It makes Russian artists unique, for few people ponder such things in the world. Perhaps, it is precisely this spirituality associated with Russian culture since the time of Malevich that becomes important after all those discourses, ideologies, and trends."

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