MOSCOW.- The V-A-C foundation is presenting the first solo show for Moscow based artist Kirill Glushchenko, entitled Our Days are Rich and Bright. The exhibition is curated by V-A-C’s Head Curator Katerina Chuchalina.
Born in Kaliningrad in 1983, Glushchenko’s work sees him as head of a fictional publishing house called ‘Glushchenkoizdat’, of which he is also the sole employee - a reporter of sorts – who spends his time visiting the towns of the former USSR and Socialist bloc, to write and publish books about them.
Glushchenko’s art takes the form of a book, therefore, and the artist himself says “I love the intimacy that books imply: books are for you alone and give you the feeling that you are being spoken to directly.” By creating a visual and textual narrative of the towns and villages he visits, the artist retraces the Soviet Union and reconstructs the style of books that were published and mass produced in the late Soviet era to promote new construction, social housing and urban planning in large cities. The artist says that he chooses the places he travels to intuitively and tries to evoke soviet reality during his trips as much as possible, taking regional trains and staying at typical Soviet era hotels, for example. Although the book is the final result, the process itself holds much more meaning.
Our Days are Rich and Bright presents a selection of ‘Glushchenkoizdat’ books illustrating the aesthetic legacy of the Soviet era preserved in towns as diverse as Pskov, Dresden, Ulyanovsk, Riga, Pärnu, Tallinn and Tartu. Another work featured in the exhibition is a volume of found diaries belonging to a bus driver named Nikolai Kozakov. Glushchenko has chosen to publish Kozakov’s diary entries from the year 1962 in the form of a 600-page book covering his daily routine, his love life as well as anecdotes from everyday encounters. We learn that Kozakov graduated from the Moscow University with the hope of becoming a teacher, something that never materialised due to a speech impediment. The entries reveal both bleak and heart-warming sides to life in Soviet Union. The diary is brought to life in the form of a sound recording played inside custom-made booths, read by a well-known Soviet presenter whose voice is instantly recognisable. The show also features postcards from the towns the artist has visited and 60s style furniture. A sign with the name of the publishing house ‘Glushchenkoizdat’ will also be placed on top of the building for the duration of the show.
For many years in Russia, books were used as a strategic cultural product of the country; a symbol of social status of the owner and of the level of importance of State controlled publishing houses. Book design and the printing industry were reinforced by the State Committee for Publishing in the Soviet Union (Goskomizdat) and multiplied by the library system, collectors and the book trade, producing a clean, pristine product in every respect, reflecting the spirit of the times. Publishing houses once occupied large areas of Moscow but unlike other remnants of Soviet cultural production - libraries, cinemas and museums – the publishing system has almost disappeared , leaving little trace of the names or buildings themselves.
Our Days are Rich and Bright takes place at a former Moscow factory in Polkovaya Street, not far from where the publishing houses ‘Prosveshchenie’ [Enlightenment] and ‘Detskaya Kniga’ [Children's Books] were located. Entry to the exhibition is free of charge and the space is open everyday from midday to 9pm.
