NEWSLETTER, Special Issue, July, 2021
Our Project is Finished, but the Work is Going on!
American Siberian Education Foundation
and
the Integral Museum of Akademgorodok
Officially, one-year term of our project Artistic and Cultural Exchanges Between Minnesota and Akademgorodok, Russia is over. We can report the results now. In the meantime, our work and our contacts with Siberian partners and Midwestern artists are continuing. Bridges have been built and crossed over as our communities advance in mutual understanding and collaboration. We have plans for future and will reveal them to you in the next issues of the Newsletter. Here we would like to remind you of our July events:
АНТРОПОЦЕН: ХРУПКОСТЬ НЕЗЫБЛЕМОГО
THE ANTHROPOCENE: FRAGILITY OF THE UNBREAKABLE
On July 15, the main event of our project took place in Novosibirsk: the long-awaited exhibition
SUSTAINABLE ACTS. THE ANTHROPOCENE: FRAGILITY OF THE UNBREAKABLE
opened in the heart of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, at Detskiy Proezd 7
This site is located close to the headquarters of the Integral Museum, on the ground floor of an apartment building. For many years it
hosted a travel agency selling airline tickets. By heroic effort of a small team of the Integral Museum of Akademgorodok headed by Anastasia Bliznyuk, Marina Petrenko, Alexander Stepanov and designer Yuliy Ulyanitskiy, the premises were refurbished and prepared to function as an exhibition space. It is going to be more than that: it will be a hub of the cultural life of Akademgorodok, a club space and gathering room for many events hosted by the Integral Museum.
The first event at the site is our exhibition presenting the work of American artists selected and curated by Roslye Ultan, an art expert from the University of Minnesota.
.jpg)
Five large TV screens equipped with headphones transmit video presentations specially chosen and developed for virtual delivery: black-and-white compositions in ink applied by bamboo brushes by Virajita Singh, “walking and drawing” art forms by John Schuerman, interactive visuals by Diane Willow, explorations of the infrastructure of water as it flows into our daily lives by Jonee Kulman Brigham, weathered silks by Moira Bateman, landscapes following in time the paths of forest fires by Regina M Flanagan, experiments with water and vessels by Liz Dodson and James Brenner are presented as objects of art and discussed by the artists.
Apart from the videos, eleven photoprints by Ann Ginsburgh Hofkin explore the essence of weather patterns on trees revealing the
underlying beauty of nature.
A separate room hosts an audio/video work of cellist and video artist Jacqueline Ultan.
In Novosibirsk, the design of the space and installation of the art was the primary responsibility of a local designer Yuliy Ulyanitskiy who has demonstrated a deep understanding of the artistic ideas of the authors.
The exhibition will be open with free admission until the first weeks of September daily from 11 am to 8 pm. There is a number of special events planned and already organized by the Integral Museum: tours for children and students, more in-depth discussions for scientists of the research institutions of Akademgorodok.
Opening, July 15
At 8 pm, on a cool and windy evening in Novosibirsk, more than 30 visitors attended the official opening of the exhibition. Mindful of limited space and COVID restrictions, the organizers held the main event outdoors: at the steps of the exhibition space. Live music was played. Yuliy Ulyanitskiy gave a tour of the space. Anastasia Bliznyuk led the event and Marina Petrenko coordinated the technical aspects. Both Nastya and Marina also played music.
At 10 pm local time, the event was joined in Zoom by over twenty remote participants, mostly from Minnesota. The group included the curator Roslye Ultan, several American artists, and Maria Zavialova representing the Twin Cities Museum of Russian Art. The organizers presented a video clip of the first two hours of the exhibition and provided a special live video tour.
Conversation between the artists in America and local organizers and visitors in Novosibirsk was very engaging and had to be wrapped up around 11:30 pm local time due to very late hour.
Full Zoom recording is available at the ASEF website
courtesy Geoff Evans, our website guru. Using the website, you can connect with many informative events advancing consciousness and greater awareness of the environmental issues affecting the sustainability and fragility of planet Earth.
Opening, July 15
Roslye Ultan online from Minnesota and Yuliy Ulyanitskiy on site in Akademgorodok moderated a panel discussion with three of the artists participating in the exhibition: mother-and-son duo Liz Dodson and James Brenner, and Regina M Flanagan. It was attended by over 20 remote participants and around a dozen spectators on site. The discussion centered on the role of elements (Water in Dodson and Brenner’s work, Earth and Fire in Flanagan’s art) and circled around the interactions of art and science: in this case, physics and biology, which is inevitable in Akademgorodok.
Full recording of the Zoom session is available at
and audio transcript can be found at
Artist Dialogue II. Jacqueline Ultan & Moira Bateman: July 29
The second dialogue was moderated by Roslye Ultan, Maria Zavialova, and Anastasia Bliznyuk. The panel included Moira Bateman and Jacqueline Ultan. Moira Bateman discussed her art-making techniques that involve creating tapestries from textiles stained by river, lake, or bog water. Questions from the audience touched on the role of artist as an observer, more on the specific techniques and once again, art and science: limnology and chemistry.
Jacqueline Ultan talked about the exhibited audio/video recording of her cello improvisations in Badlands, SD. She also told of her other experiences playing outdoors with Nature responding to the
music in its own ways: echo of mountain valleys, loon songs, birds circling high in the air. Many questions from the audience touched on music genres and styles and also on the link between music and mathematics, extending the art-and-science discussion.
Full recording of the Zoom session is available at
and audio transcript can be found at
Other events
Special tours of the exhibition were organized by Anastasia Bliznyuk and
Alexander Stepanov for scientists of Akademgorodok, college students and children. The exhibition site became a popular place for several events organized under the auspices of the Integral Museum.
