Natalia Monakhova
Video artist born in Moscow in 1979. Lives and works in Moscow.
Has MA in linguistics. Studied fine arts at the School of Contemporary Art "Free Workshops". Natalia's recent solo show at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) "What is the Time" (2016) was dedicated to one of the issues that occupies her most of all: the category of time. In her works the artist simulates atemporal reality by means of improvisation, free camera movement, rapid changes of scene without any attempt at unity.
Natalia also works with gender issues which for her are primarily connected with the exploration of the subject of motherhood from unpopular, asocial point of view.
She is also involved in routine studies, aesthetic revaluation of the everyday.
On a formal level, as well as on a content level she tries to get rid of solidity, completeness and perfection. The reality is not perfect and the artist is not a perfect person, not a perfect woman, not a perfect mother etc. She believes that in art, just like in the boundless Abbey of Thelema, there’s a room for everyone. And her room is called «imperfection». She creates her own anti-utopia, but it’s not frightening, it’s poetic and sometimes even funny. She works with ordinary, useless things looking for harmony without perfection, celebrating the reality as it is.
Andrey Slaschilin
Musician and multimedia artist born in Moscow in 1981. Studied journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, alum of Moscow College of Improvised Music and School of Contemporary Art "Free Workshops". Lives and works in Moscow.
One of Andrey's favorite subjects is communication. He looks for or creates relations between people, events and works of art and proposes the spectator to reflect on the value and necessity of these relationships and their place in the modern world.
Andrey works with everyday, boring and common things. The media scene full of bright advertising, attractions and different kinds of shocking sensations forces the artist to avoid polished things and scenes. So he intentionally tones down the colors. He never tries to make an ideal high quality work. He insists that as an artist he can’t make a sober estimate of his own work. It is impossible to be objective because the surrounding reality is in a constant state of flux. Striving for objectivity is as absurd as an attempt to seize a flying aircraft with hands. When a work is completed, he doesn't get back to it, he moves on.