STRANGERS: BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA
VII Shiryaevo Biennale of Contemporary Art
Shiryaevo Biennale: «: between Europe and Asia» is the largest and most authentic event of contemporary art in the Samara region.
Shiryaevo Biennale takes place every August of every odd year since 1999 in traditional Russian village, which lays right on the bank of the Volga river.
- 1999 - "Province: Between Europe and Asia"
- 2001 - "Tangibility: between Europe and Asia"
- 2003 - "Food: between Europe and Asia"
- 2005 - "Love: between Europe and Asia"
- 2007 - "Home: Between Europe and Asia"
- 2009 - "America: between Europe and Asia."
- 2011 - "Strangers: between Europe and Asia"
The Biennale was attended by artists and curators from Russia, Kazakhstan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia and Armenia.
It has been published catalogs - 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009,, CD - 2005.
Each Biennale is devoted to research up to date topics, in the situation of "between Europe and Asia."
Under the theme of 2011 it is invited to explore ideas about stereotypes of "others" in the context of processes and events between Europe and Asia.
An important part of the structure is the biennial international art laboratory that conducted the experiment of contemporary art in the Russian village for two weeks. The peculiarity of this phase is living of artists during the Biennale in the homes of local residents. This condition of "immersion" into the local cultural environment is seen as a method of creating irrelative or "ideal" environment for artistic expression. The basic idea of such an experiment - to give the artist a chance to 'start working from scratch', without the pressure of accumulated image and technologies of arts market.
Each time the invitees become a team of associates working on the creation of individual and collaborative projects using the "local" materials and opportunities, and building a common route of presentation - "nomadic show." Shiryaevo Biennale offers an alternative not only the traditional functioning of the art within the "white cube" of the museum space, but also a strategy of independence from the vertical of power in art. "The Nomadic show" is a symbiosis of two concepts: the European - the "show" and the Asian - "nomadic" life of the nomadic principle for the development of new "territories." "Nomadic show" is the central event of the Biennale. The action takes place only one day during the 8 - 9 hours, and involves the work of all artists workshop. Each participant or the creative team has a personal time fot the presentation. To be there, the majority of spectators come from Samara on special ship. The audience moves on the proposed route, along with sponsors, media and local people, learning all the new centers of art and engaging in the procession all the new members. Space to show works is the whole village with the surrounding landscape: the Volga, mountains, tunnels (including caves in the mountains), the shore of the lake, village houses, streets, school, cultural center, a marina, etc. The route is built on rising - begins from the pier and ends in the mountains.
The Shiryaevo Village is attractive to a wide audience, as one of the most beautiful places in the Samara region. It can be compared with the phenomenon of the Venice Biennale, where in addition to artificial forms of beauty (that is, the art itself) is the natural and historic beauty attractive of the place itself. The village, founded in the 17th century, during the last 200 years was an active mining of limestone, thus, against her mountains are dug tunnels, connecting to the natural caves, which are characteristic for the area that is very interesting for tourists, and authentically used by artists.
Shiryaevo is best reachable by water and this feature is used by the organizers of the event as a special kind of water happenings - the prologue and epilogue of "nomadic show"
In the village there were working many artists such as Repin, Vasilyev (there is a house museum of Repin), in Soviet times it was known for Plein Air.
In this aspect the Biennale is interesting as the introduction of modern art in the situation of the Volga villages with centuries-old tradition of the realistic school of painting.
The first mention of the village "Shiryaevo" in historical documents was in 1643-1645. Description of surroundings in the Zhiguli village can be found in the Dutch painter and explorer Cornelius de Bruin, who saw this place in May 1703. In his book there is a line: "At 9 o'clock, turn to the south-west, saw right plain between high mountains, and then the village, which lies 20 kilometers from Samara. Our people went there for food, and the river at this place was very broad".
Since 2001, parallel projects of Shiryaevo Biennale (exhibition, workshops, etc.) were implemented at exhibitions in Samara, because events in the Shiryaevo can not accept all comers. This allowed us to expand the structure Biennale with vibrant artistic events and to meet better the audience's interest.
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Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Biennale |
The commissar of the Biennale
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The curator of the artistic group from Stuttgart:
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