Petr

February 2011: Petr Bystrov (Moscow, Russia)

Third World Tongue. Globalized (but) with the Gaps.

…speaking atomization and natural re-stratification, exfoliation is about re-layering meaning everything has been re-layered, which is really what we see in Russia and the rest 14 ex-Soviets, meaning that these layers were structured so differently during the previous epoch.

The project concerns notions of expansion, migration, and the phenomenon of lingual globalization as well as – and centrally indeed – a role that language plays within the present urban landscape. With this project I work with minority’s mother tongues.

Lots of people who travel over the world in search for better and sweeter home often remain unable to speak the language of the country they come to live in but the one of their own.
By making whatever jobs and managing to survive they eventually become a silent part of so-called “human landscape”.
Their mother tongue remains unspeakable and unintelligible in the face of dominating nation.

With this work I am examining consecution of a sign (or gesture, or expression), its meaning, and following (if only) perception: it is language that a nation or any kind of people grouping would basically be represented with.
Analytically, my project is about media and representation.

Graffiti written in languages, such as Uzbek and Tajik, Kazakh and Ukrainian, etc., are being put onto the walls and in the streets of major European cities; with those drawings and tags aesthetically referring to some unknown subcultures or political will of those whose identity is free will grouping or whose agglomeration is made on the ideological principle.

The only slogan says: exfoliation of society

Still, all slogans represent unclear due to the fact of being written in the unknown language imported from abroad together with the people to whom it belongs.

Petr Bystrov (1980, Moscow, Russia) studied philosophy at the Russian State University for Humanities Moscow, from which he graduated in 2002.  Since then he also works as an individual artist, performer, spokesman; curates other artist’s projects, as well as teaches.  From 1999 to 2005 Bystrov was a member of Radek Community, a group of artists, authors and cultural activists known for their radical style, whose direct actions most of which were held on streets combined the aesthetics of actionism with profound theoretical studies.

His activities in 2005-2006 were: editor of Stone Milk magazine (together with Elena Kovylina) and visiting professor at the New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.  After this Bystrov co-founded Cheremushki apartment gallery in Moscow, in which he was involved an artist, producer and curator (2007-2008).

In 2009 he organized and curated a big project conceived as an alternative way to celebrate a Manifesto del Futurismo hundredth anniversary entitled Enduring Futurism (dispariedispari project, Reggio Emilia, Italy).
Recent activities are the realization of various projects in collaboration with other individual artists alover the world.
He was included as an artist, performer and activist in the following projects (selected): MusPerormFest, Garage, Moscow (2010); Russian lettrism, Central House of Artist, Moscow (2009); Young, Agressive, Musashino Art University Library, Tokyo (2008, cat.); Territoty festival, Fabrika art center, Moscow (2008, cat.); Kandinsky-prize, “Media-art project of the year” selection, Palazzo Italia, Berlin (2008, cat.); Istanbul biennale (2007, cat.), and many others.