Off-line in St. Petersburg

Spatia Nova

The great new electronic spaces and communication possibilities, along with the dramatic changes which have taken place in Russia since the end of the Cold War inspired the theme of the fourth St. Petersburg Biennale, October 3-13, 1996. SPATIA NOVA (New Areas) was a series of exhibitions involving 240 artists from 70 countries. A modest Biennale compared to the previous (1960, 1992 & 1994), the diverse events still demanded a constant dash between institutes, galleries, and cultural centers around the historic city.

Dmitry Shubin, Biennale Director, focused his choice of artists to reflect the idea of a reunion between the formerly Soviet controlled Eastern Block countries. In his catalogue introduction, he refers to East artists as sharing a common community, "...a post-totalitarian experience...that makes leftist illusions impossible" but "...unites them in theoretical as well as in practical ways."

In reality, the Biennale was heavily sponsored by foreign cultural foundations, and consulates, allowing artists appearances from those lucky countries. No "balance" or representation was apparent, and the most unifying dynamic factor was the collaborative struggle to install work in the main exhibition hall of the romantic Smolny Cathedral. Far from the center of town (and all the other Biennale events) it serves as an educational center, surrounded by massive government buildings. The St. Petersburg Biennale was sponsored locally by Art Collegium, a curatorial association which obtained backing from BEHA beer, a Russian favorite. Russian companies and cultural foundations provided space, services and equipment, but little cash: it was a poor event. Most of the invited artists (those who had no private support) paid their own lodging and transportation costs to St.Petersburg.

The Biennale was structured into five thematic sections:

"Electronic Page" (new media), curated by Irina Aktuganova;

"Living Page" (performance and live action) curated by Olga Yegorova;

"Photo Page" curated by Dmitry Pilikin;

"Video Page" curated by Maxim Emk;

"Out of Pagination" (a mixed bag of everything, including photography, video and performance) curated by the Biennale director Dmitry Shubin.

A symposium dedicated to the changing cultural consciousness in post-totalitarian regions was called "Mirror Page". It took place at the Russian Institute of Art History, Oct. 7 - 9, and was curated by Dmitry Golynko-Volfson. There were non-official exhibitions, for example a Danish exhibition, and a Ukrainian exhibition, supported independently but promoted along with the other events.

The official opening was held in Smolny cathedral. It was a massive event, consisting of various sound and music performances, projections, costumed theatricals, and conceptual body art "happenings". Broken glass and burned remnants of objects remained on the floor the following week as evidence of the actions. Throughout the ten days of the Biennale, performances and openings were constantly taking place in different locations. Part of the reality of Russia is the inevitable cancellation of events, making the checking of the daily schedule a primary activity. Asking for explanations for non-operational media works rarely produced an answer, ie: the video program was not shown at all, Shubin admitted after the closing of the exhibition.

The Electronic Page, located partially in Smolny (next to what would have been the altar of the unconsecrated cathedral) was partially functional. Although no definitive list of works selected for this "Page" was ever available, not in the catalogue nor in the exhibition space the media works by Olga Kiseleva (RU), a CD ROM by Alan Dunning (Canada), Net work by Dimitry Pilikin, A. Mitrofanova and K. Tenev (RU), and a Macedonian CD-ROM were operable and on view. Jane HaskellŽs neon installation by was not exhibited for technical reasons, the project of Kurt Hofstetter (A) was not realized because of problems with customs. Web and interactive works by Marianne Petit (US), Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits (Latvia), Imre Weber, Arpita Dasgupta, Eva Wohlgemuth, Daniela Plewe, among many others, were not shown either.

The CD ROM, "Icon on Silver," the 1995 annual exhibition of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art Skopje features nine original works by Macedonian artists. Each was awarded a commission to create for the multi-media platform by an international jury. A quite sophisticated product for a very poor area, each contribution includes sound, graphics, animation, and images. There are no essays or other catalogue-like sections, and except for some Cyrillic texts, there are few references to cultural or social issues. There are no references to problems of identity in the new Balkan post-war situation. As one of the few operational works on view, it received a lot of attention.

In response to the connectivity disaster of the "Electronic Page", Aktuganova e-mailed me afterwards, partially explaining what happened. Her budget was cut to $200 (only 10 days before the opening), no Macintosh computers were available for the majority of the (MAC platform) Multi-media works, and official invitations were not sent to 50% of her invited artists and theoreticians (numbering 35 persons). Additionally, eight PCÕs donated for web works were delivered without software the day before the opening. Since there would have been a modem connection on bad lines from Smolny, this was an entirely a futile exercise, a familiar Russian experience. However, with a "make the best of it" attitude, Aktuganova presented the few pieces that did work, and made few public excuses for the others. Artists with WWW projects were invited to present there works off-line, in a seminar style event.

The three Petersburg artists installed their WWW work off-line (from diskettes).

Dmitry Pilikin (curator of Photo Page) presented WITNESSES OF AN AGE: The Residents of St. Petersburg, a photo collection of a 70 year period, 1920-1990.

Part of a larger project, UNDINA (United Digital Nations), coordinated by the Techno Art Center at Gallery 21, St. Petersburg, Alla Mitrofanova, Cyberfeminist theoretician, presented her on-line texts under the title ANTI-EGO/EXTRA-BODY.

Kostja Tenev presented NETBODY which allows everyone to create their own Virtual Anatomy by selecting bodyparts from a menu of images that have attained cult status.

The web works of Mitrofanova and Tenev were created while taking advantage of an invitation to visit the MuuMedia Center in Helsinki. These two web works are woven into a collaborative project, are theoretically sophisticated, and probe Net issues of identity and gender.

Because commercial Internet access is unaffordable for St. Petersburg artists, and as yet no commercial sponsor has been established to host artists works, most St. Petersburg art projects are situated on foreign servers (here at V2 in Rotterdam, and the MUU Media server in Helsinki).

As an active new media space, the Techno Art Center at Gallery 21 operates with one well-worn PC, and one slow modem for Internet connectivity. This would not consitute a center by Western standards, but at Gallery 21 dozens of artists use it as a collective mailbox, and have discovered Internet resources by surfing in the small smokey, crowded office space. Located in the Pushkin Square area of St. Petersburg, amidst alternative art activities and new music clubs, the Gallery 21 attracts a large audience, but lacks the necessary funding to upgrade equipment or maintain regular technical support. Therefore, most Russian artists depend on invitations to foreign media centers to gain access to new software create works while in residence abroad For instance, the video installation "The Reanimation of Enchantment" by Gia Rigvava, a Georgian artist who lives in Moscow, was presented at Gallery 21 as part of the Biennale. The artist createe the work, and a catalogue, with sponsorship from the Dresdner Bank AG - Frankfurt am Main, for an exhibition at the Galerie im Karmeliterkloster.

An invisible telematic event

An invisible telematic event took place during the opening of the "Photo Page" exhibition, which was held at the St. Petersburg History Museum. ORNITORRINCO IN THE SAHARA connected Eduardo Kac (in Chicago) to the director of the Biennale (in Petersburg) via a picturephone. This point to point telephone connection was said to control KacŽs body and actions. The event which lasted a mere 30 minutes, took place simultaneously with another performance events by Russians at the same opening. Kac boasts that "this was the first telepresence performance from St. Petersburg," but he is hardly a pioneer in this genre of work in Russia, and he has had little contact with Russia or Russian artists in the past (like the numerous other media artists have). This piece was furthermore described to "modulate perception," because it offered the chance to navigate "through space" (via a tele-robot) "and interact with the other _creature_ "present in the space". This embarrassing after-event pomposity luckily remained completely out of time and space in Petersburg, where no few clues to what was observable on the 5 inch picturephone screen --or why-- was available. Kac, in his personal description of the event, claims to have been "completely overtaken by the technology, and turned into a *zomborg*." This information would have appealed greatly to the Russian sensibility - which loves to be overwhelmed with out-of-body experiences. Instead, we were spared, and the work of Kac was oblivious at the exhibition.

In contrast, the "Photo Page" exhibition was a major curatorial achievement. It included a moving collection of works entitled "Echo of Silence", by Minsk artists, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the tragedy of Chernobyl. In portraits of the young and old, the dangerous radioactive silence that still reigns over the entire region was reflected. With discerning clarity, the scars of cancer surgeries and genetic abnormalities (that are now commonplace among the citizens of this area) created an intensity that dominated the galleries. These silent images were unsentimental. They kept a strong vigil for the dead as well as the survivors (the real victims). The frivolous communication action by Kac in the adjoining room was rendered clearly forgettable by these powerful photographs. Groups of viewers clustered before them and stared at the walls like, in a communion with the memory of the tragic, and real-life experience.