2019

The Common Goal Philosophy Project. Cosmoscow / GUM-Red Line Gallery, Moscow, (Russia).

Curator Gosha Ostretsov, co-curator and catalogue author Elizaveta Shagina

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The Common Goal Philosophy is a two-part project: the first part is a group happening organized as an event at the 7th Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair, it features over 20 prominent Russian contemporary artists; the second part represents a display of the artworks by the participants at the GUM-Red-Line Gallery. The project is themed around space. To understand the cosmos, one must first accept the unified environment that is inherently connected to humanity while discarding the impression of the cosmos as terrifying “uncharted waters”. The central thesis of the Common Goal Philosophy project demonstrates the importance of gaining understanding about our Universe through philosophy and art. It is a creative experiment, a metaphor of the cosmic expanse as a space for exchanges and communication. The title of the project relates to the work of Russian philosopher Nikolai Fyodorov who saw man as a part of nature, and each person — a part of a greater whole -the cosmos. According to the founder of Russian cosmism, one of the critical tasks of humanity is the creation of culture and art which should recreate life itself. Following the ideas of the Russian thinker, the initiator of the project, artist Gosha Ostretsov, convenes his colleagues for a “common goal” —a group session.

The idea of the project is to demonstrate the “unified fabric” of the Universe as a result of a team effort of artists in a single public space. Each author, utilizing his or her stylistic means, will take part in the creation of a unique art piece. Through their joint effort, artists communicate and learn more about each other’s art. Each participant takes part in the creation of this largescale collective work, leaving his or her mark on it. This will create a web of creative exchanges, as well as a paradigm of universal connections. Intersections and intertextuality — that is the main artistic principle of the project. The theme also relates to the name of the fair — Cosmoscow — which also contains an allusion to space.

Remaining in constant dialogue, the artists will paint on a 140-meter canvas stretched on a 2-meter-high construction in the shape of a spiral. Gosha Ostretsov envisioned this installation as a symbolic model of the Galaxy where stars form a spiral around the center. While working in the confines of this spiral, the artists will all be bound the same centrifugal force – the art which enables us to choose our unique path. The installation is  a metaphor of travels and a winding road. A spiral is the archetype of a space that is the birthplace of time. The paradoxical journey across the spiral is a movement with moments of arbitrary deceleration and a potential return to the beginning of the path. All this large-scale work can be seen as a mental labyrinth. The audience is also included in this dialogue; visitors are welcome to observe the work of the artists and perceive the images created in real-time.

The Common Goal Philosophy Project brings together artists of different generations. This way, each creator presents not only his or her art, but also demonstrates the wholesome body of the Russian contemporary art in general. The second part of the project is the Common Goal Philosophy. Glossary exhibition at the GUM-Red- Line Gallery. The exhibition represents a symbolic archive fund: the artworks of the most aspiring representatives of the Russian contemporary art scene are the material, while the documents are a certain time period, a fragment of the comprehensive image of the art of the beginning of the 21st century. The Gallery visitors will find themselves at a treasury for artefacts from the current historical period and become witnesses of the process of classifying the “here and now” moment.

The structure of the exhibition is transformed throughout its run time. The mobile stands with the artworks, as blocks of a construction toy, allow one to modify the settings of the exhibition at any time. Upon the completion of Cosmoscow Fair, the gigantic canvas painted by the artists during the project will be transferred to the Gallery. Consequently, the artworks will be displayed in a progression that might involve the exhibition visitors who can change the position of the mobile stands according to their liking. By changing the familiar exhibition format, the Gallery will become a space for direct interaction with artworks. While the collaboration at Cosmoscow symbolises the cosmic interaction of the artists’ work, the display of their paintings at the Gallery shows some random examples of the “ecological” environment of Russian contemporary art. It is not a subjective selection of outstanding authors, but more of a demo of the art scene climate that allows for artists of different generations to get involved in a dialogue, while their art coexists in a single cultural environment. By form, the project is similar to a linguistic system. It’s operational part, collaborative creation work, is a vibrant communicative art language. The exhibition at the Gallery is a glossary, a list of main terms, authors’ signs, that facilitate creative interaction. The mobility of the exhibited art pieces helps visitors to communicate in this code language.

Thus, the exhibition can turn from an archive into an interactive vocabulary, the alternative reshuffling of the images is similar to compiling a new “text”. The mobile stands at the exhibition are made in the shape of grids that look like museum collection depositary cells. On the one hand, the preservation of an artwork adds significance to such an item; on the other hand, it represents certain isolation of this item from its authentic environment. Any exhibition of a work of art in a public space removes its original context. A collective artwork created during an event and included in a gallery exhibition becomes a relic of the past up-on the completion of a once active creative process. The artworks taken from the artists’ workshops are brought into a new context. The exhibition is a symbolic time capsule that shows preserved elements from a whole, a single milieu. It is a visual metaphor of a cosmic fragment under examination.

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Text – Elizaveta Shagina

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