Presentation of the project
The presentation of ideas and demonstration of the results of the project “Art platform for the promotion of Ural contemporary art” took place at the III International scientific and practical conference “Digital art: educational design, current teaching practices, the reality of the urban environment”, initiated by the Yekaterinburg Academy of contemporary art (EASI). Project curator Zhenya Chaika spoke at the plenary session, which was held in an online format. The conference brought together professionals-teachers and students of creative universities, designers and developers of educational products, artists and employees of creative institutions. The panelists discussed issues related to education in the field of digital art, as well as got acquainted with new forms of creativity for a changing environment.
Young critics from Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk, Noyabrsk, Ural contemporary artists and international experts from Sweden, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands participate in the unique cultural project “Art platform for the promotion of Ural contemporary art”, which is implemented by the Sinara Charitable Foundation with the support of the presidential grants Fund. Until the end of January, the result of the collective educational process will be the appearance of critical texts about artists on the project’s website, zines (art brochures) will also be released and sent to libraries and cultural institutions in Russia and Europe.
– Our laboratory work with young critics was based on dialogue. Together we tried to depressurize conversations about Ural art. It was very important for us to understand whether there is a difference in how we see local art from the inside and how it is seen from the outside. Tutors helped us formulate a language that can be used to talk about Ural art to the world. We communicated, read critical texts, parsed them, and learned how to present our own views correctly to an international audience. Each of the participants of the laboratory selected techniques that should be used in future texts. The project format also provided for close communication with artists – ” Zhenya Chaika said.
Moderator of the meeting Ksenia Fedorova (Leiden University, the Netherlands) noted that the conversation about the “Art platform” demonstrated the importance of humanitarian knowledge even in the context of the development of technological art.
– Since the meeting was devoted to education in the field of technological art, in her presentation Chaika paid special attention to texts about artists who are engaged in art in new media: Andrey Chugunov, Les Ilyenok, The Museum of ever-playing attractions, – commented Ksenia Fedorova.
According to Larisa Petrova, Vice-rector for scientific and innovative work of EASI, the project “Art platform for the promotion of Ural contemporary art” is necessary for modern art criticism, because it captures and documents what is happening in the world of contemporary art.
– In Russia and around the world, there is a crisis of the Institute of professional art criticism. Today’s art criticism is very heterogeneous: there are people who write for specialized publications, and there are those who are alternative critics. It is extremely important that there is a project in which we speak seriously and professionally about creativity. I think this is of great importance, both for artists and for understanding what we call art, ” Larisa Petrova shared her opinion.