Zhanna Kadyrova. “The Crowd.” 2012. Collage, newspapers, tempered glass
Job Description
The installation “Crowd” — is a collage compiled from cut-out newspaper portraits and human figures. To frame the collage, the artist left the frame from the front page of each newspaper, which contained information about the publication, issue number, date, circulation, and other publication details important for printing. The artist placed the heroes and heroines of the publications in these frames according to the principles of linear perspective, thus creating the effect of a crowd.
On one hand, the newspaper collages served as documentation of priority topics and events in various cities and countries. The works immediately highlighted the media presence of the characters chosen by the publication, their professions, clothing, poses, and even emotions. On the other hand, the project became a critique of the increasing digitalization and development of media culture, where privacy is erased, and everyone risks becoming part of the crowd. In 2012, the artist presented the installation at the eponymous solo exhibition at PinchukArtCentre in the format of a glass labyrinth: wandering through it, visitors felt the surveillance and belonging to the crowd even more sharply.
In 2015, Kadyrova recreated this series for the 59th Venice Biennale, where she presented it within the exhibition “Hope!” at the National Pavilion of Ukraine. These were new selections from local and international newspapers. Collages from Ukrainian periodicals were full of news about the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, while foreign publications mostly remained silent about it. Unlike the previous iteration of the series, where the collages emphasized the media role of surveillance and event recording, this time the works became evidence of the exploitation of favorable narratives and the silencing of uncomfortable topics.
I worked on this project during a period of economic and symbolic crisis of print media, when the world was transitioning to modern digital tools — to indiscriminate dissemination and consumption of information, fake news, and so on. It was a timely moment to reflect on media bias and complex games of visibility. The collage reality of my works with a distinctly palpable theatrical, artificial atmosphere is a reaction to this. It constructs an artificial crowd as both the main character and the viewer at the same time, trying to convey that so-called “information” is always selected and organized for a specific viewer — whether it be a circle of “friends,” society, a city, or a country — filtering their spatiotemporal circumstances [1].
- Zhanna Kadyrova Zh., “Crowd, 2012, 2015. ,” in Zhanna Kadyrova. (Berlin : Distanz, 2026), 241. Translation of the quote by Lesia Kropotova.
