Lada Nakonechna. Perspective. 2010–2011. Graphite on wall
Work description
This project was created over the course of three months in collaboration with the Leipzig International Art Program and continues the artist’s series of wall drawings in specific spaces. This time, however, Nakonechna’s goal was not to critique the institution through drawing, but rather to support and extend its meaning and function.
Her thinking is illustrated by the interpretation of the library as a “heterotopia” by French philosopher Michel Foucault—a space where both time and experience differ from those in private or other public places. By adding to the space, supplementing it with imagined exits and elements (additional landscapes with roads and hills topped with shelves of books and flowers), she emphasizes the boundlessness of knowledge expanding within the library. Some of the drawings are hidden behind real bookcases, blurring the line between physical and imagined.
The work was made in an open space during working hours: the artist drew as visitors came and went. The artistic process thus paralleled the process of gaining knowledge and contributed to expanding the boundaries of both space and consciousness. The drawings were not fixed with varnish, as Nakonechna emphasized their temporality and unobtrusiveness for library users. This raises questions about documentation and the durability of her artistic practice within institutions whose mission is to preserve and narrate.
