Zhanna Kadyrova. From the series “Performance I.” 2015. Exhibition view

Series description

For the series of installations “Performance,” presented in local cultural centers and theaters, the author selected painted portraits from the collections of local history museums. She also organized drawing workshops during which residents of the visited towns and villages could pose as models or personally paint a canvas depicting acquaintances or anyone else. The artist did not aim to create a curated selection; on the contrary, she maximally involved portraits that were available. She “seated” them on audience chairs in the hall in front of the stage, as if they were real visitors. Thus, the hall was filled with heroes, executed in any possible genres, who came from completely different time periods and corners of the planet. Among them could be Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin, Lesya Ukrainka, a neighbor from another street, an unknown priest, a domestic cat, and others. This surreal company was complemented by a gradation of the most diverse artistic directions—from socialist realism to abstractionism.

The series of installations, according to the title, also had a performative component. The artist invited workshop participants and other guests one by one onto the lit stage, where they found themselves in front of 2D visitors who had taken their seats. The artwork and its recipient instantly swapped positions. Although live spectators have much more freedom of movement than the flat figures seated by Kadyrova, they only remind of the movement regulations and bodily control imposed by viewing traditional forms of art. The artist sought to challenge this with the democratic conditions of creating the work, which are important for her practice: at the workshops, people of absolutely different classes, professions, and age categories could meet.