Zhanna Kadyrova. Crowd. 2012. Collage, newspapers, tempered glass
Work 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 was working on this project during an economic and symbolic crisis for print media, when the world was shifting to today’s digital tools; to the indiscriminate broadcasting and consumption of information, of fake news and so on. It was a good moment to reflect on media bias and complicated games of visibility. The collaged reality of my work, with its clearly perceptible theatrical, artificial vibe, responds to that. It constructs an artificial crowd as both protagonist and spectator, trying to convey how so-called ‘information’ is always selected and organized by someone for a particular viewer, be it a circle of ‘friends’, a society, city or country — filtering their respective time/space situations. [1].
- Zhanna Kadyrova Zh., “Crowd, 2012, 2015. ,” in Zhanna Kadyrova. (Berlin : Distanz, 2026), 241.
