We are Stern Consumers of
Cultural Revolutions
cycle:
ID: C6





Date:
Since 2012 

Introduction:
The cycle observes the attitude towards the heritage of the historical avant-garde in Viciebsk. In the early 1920s, the art school UNOVIS was located in Viciebsk. The artist points to the fact that during the Cold War the ideas of the avant-garde were perceived much more positively in Western culture, while in Belarus the suprematism and constructivist ideas of UNOVIS were alienated for many years. The cycle looks at these processes and the attitude to the heritage of the avant-garde in the "West" and "East" by way of example of the reconstruction of the building of the Viciebsk public school and the establishment of a museum of the history of this school, which cannot stand up to criticism. The artist demonstrates how the ideas of avant-garde return to Belarus today in the form of mass-cult and design for the mass consumer and how the ideas of the avant-garde school are integrated into the modernity.










Fragment of installation
We are Stern Consumers of
Cultural Revolutions
,
Ў Gallery, Minsk, Belarus,
2012

Works and events within the cycle:






2012:

We are Stern Consumers
of Cultural Revolutions

W27.1--7

︎ technical info

Installation

For group exhibition West of East, Ў Gallery, Minsk, Belarus

Curator: Lena Prents






Installation
We are Stern Consumers of
Cultural Revolutions
,
Ў Gallery, Minsk, Belarus,
2012
Sergey Shabohin’s work is concerned with the heritage of the avant-garde. At the beginning of the 1920s the art school UNOVIS, a highly productive «Laboratory of the modern Age» (Karl Schlögel), was located in the town of Vitebsk, in what is now Belarus. No mention was made of this fact in official Soviet art historiography. Today it is the subject of hot debate. Whilst a group of enthusiasts is lobbying for the erection of a UNOVIS museum in Vitebsk (a photograph shows the present desolate condition of the provisional museum), thereby attempting to establish a new highlight of advanced culture in Belarus, the official authorities strongly oppose the idea, much in the tradition of the Soviet position. In his work, Shabohin points out the fact that, during the Cold War, the ideas of the avant-garde were received in a far more positive and appreciative way in western culture. They are returning to Belarus today in the form of mass culture and design for the mass consumer. He demonstrates this using 6 pictures (Kazimir Malevich, Vera Ermolaeva, El Lissitzky, Nikolai Suetin, David Yakerson and Lazar Khidekel) which were originally created at UNOVIS, assigning them to equivalents of a similar form taken from the field of contemporary consumer electronics.

Fragment of explication by Lena Prents

 







2017:

We are Stern Consumers
of Cultural Revolutions

Neon

W55.1

︎ technical info

Neon slogan

For traveling exhibition Border








2013:

Cover: Mastactva Magazine

N13.2


Installation

For Mastactva magazine, issue 12  (December 11, 2013)





Cover 
Mastactva magazine,
issue 12,
December 11, 2013
Especially for the 12th issue of the magazine Mastactva (Art) has prepared a special cover. 

A commentary on the cover was printed inside the magazine (in Belarusian):

У пачатку года стала вядома, што ў Віцебску вядзецца доўгачаканая праца па рэканструкцыі Музея гісторыі народнага мастацкага вучылішча. Гэта прастора насычана гістарычнымі кантэкстамі: менавіта тут нарадзіўся рух «УНОВІС», працавалі Малевіч, ЕрмалаеваЛісіцкі, Дабужынскі і многія іншыя мастакі і тэарэтыкі, а Марк Шагал адкрыў знакамітую вучэбную ўстанову. Доўгі час будынак знаходзіўся ў бядотным стане. Калі я яго наведаў, ён быў напаўразбураны. Аконныя праёмы гістарычнай пабудовы давялося разбіваць пад больш шырокія шклопакеты, падораныя музею партнёрамі. Знаходзіцца ўнутры было небяспечна. Цяперашні дырэктар музея, мастак Андрэй Духоўнікаў, які праводзіў экскурсію, распавёў пра будучую рэканструкцыю, а таксама падкрэсліў, што прынцыповым для яго з’яўляецца адкрыццё музея вучылішча, але бюджэт адсутнічае. Для любой краіны такое месца становіцца гістарычным скарбам, музейным хітом, турыстычнай Меккай, параўнальнай па значнасці з нямецкім Баўхаўзам. Неацэнная роля ідэй і маніфестаў, што былі распрацаваны сцвярджальнікамі новага мастацтва ў гэтай прасторы. Цяпер іх ідэі вяртаюцца да нас у дызайне смартфонаў і пабытовай тэхнікі. А пластыкавыя еўрапакеты, што гвалтоўна парушылі сцены музея, — ідэальная ілюстрацыя сённяшняга стаўлення да культуры.







2013:

Repairs. UNOVIS.
Behind the Screen
of the Tractor Plant

A13.3


Elective course of 10 lectures

April 18 – 30, 2013, Belarusian State Academy of Arts, Minsk, Belarus



The author elective course of 10 lectures. Lectures prepared especially for students of the Academy of Arts where were held illegally.

The system of art education in Belarus is outdated. Students of the Academy are not getting new knowledge in the field of contemporary art. Sergey Shabohin prepared a special course of lectures, on the basis of a discussion club was developed.

Screensavers 10 lectures
(in Russian)

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