Five Minutes To
17 January 2014 — 17 March 2014
MEDPUNKT presents the first solo project of a Donetsk-based art collective formed in 2012 -zhúzhalka. Until recently, the collective organised its activity around a self-published and eponymously titled zine dedicated to photography. zhúzhalka's practice exceeds the traditionally conceived frames of photography and instead interweaves image with text to formulate propositions that deviate from mere representations. zhúzhalka's approach to photography is encapsulated by the collective's choice of name, which colloquially denotes coal slag that remains after coal has been burned up in an oven and which is then used by households for different purposes. Photography, just like this slag material, is perceived by the collective to have become trivialised and rendered worthless through its overabundant supply. zhúzhalka's repurposing of photography places it within a new value system, thus forcing us to reflect on the very notion of "value" in today's conditions.
Five Minutes To transfers the collective's practice from print pages to three-dimensional space. One of the MEDPUNKT galleries acts as a stage for the unravelling of a city's story - Rzhavchino (from Russian word "rzhavchina" meaning "rust"); every presented object, whether audio, textual or visual, is positioned as an active narrator. Meanwhile, inspired by the heritage of the Free Art Studios (Sovmas) that existed in Soviet Union in the 1920s, popularising the integration of art into mainstream production, the neighbouring gallery space is transformed from an exhibition site into a collective workshop floor - Sovmast (from Russian "sovmestnaya masterskaya" - "joint studios"). Here, zhúzhalka will continue to work on the next issues of their zine throughout the eight weeks of the exhibition period, inviting visitors to take part in the process. Every Saturday at 11am, members of zhúzhalka will conduct a talk and a workshop. The space can also be utilised as a co-working venue.
Open hours for the exhibition:
from 10am to 6pm
Thursday-Sunday
Open hours for Sovmast and co-working:
from 10am to 6pm
Thursday - Sunday
Weekly meetings with zhúzhalka:
at 11am every Saturday
zhúzhalka: Victor Zasypkin, Vyacheslav Sokolov, Roman Yukhimchyuk
Curated by: Victoria Ivanova
Project managers: Alesya Bolot, Yaroslav Povzlo
Partners:
