Wrongly Constructed Church, installation, 2016
64 bricks with arbitrary carvings, a box, several assemblage models
The pictures on the bricks are taken from the walls of Saint George Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky that, for almost five hundred years, has been a monument to everything grand and significant that had been incorrectly constructed.
The specific trait of this cathedral is the stone carving depicting biblical scenes covering the whole exterior surface of the supporting walls. The collapse of the vaulting around 1460 and the astonishingly inaccurate, grandiose and what appears to be deliberately wrong reconstruction led not only to the change in construction tectonics, but also to a more fundamental change in narrative tectonics that has been fixed for five centuries. The grandeur and the charm of ruination and antiquity make the apparent inaccuracy inviolable.
We suggest, within the framework of a children’s game, taking part in constructing and reconstructing a grand narrative with all the attendant responsibilities and irresponsibilities.
The construction toy is accompanied with several typical up-to-date assemblage models that will help develop creative approach to the great and, possibly, prompt some original decisions.
(Anton Karmanov)
Anton Karmanov
* 1987 in Kemerowo, Russia
Studied political science and philosophy. Practiced music and theatre. Studied in The Rodchenko Art School in Moscow and in the Chto Delat School for Engaged Art in St. Petersburg. Makes in Siberia educational programmes about the theory and practice of contemporary art. A member of “Art dacha” art group in Izhevsk, Russia and of the “Allrussian saints society”.
