In the world with an observer

The offer of performance/exhibition for a gallery

by depicting the body we are just creating an image

this is not anyone's body

a painting is just an object

the subjectivity of the model and the author is important only in their relationship

the viewer sees his own subjectivity in the picture

Having settled in the gallery, the artist and the model sort things out over subjectivity and objectification. Being in conditions of transparency, living in a shop window, the artist and the model together prepare the exhibition, observe each other, live their lives in front of the gallery visitors.

The gallery turns into an art workshop-laboratory where exhibits are created throughout the exhibition.

Artist: for the entire performance I create painting canvases for the exhibition, spending 8 hours painting the Model and gallery visitors. I depict fragments of the body in everyday life - this is a poetic image charged with existential tension.

Model: 8 hours a day for a week I live in the gallery space, being the material for the artistic process and the object of close attention of the Artist. I live my everyday life, involuntarily objectifying it. Sometimes I invite gallery visitors to pose for me, freeing up my subjectivity.

Artist: I am in dialogue with the Model, recognition is important to me.

Model: I recognize or do not recognize myself in the Artist’s paintings; if in doubt, I ask gallery visitors.

Artist: in general, what is more important to me is whether the Viewer recognizes himself in the paintings.
Sometimes, out of inspiration, we change roles, and I become a Model.

Model: My responsibilities as a Model include taking care of the Artist, I prepare lunch for us and coffee for visitors.

Spectator: I observe a performance about the social and ethical processes in the creation of a work - before I encounter it as a spectator. I have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the performers.

This will be an exhibition (in a form of a performance) about the relationship between artist and model. Is it possible not to objectify the model or does the artist lose his subjectivity if he takes into account the subjectivity of the world artist is trying to talk about? What boundaries of subjectivity are important in this process? And at what point does the author’s self violate them, where are the boundaries of the author’s subjectivity and when does it become an order?

The two artists explore these positions in relation to each other in turn. Also, in their field, the figure of the viewer-subject constantly appears, perceiving the entire process as an artistic gesture, and superimposing his own lived experience, thus carrying out his own interpretation of what is visible.

The project of

Nadezhda Lopardina

artist, painter
Kota Davudova

performance artist, curator

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