Exhibition

The culture of samizdat and that of ephemerality converge today in artistic practices that are exponentially developing thanks to ‘technological humanities.’ Networks are forming among artists, authors, and organizers worldwide, notably between countries like France and Russia, where the commercial dissemination of art leaves many innovative artists marginalized. As artists, publishers, graphic designers, performers, or curators in turn, they reinvent a nomadic way of creating and disseminating their works in published forms.
The invitation from Bordeaux-Metropole is an opportunity to reveal the shared dynamism between Russia and France in these practices, which engage both renowned and emerging artists. For the past 10 years, artists’ publications have entered significant collections, and entire collections are being formed in this field of creation, propelled by new knowledge exchange technologies.

Performance
The performance program is based on the relationship between art and gastronomy, inviting artists to work on both the exhibition format and the performance aspect from the same project, addressing the question of exhibiting the work: is it an artwork that is exhibited? Or is it an artwork that is transmitted?

Olga Kisseleva, Rivière de lait aux berges de kissel
A veil of milk traverses the wooden table coated with a natural layer of milk powder. The stacked OBUs*, designed by architects Elisabeth Lemercier and Philippe Bona, support this installation materializing Olga Kisseleva’s envisioned milk river. It is behind this veil that we revisit Russian and Slavic tales since the legendary milk river on the banks of kissel nourishes a utopian Land of Plenty where even landscapes are edible, laziness is a virtue, and youth is eternal. It finds its place in stories featuring the old and fearsome witch Baba Yaga. For nearly 1000 years, this river has mingled in these legends with a wild apple tree capable of conversing with passersby, a flying carpet, an invisibility hat, and the witch’s wooden hut resting on two chicken legs, allowing her to move. Olga Kisseleva’s work revolves around kissel (a traditional Russian dessert resembling a soup made from red fruits and sometimes enhanced with red wine) but primarily centers on milk, which takes the form of an essential elixir: a foundational sustenance for many civilizations. Milk is perceived as a life-giving beverage, essential for a newborn. Often symbolized as the food of the divine, milk serves as a metaphor for kindness, attention, compassion, abundance, and fertility. Its light and sweet taste, as well as its pure white color, make it a symbol of purity. However, its consumption can be subject to critique as overproduction leads to ecological issues, particularly regarding plastic waste disposal. Additionally, the overconsumption of this product is questioned as it can lead to bodily dysfunctions since milk is originally meant to nourish a newborn child or animal. In collaboration with BAG_Bakery Art Gallery and her scientific colleagues, Olga Kisseleva proposes a reflection on the impact of future uses of milk on society. The exhibition presents artworks from Olga Kisseleva’s EDEN project, which received the 2020 STARTS Grand Prize from the European Commission for its innovative collaboration between art, science, and technology. The BLINIS exhibition will activate pieces created for the new project “The Milky Way,” in collaboration with Taisiya Polishchuk, Tatiana Drozd, Victoria Ananyan, with the support of the Aleksandr Savchuk Foundation and BAG_Bakery Art Gallery.

OLGA KISSELEVA, Forêt en mouvement
Olga Kisseleva’s artistic reputation, stemming from her education in mathematics and art, is well-established today. For many years, she has maintained a profound connection with nature and collaborated with scientists, engineers, and agronomists. Through her work, she aims to raise awareness about the ongoing dialogue among trees and the continuous communication that animates them. Her works evoke inquiries into human actions within the natural environment, seeking to listen to the environment to prevent future disappearances. All this raises the following question: can we save nature, or is it a utopian aspiration? Olga Kisseleva remains an unconventional and committed artist, conscious of the fragility and the ever-evolving nature of the environment since any disappearance inevitably causes disruptions within the ecosystem.In her work, Olga Kisseleva introduces the concept of “bio-inspired intelligence,” developed in collaboration with specialists in the behavior of living organisms, particularly plants. All of this takes place within the EDEN project, which allows for a choreography based on the intelligence of trees rather than artificial intelligence (AI). In collaboration with CNRS laboratories, she implements the T2N and T2T systems to gather and interpret data on the communication of forests in motion. This natural dynamism aims to recreate forms of original naturalness within the existing environment.

OLGA KISSELEVA, La voie lactée
La Voie Lactée by Olga Kisseleva in collaboration with Taisiya Savchuk-Polishchuk, Tatiana Drozd, is a video featuring the dance and performance of Victoria Ananyan and Simone Tribuna (Ballets de Monté-Carlo).
La Voie Lactée explores an essential resource: milk, one of the cornerstones of our diet and civilization. Today, we face issues of overconsumption of milk as a nutritional element that can be harmful to health if misused, and the overproduction of milk becoming an ecological problem, particularly due to its lack of recycling.
Developed in partnership with scientific, industrial, and ecological actors involved in milk production and transformation, the project explores future possibilities for the intelligent integration of this essential and symbolic substance. It also delves into the potential impact that its future uses could have on society.

MOTTO BOOKS DISPLAY
Script: Alexis Zavialoff / Sylvie Boulanger
Set Design: Jacques Pelletier
The Motto Books exhibition cleverly intertwines artistic practices and “technological humanities” to highlight the culture of Samizdat and Ephemerality. In countries like France and Russia, artist networks emerge but are marginalized by the current commercialization of art. However, these same artists, choreographers, graphic designers, and others manage to disseminate their works in the form of publications while reinventing a “nomadic” way of creating. This dynamism is a shared existence between French and Russian lands, equally for emerging and established artists. Bordeaux-Metropole, through its invitation, aims to express this joint reality of the two countries. For the past decade, artistic publications have formed collections as whole and significant as those in this creative field supported by new knowledge exchange technologies. “Blinis” takes the form of an exhibition of around thirty artist books organized based on the collections of Motto Books (Alexis Zavialoff) and the CNEAI. In 2007, Alexis Zavialoff created Motto: a Swiss distribution company for magazines and fanzines, which was unprecedented in the territory. A year later, a first permanent bookstore opened in Berlin-Kreuzberg. This store was a natural progression from the itinerant temporary bookstores that Motto organized in Switzerland and abroad. Motto specializes in offering old selected magazine issues and a wide selection of artist publications, including more experimental projects with sometimes very limited editions. Motto Books regularly operates as a space for presenting books and magazines, as well as special evenings dedicated to various discussions around art publishing, graphic design, photography, typography, and related topics. The publications on display complement an intense program of exhibitions, screenings, discussions, and presentations. Their publications have seen an exponential increase, now representing no fewer than 20,000 titles with a continuously updated catalog. After establishing collaborations with major international distributors, interest in self-published books and small articles naturally became an important part of Motto’s activity. Today, Motto distributes over 150 publishers to more than 100 locations worldwide. Within this work, all artists aim to contribute to the exhibition and performance, addressing the open-ended question posed by the exhibition: is it an artwork exhibited? Or is it an artwork shared? These very inquiries invite the audience to partake in this event around a large table since the performance program is a joyful fusion of artistic and gastronomic relationships: sonic and cinematic performances coexist with culinary and gustatory performances to form playful displays.

COMPAGNIE FluO NADIA LARINA, Every Drop Of My Blood
The FluO Company offers a plastic, musical, and participatory installation linked to the choreographic creation Every Drop Of My Blood. Spectators will have the opportunity to articulate through words and body their experiences related to body conditioning, power dynamics, gender binaries, and the normative constraints imposed by society.

BLINIS is a multidisciplinary event that blends, kneads, and merges artistic and gastronomic disciplines, combining exhibitions, performances, tastings, encounters, and games. As the final chapter of the autumn season titled “WINTER IS COMING,” BLINIS is executed within the framework of the “Cross-Year France - Russia 2021” with the support of the city of Bordeaux and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. It’s a co-production of BAG_Bakery Art Gallery and Centre National Edition Art Image.

Practical Information
Bakery Art Gallery
24 Rue du Mirail
33000 Bordeaux

Partners
{Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères} {Ville de Bordeaux}