Threads of Fate, Charts of History
25.04.2024 – 28.07.2024
Venue: GES-2. Moscow, 15 Bolotnaya Embankment
Curator: Elena Yaichnikova
The exhibition project «Threads of Fate, Charts of History», dedicated to fate and the mythology that gave rise to it, has opened in the House of Culture GES-2.
«Fate acts as an external force, it surpasses man and is not subject to man’s authority. This said, the unpredictability and inexplicability of fate coexist with the interrelation of phenomena and universal regularity. In the mythologies of different cultures, fate acts as the guardian of universal order and equilibrium on a scale incomprehensible to man.
Fate can serve to explain or justify events in human lives. However, by associating itself with higher powers and outside causes, mankind finds itself confronted with the question of how choices are made and to what extent free will can be said to exist. How should we behave in the face of fate—humbly take its blows or, like the heroes of myths, seek to challenge it?
Mythologies that address the notion of fate are founded on a particular conception of time and man’s place within it. Mythological time is cyclical. Each ensuing twist repeats the one that preceded it and at the same time differs from it—in the same way that days and years differ from one another. Mythological heroes exist at once in and outside time. The changes to human life that come with every new era renew these connections in time and tighten the threads that run between reality and mythology. But to what extent are the historical events and phenomena that stand before humankind in the form of fate repeatable or explainable?»
Lyudmila Baronina and Katya Isaeva created special works for the exhibition, which explore various facets of the concept of fate. These are such different works but united by an interest in how mythological categories live today and what they can tell us about us. The artists outline the directions and coordinates in which one can comprehend fate, and talk about the earthly and cosmic, natural and man-made, about free will, choice and predestination. Lyudmila Baronina created an entire installation of birch trees that have gained volume from her graphic work, which was presented at the «Focus Graphics» exhibition. Katya Isaeva, inspired by the works of the animal artist Boris Vorobyov, made a set of wooden chess in the form of lions and camels.
