It is strange that when speaking about spirit of time, we usually imagine very material objects or everyday things. These are kind of tracks left in space by time. By these andmarks we can determine our coordinates in history. Each object goes through evolution from idea to absolute pragmatism and further, through unification to merging with natural environment. The environment gives birth to new ideas and the cycle repeats itself, bringing the spiral to a new helix. We may divide this spring of time into epochs, observing the differences, trying to capture what is standing behind all the infinite transformation. We follow these tracks, analysing the objects, details of dismantled epoch, assembling it again into whole. And the aim of all this is understanding where, in what point we find ourselves now. How can we formulate the main feature of our time and guess the future? How can we derive a universal code which forms the mood and ideas? Because the today ideas will turn yesterday into things and environment. And the speed of our perception, our attitude to ourselves, method of information analysis will give title and characteristic to every new turn of time. And its Spirit that makes us move in one direction and leave new tracks – will still stay incomprehensible.
Konstantin Grouss
Curator of the festival,
Artistic director of International cultural project «Art-Residence»
The “Kod epohi / Zeitgeist” festival is an experiment in which contemporary artists, musicians, choreographers and intellectuals generate new ideas. It is an intrusion into material world of amazing things, in which the brightest ideas of former epochs are imprinted. The very notion of epoch is questioned, when the development of ideas is considered as infinity, where the most important is the pulse marking the points – Now – Now – Now. Is it possible to understand in this rhythm, what the contemporaneity is. Objects from the collection of the Museum of Applied and Folk Art coexist here with objects of contemporary art. This neighbourhood challenges the established notions of clear borders of historical epochs, doubts the evidence of the very idea of epoch, and puts a question: who, with what aim and with which consequences is marking the borders of contemporaneity, mapping the time."
Konstantin Grouss, curator of the festival
I
The All-Russian Museum of Applied and Folk Art, International Culture Project "Art-Residence"
Curators of the festival: Konstantin Grouss, Dmitry Alexeev
Kod Epohi / Zeitgeist
Contemporary art, music, dance in the world of ideas and objects
14-24 March, 2013