Where Dogs Run [Russia]
Where Dogs Run (Olga Inozemtseva, Alexey Korzukhin, Vlad Bulatov and Natalia Grekhova)
“Sunrise” | video, “The Way” | video
venue: walls of residential buildings, watched from Długa Grobla Str.
“Sunrise” is a paraphrase of a popular Soviet film series “The Elusive Avengers.” The main characters of the original film are four youngsters fighting against the White Army and independently operating war-bands during the Civil War, at the very beginning of the Soviet Republic. They seek revenge for their parents, fellow villagers, and all those who have been humiliated and insulted. Each film in the series starts and ends with the same scene: The sun rises above a field; we can see four horsemen that emerge on the horizon and start approaching us. You can hear the words of the song: “Let the raven stop circling above the sinister steppes, for we are going to live for eternity….” Anyone born in the USSR is familiar with this scene and this song. Here is what happens in our version: the sun rises above a field, we can clearly see the readily recognizable silhouettes of four horsemen riding towards the viewer; and we soon become aware that they are not humans riding horses but, rather, some monsters. You can hear the words of the song: “Let the raven stop circling above the sinister steppes; for we are going to live for eternity. If a storm comes to threaten the world again and the sky is lit with fire, you just whisper to us and we promise to come rescue you….” The video soundtrack includes the chanted song lyrics in Russian.
“The Way” is a slow meditative piece compared with the dark and sinister political critique of “Sunrise.” In “The Way” it is winter. A field of snow stretching as far as the eye can see. Four men are mowing the snow. They are gradually moving out of the scene, leaving behind a long trail in the snow. The trail left behind the four men with scythes is like a ghost of a buried road or the memory of autumn fields. It is humorous work that has the power to transport the viewer poetically through the portrayal of an absurd action: scything snow.
Where Dogs Run is an artist collective living and working in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The members of the collective are Olga Inozemtseva, Alexey Korzukhin, Vlad Bulatov and Natalia Grekhova. Where Dogs Run have exhibited throughout Russia; and in Slovenia, Germany, England, Austria, Latvia, Japan and now in Poland. Their practice encompasses forms and methods as diverse as performance, video, sound and kinetic installations; often involving a fascination with and a critique of scientific and information technologies.
