January 21–February 20, 2022
Opening — January 20 at 18:00
All-Russian Decorative Art Museum
Delegatskaya st., 3
Moscow, Russia
With the support of CYLAND MediaArtLab
On August 30, 1963, Washington sent the first text message to Moscow, which read: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back 1234567890”. What is it about, and is there a hidden meaning in it? No, this was the phrase used to test all letters of the alphabet. It is the most famous pangram in English, the shortest sentence in which all the 26 letters of the alphabet as well as Arabic numerals are used. It was commonly used for touch-typing practice, testing typewriters and computer keyboards, displaying examples of fonts, and any other applications involving text where the use of all letters in the alphabet is needed. It was also common for testing the teletype services, a procedure known as “foxing”. This phrase is used to test all the keys on the device in order to avoid mistakes and misunderstandings in message texts.
This was the first direct contact between the USA and the USSR, which was supposed to prevent the possibility of a nuclear conflict. Then a military clash was avoided.
Since January 23, 2020, the hands of the Doomsday Clock show 23:58:20, leaving us only 100 seconds. On January 20, 2022, another decision on the location of the clock hands is expected. Based on the analysis of the atmosphere of relations between the great powers on the planet Earth, the arrows are unlikely to remain in place.
The art project is bringing together 30 projects by American and Russian artists practicing different media including paintings, drawings, prints, photography, video, new media and interactive installations who are interested in the above-proposed topic; evoking a wide range of responses to the contemporary political, cultural and historical context and social environment.
The curator of American projects is Natalia Kolodzei, executive director of the Kolodzei Art Foundation, honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts. The curators of Russian projects are Ivan Kolesnikov and Sergei Denisov.
Artists
USA / Ellen K. Levy, Yevgeniy Fiks, Anne Spalter, The Josh Craig, Anna Frants in collaboration with CYLAND MediaArtLab, Danielle Siembieda, Raphael Arar, Vitaly Komar, Carla Gannis, Olga Lamm, Irina Danilova, Julian Montague, Patricia Olynyk, Adam Hogan, Laura Stayton, Clea T. Waite, Helga Pogatschar, Asya Reznikov, Yuliya Lanina, Jose Martinez.
Russia / Ivan Kolesnikov, Sergei Denisov, Viktor Loukin, Valeriy Korchagin, Mikhail Pogarsky, Sergei Dorokhov, Vladimir Chaika, Victor Ponomarenko, Evgeny Semyonov, Serge Golovach, Alexander Lishnevsky, Julia Winter, Annushka Broshe, Andrei Karpov, Konstantin Batynkov, Alexander Zakharov, Vladimir Kotov, Konstantin Khudyakov & Art Multi-touch, Natalie Lamanova.