WINDLESS
«Windless» project consists of a total installation, objects, a series of graphics, a mural, an album, and a musical composition. It is a story about memories of childhood that have partially sunk into oblivion, so only parts of objects remain visible on the surface—dolls, teddy bears, skates, and other symbols of childhood. The floor is covered with black mirrored material, reminding us that childhood memories, sinking into oblivion, turn into an empty reflection of ourselves. Between the objects, cozy knitted rugs form paths that can be walked on without fear of drowning. Above the windless swamp of oblivion rise female figures-dresses, which have turned into sprouted and dried tree branches, reminding us that we remember the symbols of the presence of people who are important to us, but their faces have already melted away in time. Instead of heads, they have inflated balloons that can burst at any moment, disappearing forever. Under the ceiling are lamp nests covered with rag flowers, which slowly spin, making the light soft and changeable. The flickering effect is also created by the shadows cast by a cloud of buttons. On the island of the flowing chair, you can see album «Windless», tied with a long girl's braid. After the exhibition, this album became part of the Daniel & Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation collection and then part of the Centre Georges Pompidou collection in Paris. The album, paintings, and graphics in the project are dedicated to the theme of memory as a swamp of oblivion, in the middle of which is a map consisting of key events and images that can be used to trace one's personal development. The exhibition «Windless» was held at the Iragui Gallery in Moscow in 2010.
The entire construction of the modernity and the necessity of socialization in it gave inevitable rise to paranoia. Human consciousness and its language expression disintegrate between many layers of perception of reality: “What am I thinking, what am I thinking; am I thinking that I am thinking about other people thinking about me? What is really happening? Where I am and what is happening with me?” It is a moment of the if nal awareness, when you understand, that you have lived your life for the other person. Or is it just an impression?
Lera Nibiru conifdently states: “The Schizophrenia overcomes the paranoia” The only method to shifting off the uncertainty, modesty, eternal fear, the only chance to living and surviving in this world proves to be the way of inventing the world yourself, admitting your disease, growing fond of it, and cultivating it.
As children, we are closest to the harmony with our inner demons; we give them names and invent affairs for them. Lera Nibiru draws her inspiration from the discourse of childhood, in its special infantile delirium logic. There is no question or answer within the schizophrenic construction. Nothing happens and nothing changes in this world, no time exists there, a frozen second lasts forever. Ridiculous creatures, the residents of this world, are neither good nor evil; neither are they friends nor enemies. They just are, the absurd little girls with adult faces and sutured mouths, or the abnormal plush mutant toys. Nests hover here, animals sink in, varicoloured buttons shower in freezing splashes into the air, and carpet paths lead away, cotton-wool foams around, shadows glimmer in a kaleidoscope.
Looking at Nibiru's pictures, you frequently feel that you should have never seen this, as if you were peeping through a keyhole in fear of being caught, or as if at night you were watching the hobgoblins’ cellar life through a narrow chink while your parents were asleep. You may only whisper here, creep on tiptoes and secretly lf y under the blanket, keeping and cherishing the snooped world, until the adults come and turn on the light.
Lera Nibiru, Mitya Nesterov
Lera Nibiru conifdently states: “The Schizophrenia overcomes the paranoia” The only method to shifting off the uncertainty, modesty, eternal fear, the only chance to living and surviving in this world proves to be the way of inventing the world yourself, admitting your disease, growing fond of it, and cultivating it.
As children, we are closest to the harmony with our inner demons; we give them names and invent affairs for them. Lera Nibiru draws her inspiration from the discourse of childhood, in its special infantile delirium logic. There is no question or answer within the schizophrenic construction. Nothing happens and nothing changes in this world, no time exists there, a frozen second lasts forever. Ridiculous creatures, the residents of this world, are neither good nor evil; neither are they friends nor enemies. They just are, the absurd little girls with adult faces and sutured mouths, or the abnormal plush mutant toys. Nests hover here, animals sink in, varicoloured buttons shower in freezing splashes into the air, and carpet paths lead away, cotton-wool foams around, shadows glimmer in a kaleidoscope.
Looking at Nibiru's pictures, you frequently feel that you should have never seen this, as if you were peeping through a keyhole in fear of being caught, or as if at night you were watching the hobgoblins’ cellar life through a narrow chink while your parents were asleep. You may only whisper here, creep on tiptoes and secretly lf y under the blanket, keeping and cherishing the snooped world, until the adults come and turn on the light.
Lera Nibiru, Mitya Nesterov
«Lake of Laziness», oil on canvas, 100x100 cm, and «Alchemy», oil on canvas, 100x100 cm
Photo of Lera Nibiru inside the installation, by Mitya Nesterov, 2010.
