Artworks Artists Concepts
Andrey Bartenev
"Electric Aliens"
2004
Installation (3 figures). Plastic dummies, fiberglass, mixed media
200x90х50
Section: Object
Section: Installation
Period: 2000s
Postmodernism,
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Postmodernism

Artworks in collection

Mythological subject
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Mythological subject

Artworks in collection

The installation “Electric Aliens” is a part of the project that started with Andrey Bartenev’s performance at the Alternative Miss World Contest at the Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London in 2004. As planned by the organizers, every artist who is ready to impress the jury with the originality of his image can take part in the event. During the performance, Andrey Bartenev, dressed in the most recognizable for popular culture alien costume, was brought to the stage, thus it appeared he was floating above it. The image of unearthly origin, which the artist has tried on, corresponds with his artistic mythology: the alien presented combines characteristic absurdity, provocation and showiness. Bartenev, who is used to shocking the public, enjoys the atmosphere of a carnival. The artist’s desire to create energy-filled shows and loudly declare himself was manifested in his works with numerous references to cosmic subjects.

The installation from the Museum's collection consists of three alien figures commensurable with human height. Their bodies are made of reflective fabric specially designed by NASA for space travel. Andrey Bartenev plays with hackneyed ideas about extraterrestrial life: meeting stereotypical images in flesh makes the viewer feel like he is introduced to something unknown and provocatively new. Displaying of the installation involves a mirror tunnel in which the luminous figures are infinitely reflected, engaging the viewer in an emotional game, where the familiar echoes the unknown, and real resonates with imaginary.

Anastasia Maltseva

Andrey Bartenev was born in polar Norilsk, graduated from the Krasnodar State Institute of Culture as a theatre director. His career started off in the late 1980s in the Salon of Independent Artists, an association of young artists in Sochi. At the dawn of the 1990s he burst into Moscow artistic life with his works that synthesized art, music, fashion and visual arts.

(About the artist)

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Andrey Bartenev
1969
Artworks in collection

Andrey Bartenev was born in polar Norilsk, graduated from the Krasnodar State Institute of Culture as a theatre director. His career started off in the late 1980s in the Salon of Independent Artists, an association of young artists in Sochi. At the dawn of the 1990s he burst into Moscow artistic life with his works that synthesized art, music, fashion and visual arts. Bartenev’s renowned performance “Botanical Ballet”, which involved moving sculptures, was awarded the Grand Prix at the Untamed Fashion Assembly in Jurmala in 1992. By that time the artist became sought-after around the world. In the 2000s he began to work actively in theater: he collaborated with renowned American director Robert Wilson, making performances and exhibition projects. Winner of the first independent award "Triumph" (2002), and one of the representatives of Russia at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, Andrey Bartenev became a vital part of contemporary Russian art as one of its most original protagonists. In 2015 MMOMA hosted his major retrospective exhibition, which allowed to take a fresh look at his art.

Anastasia Maltseva

 

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