start up STD RF
Ruza 2017
Residency for contemporary dance artists
Residency for contemporary dance artists Ruza 2017 took place at Staraya Ruza village (Moscow region) from October 23, 2017 till November 6, 2017.
The residency was organised by Start Up Youth Projects STD RF and was curated by Katya Ganyushina.
The residency was organised by Start Up Youth Projects STD RF and was curated by Katya Ganyushina.
"I consider art as a space for searching and experimenting. It is a space of unnormalised research. And this is an exact reason why a person, who lives a regulated ordered way of living, may see artististic activity as 'childish' and 'nonsensical'. Although this certain unregulated, non-functional activity contains a very important process of trying, sorting out different options, making up combinations never existed before. And this happens not according to any rationality, but rather driven by intuitive, exactly non-sensical, neither being in line with familiar, nor opposing it. One would say sorting out different options is not so complex and any IT guy can make a program for such kind of task. Why do we need an artist for it? It's true, for an IT guy it's an easy task. The only thing is how the variety of these options will be defined and described. How vast the variation will be. And this is where the artist comes.
The more the artist tries, the more multiple and more revealing, more nuanced world we get. But why does it matter? For this question two specific processes, that the artist takes part in and thus supports, can be introduced.
At first, unnormalised (not based on unified category of 'normality') space of art allows one who gets into it to meet with one's part that is repressed by our normalised ordinary life. Repressed here is not a critique but rather a matter of fact that we all have to deal with currently if we choose to live our lives within a society. Thus art becomes the only safe space to meet with our repressed parts of ourselves, to live them through, to experience them, to see them and to sense, to become conscious about them. The participants of this process are both the artists and the one with whom in contact his art is. It allows to melt down tension between different social groups, lets the person live in peace with its nature and without conquering it unconsciously every day. It reveals our pecularities and make them acceptable in each other's eyes. It thus lets us continue to exist together.
The second process is more of a strategic nature rather than crucial for our everyday life. The so called intuitive, nonsensical, counterlogical nature of art space invokes the universes that can easily and in an unexpected way inspire a scientist, an innovator or an entrepreneur as their activity takes place behind the familiar way of life, thinking, seeing etc., although their impulse for searching and experimenting is conditioned by a specific functional demand.
Taking this into account one can say that art deals with redirecting of attention. And without any specific task, aim, goal the result of it obtains individual form and thus refrains itself from hegemony of a kind.
The more the artist tries, the more multiple and more revealing, more nuanced world we get. But why does it matter? For this question two specific processes, that the artist takes part in and thus supports, can be introduced.
At first, unnormalised (not based on unified category of 'normality') space of art allows one who gets into it to meet with one's part that is repressed by our normalised ordinary life. Repressed here is not a critique but rather a matter of fact that we all have to deal with currently if we choose to live our lives within a society. Thus art becomes the only safe space to meet with our repressed parts of ourselves, to live them through, to experience them, to see them and to sense, to become conscious about them. The participants of this process are both the artists and the one with whom in contact his art is. It allows to melt down tension between different social groups, lets the person live in peace with its nature and without conquering it unconsciously every day. It reveals our pecularities and make them acceptable in each other's eyes. It thus lets us continue to exist together.
The second process is more of a strategic nature rather than crucial for our everyday life. The so called intuitive, nonsensical, counterlogical nature of art space invokes the universes that can easily and in an unexpected way inspire a scientist, an innovator or an entrepreneur as their activity takes place behind the familiar way of life, thinking, seeing etc., although their impulse for searching and experimenting is conditioned by a specific functional demand.
Taking this into account one can say that art deals with redirecting of attention. And without any specific task, aim, goal the result of it obtains individual form and thus refrains itself from hegemony of a kind.
Time to read & Time to dance
Being mostly 'postrational' the new contemporary world seems rather intuitive with no place left for rational. Nevertheless, the rational world we live in and the knowledge it was built on do not stop to exist even without further potential to be continued, to be developed. It is crucial not to negate existing and dominating systems of knowledge but rather to allow them to exist together with irrational and intuitive. Even more, allow them to touch with the latter.
Briefly, and making reference to Orchesographie, written by Thoinot Arbeau in 1589, one can say: "Time to read & Time to dance".
Taking all mentioned above into the account, it becomes obvious that creation of art can't be or be classified as producing. The latter makes art a part of normalised system of relations, while art has the ability to be a research, an experiment, a try.
Such activity requires a tolerant space for an artist to act. The space where jugement emerges upon certain and specific request of an artist (and this makes an artist responsible for the process he is in), where no hierarchy, the symptom of normalisation, exists, where anything considered a resource for an artistic activity – a person, an event, a knowledge.
This was a space we tried to create at Ruza in the residency for contemporary dance artists.
Dance appears in the name of the residency, as I believe that the space of contemporary dance has always been a space for experiment combining both the rational and the intuitive. And this space becomes the more important the more mediated the space of our life becomes. The body in its diversity and infinity turns out to be the major instrument for synthesis of rational and irrational. The body containts other concept of learning and communication, not totally new to the human world but the one that has been repressed and thus obliviated for a long time. Elaboration of such method and concept can be an interesting task for contemporary dance on its own and being a part of art space as a whole."
Katya Ganyushina
Briefly, and making reference to Orchesographie, written by Thoinot Arbeau in 1589, one can say: "Time to read & Time to dance".
Taking all mentioned above into the account, it becomes obvious that creation of art can't be or be classified as producing. The latter makes art a part of normalised system of relations, while art has the ability to be a research, an experiment, a try.
Such activity requires a tolerant space for an artist to act. The space where jugement emerges upon certain and specific request of an artist (and this makes an artist responsible for the process he is in), where no hierarchy, the symptom of normalisation, exists, where anything considered a resource for an artistic activity – a person, an event, a knowledge.
This was a space we tried to create at Ruza in the residency for contemporary dance artists.
Dance appears in the name of the residency, as I believe that the space of contemporary dance has always been a space for experiment combining both the rational and the intuitive. And this space becomes the more important the more mediated the space of our life becomes. The body in its diversity and infinity turns out to be the major instrument for synthesis of rational and irrational. The body containts other concept of learning and communication, not totally new to the human world but the one that has been repressed and thus obliviated for a long time. Elaboration of such method and concept can be an interesting task for contemporary dance on its own and being a part of art space as a whole."
Katya Ganyushina
Six projects from different cities – Ekaterinburg, Minsk, Moscow, Perm – took part in Ruza 2017.
Participants' background varied from dance academy to contemporary art school.
Guest artists, who conducted workshops and gave lectures, were the dance company Po.V.S.Tanze (Alexandra Konnikova and Albert Albert), philosopher and researcher Daria Demekhina, composer Alexey Kokhanov and contemporary artist and curator Katya Bochavar.
The residency was presented to the outter world at Boyarskiye Palaty (Moscow) on November 12, 2017 (more details can be found on the page 'projects' of this site).
Participants' background varied from dance academy to contemporary art school.
Guest artists, who conducted workshops and gave lectures, were the dance company Po.V.S.Tanze (Alexandra Konnikova and Albert Albert), philosopher and researcher Daria Demekhina, composer Alexey Kokhanov and contemporary artist and curator Katya Bochavar.
The residency was presented to the outter world at Boyarskiye Palaty (Moscow) on November 12, 2017 (more details can be found on the page 'projects' of this site).
E-mail: danceresidency2017@gmail.com
Start Up Youth Projects STD RF
Start Up Youth Projects STD RF
