MG+MSUM

Vadim Fiškin: What's on the other side? Ljubljana, latitude 14°25'12''E, longitude 46°03'11''N, 2000
#

AMBIENCE XVIII

Vadim Fiškin

1965, Penza, USSR, now Russia; lives in Ljubljana

 

What's on the other side? Ljubljana, latitude 14°25'12''E, longitude 46°03'11''N, 2000

silicon-rubber relief, digital prints, maps, metal stand, carpet

 

The creative debut of Vadim Fishkin took place in Moscow in the late 1980s as a member of the World Champions group. His subsequent works retained only one feature from that period of “championship,” namely his connection with avant-garde projects. All his activity is an attempt to preserve and defend his conception of the constructive and life-enhancing potential of artistic creativity. Hence Fishkin’s interest in the spiritual roots of Russian avantgardism— the visionary cosmogony of Tsiolkovsky and Chizhevsky. Therefore it seems natural that he belongs to both the Moscow and Ljubljana artistic scenes, as the themes of Utopia, cosmogony, and aeronautics are inherent to the work of many Slovene artists and producers.

 

What’s on the Other Side? is one of Fishkin’s most programmatic works. The idea of reconstructing within an exhibition space the relief of a place located precisely on the opposite side of the globe exemplifies Fishkin’s practice. This project also has a constructional inventiveness, a cosmic way of thinking, and, most typically, a palpable connection with actual scientific research. After all, the artifact being reconstructed by the artist is not just a product of his untrammeled imagination; its creation is based on a real scientific reconstruction.