Hyp|hen

exhibition in Riga, Latvia (15-17 November 2018)

limb[o]s (2018) foam, plaster bandages, kinesio tape, neoprene, metal

At[touch]ments (2018) wood, plaster bandages, metal, cord, found window;
Untitled (2016) at the corner

ar[touch]ments (2018) + forest intervention series (2016)

Faced out (2016) face corset

[M]other (2016) acrylic painting, 80 X 60 cm, wooden ladder

Bond[s] 2016

At[touch]ments, 2018 from emRigant series
plaster bandages, metal

A drawing is simply a line going for a walk

Paul Klee

In a contemporary political translation Klee’s quote becomes inquisitive in the current spectrum of nationalistic rise across many territories of the so-called “civilized world”. Increasingly, we are witnessing a retrograde tendency to condemn the notorious phenomenon of immigration and blame it for all the problematics of the contemporary society. Political agendas change on a weekly basis, governments set up misinformed and populist manipulated referendums, public resignations quickly follow “incorrect” political statements, xenophobic actions take place at all levels with many cheers and celebrations of traditional values and cultural purity are officially organized across many places of the once United Europe. The activity of “dealing” with the “biggest enemy” of nations and governments, called immigration with all its deriving creations such as: terrorism, economical decline and the loss of traditionalism has been accelerated with the help of the financially driven information tools of many confused societies. No one has however any clear idea, which is the final destination of all this hysterical energy and preoccupations.

The normative model of multiculturalism has also become increasingly under pressure in the current political affairs and more so it is accused of jeopardising national unity, of accentuating intergroup divisions, and ultimately of placing ethnic groups into segregated urban ghettos. However, instead of attempting to find methods of eradicating these problems, the political elite comforts itself in an even louder process of pointing fingers and accusing large volume of various societal groups.

Art has managed to maintain the power to engage in free circulation and communication on multiple levels regardless of some obstructive politics and other segregating tendencies. Also, art has the ability to join emotional and intellectual elements and create democratic and open spaces for dialogue and questioning for the better understanding of various human conditions. Art constantly migrates, borrows and returns with high interests rates without ever being impoverished.

Art brings people together, manifests on a collaborative basis and communicates to larger audiences more than ever before, partly thanks to technology and also thanks to a more mature attitude of the artists involved in the production. This is the result of many layers of development and centuries of experimentation.

Every collaboration helps you grow

 Brian Eno

Hyp|hen is an event created by two artists who understood that they can grow together despite the geographical distance. They are two artists who developed together in the same educational context, they shared a creative space and they gradually understood that emotional and intellectual forces have started asking them organic questions about potential collaborations. These are not necessarily manifested in producing artifacts together, but more into creating or/and engaging with common spaces of communication. These two artists (Anastasia Shneps-Shneppe and Alexandra Pavlovskaya) feel the need to stay in touch, to exchange opinions and ideas and to continue a beautiful friendship. Hyp|hen also constitutes a felicitous evidence that these two artists feel the need to create an artistic space together and proudly show another example why collaboration or/and artistic/creative exchanges are probably the most important notion we need in a confused civilization at this current times.  

Valentin Boiangiu