Project of the Century

Mankind is entering the next millennium. The 20th century is behind. On the one hand it has been the century of the utmost revealing of the paradoxes of human history, on the other — of never before heard wars and destruction. The century of information boom, violation of any cannons and taboos. It has started the cosmic era and brought real danger of vanishing for the whole life on the planet. It has called in question the value of culture and broadened it boundaries thus having given birth to a great variety of new movements and names. This project is the result of creative comprehension and evaluation of the events that took place in the world of art of the past century. The twelve sculptural portraits — images depict the greatest artists of the 20th century who expressed and formed minds, taste and destiny of millions of their contemporaries. For coming generations they will reveal in their unexpected facets thus awakening new creative urge. Principal subjectivity of the choice of personalities is the artists’ right. The project has been modelled as a system of self-sufficing elements equal both in rights and size, united by the common modulus (in the shape of an egg 210×300 mm) and spatial orientation. The modification of the modulus in each portrait puts an accent on the key idea of the given person. Egg is not only one of the most perfect natural forms, but also a symbol of life, birth, renewal, an esoteric and mytho- poetical image of the Universe. It is a container of concentrated energy sealed until the times of future discoveries. PROJECT OF THE CENTURY is simultaneously a farewell, gratitude and message (in the semantical, as well as in the literary “post” meaning) to the 20th century. The idea of moving through time is expressed by the attributes of the postal ceremony which can define the project as MAIL-ART not only in content also but in form. The size of each of the objects is the same as that of a standard sheet of post paper A4, and also of a dinosaur’s egg and a human foetus in utero. The parameters were found by intuition, coincidences ascertained post factum. The creating of most of the objects required search for new technological inventions. Besides semantic adequacy, the use of HIGH TECH stands for an additional sign of the time, mark of the century, address of the senders.