MEMENTO MORI MOSCOW 2011
video with sound, HD, 16’58″
excerpts from the work
MEMENTO MORI ISTANBUL 2010
video with sound, HD, 24’00″
excerpts from the work
MEMENTO MORI LONDON 2009
video with sound, HD, 16’00″
excerpts from the work
———-
MEMENTO MORI
Special project 4 Moscow Biennale of
Contemporary Art
Memento Mori is a site-specific project by Natalia Skobeeva taking place in seven European metropolises over the course of seven years. First project of the series took place in London in 2009, second in Istanbul in 2010 and third in Moscow in 2011. Memento Mori projects in London and Istanbul were supported by Mayor of London Office, Westminster Council, City of London Corporation, European Capital of Culture 2010 Committee and Mimar Sinan University among others. In the 4 coming years Skobeeva plans to take Memento Mori to 4 other European cities. Each Memento Mori project can be viewed as an autonomic piece and together they form a complete body of work.
Memento Mori Moscow 2011 or MMM 2011 is the third of seven Memento Mori projects.
Skobeeva is interested in communicating with cities by creating the subtle uncanny situations during the unstable hours of transformation. The specific locations relate directly to the cites’ places of transience, for example bridges in London, roads in Moscow and ferries in Istanbul. Incorporating important urban features of the city, the project took place on the most engaged routes of transportation – its roads. During evening rush hour, seven roads were paved with carpets, while the cars continue driving on their usual routes.
The artist worked with the idea of a carpet as a symbol of achievements and prosperity, which goes back many decades and many city’s generations. In the past, every hard-working young family would buy a carpet as a “we made it” sign, so that almost every house would have very similar mass-produced, artificial “luxury” items. Nowadays, carpets are looked down upon, with hard-working young families preferring to show off their standing with branded clothes and cars.
Communication of the artist with each city happens on many levels and includes negotiations with the city’s authorities in order to obtain needed permissions, and meeting local art-world using modern technologies and means of communication such as social networking sites.
For this project in Moscow to happen, Skobeeva has spend 7 month obtaining permissions from the city’s officials, including Mayor of Moscow office, Ministry of Internal Affaires, Department of Culture, Prefecture SVAO and State Road Traffic Safety Inspection among others.
Having lived in 6 different countries and traveled to more then 50 countries, Skobeeva’s personal biography interplays with her exploration of the current state of human affairs.
———-
