ART CITIES:London-Ilya & Emilia Kabakov
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov base their collaborative works on the intersection of quotidian and conceptual elements. Ilya previously worked as a children’s book illustrator, and was part of a group of Conseptual artists in Moscow working outside the Soviet system. Emilia was trained in Spanish literature and music, she immigrated to Israel in 1973, and moved to New York in 1975, where she worked as a curator and art dealer, their work has been collaborative since they were married in 1992.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Archive
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s installation “Concert for a Fly (Chamber Music)” is on presentation at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in London. The historic installation was first exhibited in 1986 in Switzerland at the Neue Galerie, Dierikon, then in 1992 at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art and at the Kölnisher Kunstverein in Cologne. In 2017 the installation was shown as part of STANDART (Triennial of Contemporary Art in Armenia) at Hay-Art Cultural Center, former municipal Museum of Modern Art. During the opening, a live concert by the students of the Tchaikovsky Special Music School of Yerevan was performed. Emilia Kabakov states that this installation: “Is about a person who cannot escape fears, problems, the oppression of everyday life. We do hope that today, in London, despite all the fears and innuendos of politics, this work, being so poetic, will be accepted once again and enjoyed”. Exhibited at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac with a musical arrangement by Joseph Morag, the installation is given renewed relevance. In the center of the room is a closed circle of 12 music stands. There is a chair behind each one. Everything is ready for a chamber concert. A fly (drawn on paper) hangs immobile above the very center of the circle formed by the music stands, at a height of approximately 3.5 meters. It is very easy to find it in the air, despite its small size. The music stands are arranged in a perfect circle and especially their slants direct our attention to it. Each stand holds a white sheet with colourful drawings and Russian texts, translated into English. Some also include musical scores. Everything seems to point towards the immobile fly, which acts as a focal point, directing our gaze upwards and orchestrating our movements. A continuous sound of classical music surfaces from an undefined source. It contains abstract notes, conjuring the viewer into a state of anticipation, as if waiting for a concert to begin.
Info: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropec – Ely House, 37 Dover Street, London, Duration: 15/9-11/11/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, http://ropac.net