Friday, January 16, 2009

Factory outlet


The International Arts Festival in Wellington largely ignores the visual arts so it’s good to see the St Petersburg group Factory of Found Clothing doing a series of work in conjunction with the Auckland Festival as well as a residency at Unitec. There’s an interview with the two artists "Gliukla" (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) and "Tsaplya" (Olga Yegorova) here. It’s relational aesthetics meets et al. with a touch of city-envy. FFC is from St Petersburg which is to Moscow what Wellington is to Auckland. “In Moscow there are ‘rosy-cheeked gymnasium girls’. The Petersburg Gymnasium Girl is sad; she drinks vinegar to make her cheeks pale and her skin limpid." You can check out their Auckland programme here.
Images: Left, Gliukla and right, Tsaplya