The Winter of Our (Dis)content

Posted in Art, Film Association K1NO1 Paris, K1no1, K1no1 MONOCINEMA, video on February 6th, 2025
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The winter of our technomedieval era continues.

Join us this Saturday, February 8th at 7 PM as we delve into ontological narratives with Anya Tsirlina, Sid Yandovka, and their films. 

Sid Iandovka and Anya Tsyrlina (both born in Novosibirsk, USSR) are an artist-duo whose practice extends across many different media, predominantly moving images. Though only selected works of theirs are co-authored in a traditional sense, as both have distinct interests and aesthetics, they have collaborated (on and off) for over twenty years – ultimately creating a joint, entirely independent, “homemade” production approach for their films. Their working methods are not products of any  educational/professional institutions and their practice is not rooted in any state; it is immaterial and doesn’t benefit from any national/international funding, resources or structures. The artists prefer for their own histories and words to remain in the background – but it’s not essential to know the whys and hows of these works, since there’s an almost alchemical and mystical quality to them that supersedes their construction.


February 8  Motto  38 rue du Vertbois  75003 Paris

This post is related the upcoming film screening within the framework of the cinema club and Film Association K1NO1.

SCACCHIERE E SCACCHISTI #1

Posted in Art, magazines on January 31st, 2025
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Scacchiere e Scacchisti is the new editorial project of Studio Tonnato, the collective composed of Federico Leoni and Giordano Magnani. The duo is present on the scene of recent contemporary art, particularly linked to art experienced and interpreted through the filter of digital, and operates through installations, performances, events, prints and the internet.
The magazine is described by its creators as “pages of pure enjoyment, lots of friends, lots of piles, lots of (mad) chess”.

Scacchiere e Scacchisti is the sexiest chess magazine around, don’t you believe it? Spread pages, the eye that falls and the mouths that dry. A hot program. Are you ready to enter its soft belly? A cultural product that reflects on the scabrous and often censored theme of “chessboards”. A hidden world to get lost in. Thanks to the cultural raid of Natasha Ottavi, strong muse and refined chess player, and to many collaborations, we are ready to present you a paper golem that moves in an “L” and loses blood. Chess as you’ve never seen it.

Order here

Mondfotografie

Posted in Art, Artist Books / Monographs, photography, poetry on January 23rd, 2025
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Pictures of the moon, the ultimate topos in photography, have been given a new twist in Erik Steinbrecher’s MONDFOTOGRAFIE. The Swiss artist collects pictures of the moon and rephotographs them, placing a finger on the lens. In this way, images of the full moon are transformed into obscure crescents.

MONDFOTOGRAFIE is a dark and witty artist’s book that takes a subtle, yet illuminating approach not only to the discourse on the photographic image but also to the interpretation and reading of images in general.

Erik Steinbrecher (born 1963 in Basel, lives and works in Berlin) is known to a wide international audience particularly since his participation in documenta X (1997) as well as further major institutional presentations such as at Kunst-Werke in Berlin, MoMA PS1 in New York, the Kunsthalle Vienna, the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich or The Weserburg Museum of Modern Art in Bremen. His work as artist has developed in two main directions; the areas of sculpture and architecture as well as the realm of publication. Steinbrecher released numerous books and printed matters, which always expose a strong conceptual idea and function as independent artworks.

Order here.

RETRO MACH1NES OF LOVE

Posted in Art, Events, Film, Uncategorized on January 9th, 2025
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This Sunday, January 12 at 7:00 PM, we will discuss hauntological narratives, nostalgia for places we have never been, and we will show two films:

Ewan Golder – Binary Love  A retrofuturistic dystopia about aging lovers and dating apps in dreams.
Txema Novelo – Déjalo Ser  A shamanic journey of poets in the Oaxaca desert, filmed on 8mm.

January 12  Motto  38 rue du Vertbois  75003 Paris

This post is related the upcoming film screening within the framework of the cinema club and Film Association K1NO1.

Architecture for Disquiet Bodies. Didier Fiúza Faustino

Posted in Architecture, Art, performance on January 6th, 2025
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Didier Fiúza Faustino works in the field of visual arts and architecture, exploring the relationship between bodies and their environment.
The architect and artist designs his buildings, objects, videos and installations as places that resist spatial prescriptions and fulfill the needs of non-normative bodies. His oeuvre is a long evolution that compares the physical world with the world of numbers.
This publication is a manifesto and covers more than 25 years of research and implementation. It documents the genesis and formal development of Faustino’s work and, by means of texts and conversations, luminates the artist’s experimental work as it continues to evolve.

The publication is divided into three main parts. The first is designed as a magazine with fake advertisements created by Faustino’s Bureau des Mésarchitectures. The second focuses on the agency’s manifesto projects. The third part shows the realizations of these projects. In between these sections are the agency’s manifesto texts, as well as contributions from various authors analyzing the work of Faustino and his team.

Didier Fiúza Faustino was born in 1968 in Chennevieres-sur-Marne, France.
An artist-architect, he is based in Lisbon and Paris.

Order here

Pictures From a Briefcase

Posted in Architecture, Art, Artist Books / Monographs, Exhibition catalogue, Motto Books on January 4th, 2025
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The book is published on the occasion of the exhibition “Pictures From a Briefcase” by Alexander Rappaport at Maxim Boxer Gallery, Riga, Latvia from August 15 to September 9, 2024.

“Pictures From a Briefcase by Alexander Rappaport I find interesting first of all, because seeing only them one would not suspect the intensity, originality and scope of his thought on topics so far removed from everything that is depicted in them. The pictures, unlike his texts, are so unassuming and modest. It seems they are like an earthly anchor above which his ideas soar at unattainable heights.

All together they look like illustrations for a novella, which could either have actually been written, or exists only in the author’s imagination. There is nothing fantastic, exotic, or esoteric here. An ordinary domestic environment.

But an environment, unlike space, always belongs to someone. And yet in Pictures from a Briefcase there is no visible inhabitant, or hero of this book. You are right to suspect the author’s invisible presence. Sasha’s drawings are about himself.

But not his full spiritual life, it seems to me they are only about that side of him in which he is alone. Not in the public space of his blog the Tower and Labyrinth or his articles and texts.

Pictures from a Briefcase is about «The Man in a Case». But let’s not get carried away with this analogy. In Chekhov’s story the whole person is in the case, but in Sasha’s briefcase there is only one side of his life. The quiet and sad one.”

Alexander Stepanov

Letter to Sasha Stepanov
(Alexander Rappaport, early July 1965)


Dear Sanya!
Well, I’ve finally picked up the pen.
I’ve finished my studies, and that chapter is behind me.
We are on the road again.
I want to write you a different kind of letter than what we usually exchange. I find myself in a state that invites a different kind of communication, rather than the usual “how are you?” and “what’s up?”.
What should I fill my life with now? More precisely, what should I discard to allow what remains to grow? Among all pursuits, I don’t know what I cherish most or what I am most inclined towards.
The science I thought I would devote my entire life to just a month ago—urban planning—is a science about everything. It’s a reliable (though shaky) endeavor, but the science is slow and unfamiliar. It reminds me of a long road that must be crawled upon. Yet, science is perhaps the only thing that remains. Mathematics, sociology, psychology, aesthetics—these, blending into architecture, form urbanism (will my frail body withstand this?).
There are two other ways of existing; I’m not talking about professions (no, I mean ways to exist, live, breathe, sleep, and love)—these are the arts. Either painting or poetry. These are two equal vows; I don’t know which one to take, but both are terrifying. I can hardly say I have ever truly engaged in painting. With poetry, only pale shadows of verses have crawled out from beneath my [unclear]. But it’s not even about the result. Here, try to understand me; this is very important: it’s not about what I choose to do (write poetry or scientific works)—it’s about who I will be in life: who?
After all, a person changes. A person is free to become whatever they want. There are many paths, many ways. One can become a glutton and a scoundrel, or one can be neither a glutton nor a scoundrel. One can become a POET or a philosopher, mathematician, or craftsman. I feel within me the capacity to become whoever I wish. I feel the freedom and right to make that choice. But Time comes to me and says: “Don’t joke with me. If you choose, choose quickly and don’t hesitate; otherwise, everything will shatter and fly to hell. As long as I am the future, you are free; when I am the past, you are my torn body, and you have no choice but to submit.”
Write me something, Sanya. And try to understand that this is not a joke.
Goodbye. I hope this time you will be my friend and support.
Sasha.

Alexander Gerbertovich Rappaport – a theorist and historian of architecture, philosopher, art historian, writer, blogger, and artist. He spent his childhood in Leningrad, lived in Moscow, London, and for the last twenty years – in a remote seaside village of Mazirbe in Latvia.
Alexander Rappaport is best known for his extensive work in the field of theory and history of architecture, having written several thousand texts. His works address fundamental issues in the history of architecture and professional thinking, touching on art history, philosophy, and cultural theory.
Alexander Rappaport comes from an artistic and cinematographic family. His father, the well-known film director Herbert Rappaport, an Austrian of Jewish descent, came to the Soviet Union in 1936 to work at the “Lenfilm” film studio. Here he met costume designer Lydia Shildknecht. She also came from a family of artists and architects: her father, artist Pyotr Shildknecht, emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1924 to work in European cinema. Among his films are “The Golden Age,” “An Andalusian Dog” (directed by L. Buñuel, screenplay by S. Dali), and many others. His father Nikolai Alexandrovich Shildknecht was an academic of architecture in imperial St. Petersburg.
Alexander Rappaport was born on October 23, 1941, under dramatic circumstances: his family was evacuated to Almaty (Kazakhstan) from besieged Leningrad. His mother went into labor on a train at the Vologda station, which became his accidental birthplace.
The family returned to Leningrad after the war in 1946. Rappaport’s beloved grandmother, singer Lydia Ivanovna Shildknecht (Matsievskaya), along with his uncle Viktor Shildknecht, moved to Riga after the war. Viktor was a film artist who was one of the founders of the Riga Film Studio. In childhood, Alexander spent every summer in Jurmala, which formed a strong connection for him with Latvia as the happiest place in his life.
In 1958, Rappaport entered the Leningrad Engineering and Construction Institute (LISI) in the architecture faculty. In 1964, he went to Georgia, where he studied drawing with a friend of his mother, Vasily Shukhaev, and lived in the house of Elena Akhvlediani. In Leningrad, he mingled with literary and artistic circles. His acquaintances with Anna Akhmatova, Viktor Sosnora, David Dar, Gleb Gorbovsky, and Joseph Brodsky influenced his entire life. Rappaport moved to Moscow in the early 1970s, where he continued to work as a theorist of architecture. Here he met the renowned philosopher Georgy Petrovich Shchedrovitsky and was a member of his Moscow methodological circle for almost ten years. This became a significant chapter in Rappaport’s life.
In 1991, at the invitation of the BBC as a radio correspondent, Rappaport moved to London with his wife, artist Natalia Arendt, and their four-year-old daughter Ariadne Arendt, to start a new life there.
In 2004, Rappaport took another decisive step, leaving London and settling in the Latvian village of Mazirbe on the desolate Livonian coast. Amidst a dense pine forest, he transformed a traditional farmstead into an interesting organic architectural project, where he lives alone, plays the piano, paints, and blogs – this has been his main activity for the last twenty years.

Author: Alexander Rappaport

Publisher: Maxim Boxer Gallery; Motto Books

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Сhris Suspect / Truly Blessed Presentation

Posted in Art, Artist Books / Monographs, Events, Exhibition catalogue, Motto Berlin, photography on November 12th, 2024
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Join us with King Koala Press in Berlin on Tuesday, Nov 12, from 7-9 PM for a presentation of ‘Truly Blessed’, a compelling visual narrative exploring community responses to racial and religious discrimination.

Published by King Koala Press, this book features a foreword by Jeffrey Q. McCune, PhD, and includes an extensive interview with Chris Suspect by Ibarionex Perello, host of The Candid Frame. With a testimonial from Guggenheim Fellow Maggie Steber, ‘Truly Blessed’ uses photography to bridge the sacred Black church and secular erotic spaces, highlighting the convergence of body, mind, and spirit. This work acknowledges the complexities of the “sacred” while celebrating the unapologetic existence of the sexual-secular-sacred trinity in the Black queer community.

Meet and greet, book signing and photo exhibition.

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Color Inventory, Farbinventur

Posted in Art, history, Monograph, research on November 12th, 2024
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“Books not only describe their own contents but also the eras in which they were created.
Conceived as a color inventory, this publication gathers a selection of titles that I have dealt with, exhibited, and produced since the early 2000s. Many of these books came to me; I did not seek them out, but provided them a home. For me, books are an archive of ideas and their materialization, a mapping of my engagement with the material world.
I appreciate objects that can be held, traded, and hidden. They allow me to contemplate, negotiate, and share art without the need to seek out the fetish of the original.
The collection does not showcase the most beautiful or best books of their time. It consists art books on themes, colors, and production techniques, all of which have piqued my interest in one way or another.
The objects in this book were collected, exhibited, and re-contextualized in various forms within my long-term project Salon für Kunstbuch.
I have read some of them, while others served as models for new works. I have traced them, catalogued them, woven tapestries from their covers, and marked their ownership status.
Books are objects that lead their own unique lives.”

Author: Bernhard Cella

Publisher: Salon Für Kunstbuch

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body to book, INDEX

Posted in Art, Editions, Exhibition catalogue, Exhibitions, Gender, history, performance, photography on November 10th, 2024
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“Body to book” is an upcycling project that explores the relationship between the human body and books. It comprises six sculptures assembled from coat fragments and books, each covering a naked body. This arrangement invites explorations of sensuality and intimacy and encourages direct interaction with the subject. Through calling us to examine the subtle interactions between the body and the books, it offers new perspectives for artistic, philosophical and personal reflection on matter, media and the human condition.

Author: Bernhard Cella

Publisher: Salon Für Kunstbuch

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ED4M Presentation

Posted in Art, Artist Books / Monographs, Editions, Events, Film, Film Association K1NO1 Paris, K1no1, K1no1 MONOCINEMA, music, newsprint, poetry, Zines on November 6th, 2024
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ED4M
Zine presentation and Screening ‘Making of ED4M’

November 8th, 2024
Screening starts 7 pm

+conversation with the artist with K1NO1
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Motto – 38 rue du Vertbois – 75003 Paris
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The main character is the electric train type ED4M, one of the most common in Russia since the mid-90s. This small detective story unfolds on newsprint, featuring carriage vestibules, doors, handles, and wanted persons. It immerses the audience in the realm between the living and the dead, accompanied by the sound of wheels clattering, exploring space, ritual, collective recognition, and personal experience. The Tbilisi weekly sports newspaper served as the prototype for this book.

ED4M (Electric train Demikhovsky, type 4) is a series of Russian DC electric trains produced from 1996 to 2016 at the Demikhovsky Machine-Building Plant. The first batch with increased comfort was manufactured for the Moscow Railway between 1999 and 2000. During this period, ED4 and ED4M models became the most significant electric trains for local purposes.

Zine features photographs by Ivan Anisimov taken between 2019 and 2022 before he left Russia. Further shooting was continued by his son Danila, who took four rolls of 35mm film in winter 2023. Zine design by Aeona Melnikova.

Screening is a documentation of the printing process of a zine in a print facility, Tbilisi.

Ivan Anisimov was born in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia, in 1988. For more than 10 years, he has been engaged in documentary film and photography, collecting archives from lost photographs and videos. He has carried out several photographic projects and is now based in Paris, France.

The event is organized within the framework of the cinema club and Film Association K1NO1 Paris.

Order zine here.