A WARNING COLLECTION
In the «Frightening Collection» installation, I was interested in considering a system of peace based on the Behterevian principles. A system in which there is no clear division into the world of man, the world of things, and the world of ideas. The world energy that Behterev and Tsiolkovsky are talking about is getting a little deeper into our scary collection. On one side of the glass there is a chaotic large world in which the will to touch exists. On the other hand, the small, orderly world of a collection gathered by someone, filled with the primary force of life, where things have the basic ability to express their fear. Things feel here. Vladislav Efimov
The interactive installation of the Frightening Collection consists of several long horizontal boxes divided into separate sections. Each section contains an object that reacts to the viewer ' s touch of the glass. Boxes in turn differ thematically: boxing with moving everyday objects; boxing with old (artistic) things; boxing objects singing «angelic songs», etc.
The title of the draft should be understood literally. First of all, because Vladislav Efimov’s installation is indeed a collection of a variety of subjects. Second of all, because she’s interactive. In other words, each of the artifacts of the collection reacts to the close presence of the audience. As soon as the last one touches the glass of the box house where the object lives, it is scared: it shakes, hides, or sings.
The artist himself claims that he was interested in replicating a «system in which there is no clear division into the world of man, the world of things, and the world of ideas». It also refers to its source, the theory of the great Russian physiologist Vladimir Michaelovich Behterev, according to which «the various actions of man can be compared to the reductions in pseudopods of simple animals such as amoeb. And what we mean by higher reflexes is ultimately a derivative of „a reduction of the living substance in response to irritation. " The scientist believed that the activity of living organisms was based on a nervous current that passed through the reduction of muscles and the displacement of members into mechanical energy. All the phenomena of the world, including the manifestations of the spirit and all the processes in the living organisms, are the derivatives of universal world energy, so that such energy is the common essence of the universe. This world energy is the beginning of both the material and spiritual world and potentially contains all things.»
Efimov is a great fan of the history of science, including the curious layer of ideas that today is unappealably referred to as myths. Such scientific archaics consists of many concepts, ranging from the alchemic idea of the Philosopher’s Stone to the same Bechterian universal «nerve current.» It has also produced many material phenomena, among which the Kunstcamer, which can be regarded as the beginning of the history of the New European collection, is an honorary place. It records the state of human consciousness for which there was no separation between artificial and natural objects. That is why the Cunstcamera was accompanied by «art and nature masterpieces».
In the Efims' installation, it’s replicating a cunst-chamber way of showing. All the things he collected — including natural artifacts, applied art, household goods and technical objects — are placed in the same vertebrates and displayed in a line. And animated, the artist’s will is equal to living creatures, including spectators. Vladimir Levashov, curator of the exhibit.
The project «The Frightening Collection» was presented in Stella Art Foundation from 24 December 2009 to 14 February 2010.
