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The Laura Bulian Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition Life from my window, curated by Andrey Misiano, that studies the contemporary experience of artists who were born in the Caucasus during the Soviet period yet that are rapidly losing touch with their socialist past.

First and foremost, all the artists participating in the exhibition – Babi Badalov (Lerik, Azerbaidjan, 1959), LusineDjanyan (Ganja, Azerbaijan, 1981), Aslan Gaisumov (Grozny, Russia, 1991), Musay Gaivoronskiy (Dagestan, Russia, 1987), Taus Makhacheva (Moscow, Russia, 1983), Koka Ramishvili (Tblisi, Georgia, 1959) have in common a painful search for their place in the world in the conflictual conditions of the new world order. They depict people that have experienced the end of history in one way or another and are now living in a disjointed globalized world.

At the same time, they retain recollections of Soviet life and the first post-Soviet decades that are currently seen in an extremely contradictory historical perspective. On the one hand, the practice of analyzing, reconsidering and debunking the Soviet project is rapidly spreading in the academic and artistic communities. On the other, at the political level, the regimes that have arisen on post-Soviet territories are selectively speculating on recollections of positive aspects of socialist life in order to patch holes in their profane ideological programs. To sum up, although it is difficult to say in what form the Soviet past is returning today, it is clear that the great expectations of the period continue to exist in the future conditional tense.

The exhibition’s title stems from the well-known work of an artist participating in the project: Koka Ramishvili’s War from My Window. Ramishvili documented the events of the Georgian Civil War in 1991-1993 directly from his window. The difficult and contradictory feeling of “the impossibility of feeling at home” is one of the exhibition’s main themes. The collapse of the USSR led to a series of armed conflicts, including two Chechen Wars that are at the center of Aslan Gaisumov’s work. In turn, the art of Lusine Djanyan focuses on the consequences of the Nagorny Karabakh War that forced a great number of Armenian and Azerbaijani families to leave their native lands in a hurry.

However, the exhibition is not limited to problems stemming from armed conflict. The history and culture of one’s people and the search for eternal truth are at the center of the work of the Dagestani artists Taus Makhacheva and Musay Gaivoronskiy. In turn, Babi Badalov focuses on the problems of people that were forced to leave their homes on account of political circumstances. Such problems are intrinsically connected to the individual’s right to self-determination, which is particularly apparent in the current sociocultural situation in the Caucasus.

The struggle or complex thoughtful dialogue with one’s surroundings takes very diverse forms in the work of these artists. Nevertheless, the latter are united by the anthropocentric context that they study and bring to the fore in their art. In the final analysis, every work in this exhibition invites viewers to share the artist’s highly personal intuitions that stem from different social circumstances or facts of his or her biography. Thus the personal experience of project participants brings to the fore a set of artistic and general human problems that have still not been fully understood.

Babi Badalov was born in 1959 in Lerik, Azerbaïdjan. He lives and works in Paris, France.

Selected shows since 2009:

2016 Babi Badalov. Bonjour Je Suis Réfugié Politique, Ephemeropterae –Summer performance series, Tyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary-Augarten, Vienna, Austria; Gwangju Biennale 2016 -The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?), Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Republic of Korea; Incorporated! Les Ateliers de Rennes - contemporary art biennale,Curated by François Piron, Rennes and Brittany, France; Babi Badalov. For the wall, for the world, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France

2015  The fourth prose, curated by Marco Scotini, Laura Bulian Gallery, Milan, Italy;  6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia; Migrant Poetry, Nice, France.

2014 Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module, New York, USA.

2013 Jakarta Biennale 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia.

2012 Adaptation,Prague, Czech Republic; curated by Sara Raza, Maraya Art Centre- Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE.

2011 The Journey to the East, Krakow, Poland; Vestfossen, Norway.

2010 Manifesta European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Murcia, Spain; Watchmen, Liars, Dreamers (Erudition concrete 3), Paris, France -Tranzitdisplay, Prague, Czech Republic; curated by Viktor Misiano, MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium; Babi Badalov. My Life Report In Paris, Prague, Czech Republic.

2009 Tbilisi, Georgia; Centre for Visual Introspection, Bucharest; Billek VIlla, Prague, Czech Republic.

Lusine Djanyan was born in 1981 in the city of Kirovabad (now the city of Ganja), Azerbaijan. She lives and works in Russia. She was member of the Pussy Riot group with whom she conducted art actions and performances.

Selected exhibitions since 2010:

2014  Action in art!,  Köttinspektionen, Uppsala, Sweden; White circle, Museum CODE, Bergen, Norway; Mordovlag, Kunsthall Stavanger, Norway.

2012  I International Kiev Biennale ARSENALE - Oleg Kulik's project Apocalypse and Renaissance, Kiev, Ukraine; Pussy Riot and the Russian Tradition of Art Rebellion, Installation The White Ring in collaboration with Alexei Knedlyakovsky at MeetFactory International Centre of Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic; Resistance FOREVER, Cultural Center of the Labour Party, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2010  From the opposite, Contemporary Art Center Winzavod, Moscow, Russia; Stop! Who's Going?, II International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia; My Favorite Toys, project of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, ARTPLAY Design Center, Moscow, Russia.

Aslan Gaisumov was born in 1991 in Grozny, Russia. He lives and works in Grozny. He graduated from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow in 2012.

Selected exhibitions since 2011:

2016  People of No Consequence, M HKA, Antwerp,  Belgium - solo show; Uncertain States, Academy of Arts, Berlin, Germany; winner of Innovation Prize, Russia

2015 Memory Belongs to the Stones, Kromus + Zink, Berlin, Germany – solo show; When You Ride in a Chechen Cart, Sing a Chechen Song, Contemporary Art Center, Grozny, Russia – solo show; Lines of Tangency, Museum of Fine Arts MSK, Gent, Belgium; Glasstress Gotika 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; Austeria, BWA SOKOL Gallery of Contemporary Art, Nowy Sącz, Poland; The World in 2015, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China.

2014  Burning News: Recent Art from Russia, Hayward Gallery, London, U.K.; winner of Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine.

2013  5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia

2012  I Am Who I Am, Kunst im Tunnel, Dusseldorf, Germany;  3rd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, Russia.

2011Untitled (War), Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia - solo show

Musa (Musay) Gaivoronskiy was born in Kaspiysk, the Republic of Dagestan, in 1987. He lives and works in Kaspiysk.

Selected exhibitions since 2011:

2013 Addiction and Temptation, North Caucasus Biennale of Contemporary Art, First Gallery, Kaspiysk; Hand in Art, State Museum of Oriental Art, Maykop, The Republic of Adygeya; A Drawing of Russia 2013, 5th Tomsk All-Russian Triennial;  Festival des Ailes et l’e space , MILSET Science Photo Contest, Toulouse, France (first place, Aeronautics and Space).

2012  Mount Kaspiy. The Contemporary Art of Dagestan, First Gallery, Dagestan (mobile exhibition project)

2011 Touch, First Gallery, Dagestan - solo show; Untitled (Native Foreigners), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia.

Taus Makhacheva was born in 1983, in Moscow, Russia. She lives and works in Makhachkala, Russia.

Selected exhibitions since 2009:

2016  Museum ON/ OFF, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; 11th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai; winner of the Kandinsky Prize, Russia

2015 (In)sidenotes, Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala, Sweden- solo show; 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia; winner of the Moscow Biennale Art Foundation Prize, Russia; Too Early, Too Late. Middle East and Modernity, curated by Marco Scotini, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Bologna

2014 A Walk, A Dance, A Ritual, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany – solo show; Untitled... (Native Foreigners), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia; winner of the Future of Europe Prize, Germany

2013 History Demands to be Continued, Union of Artists Exhibition Hall, Makhachkala, Russia – solo show; 11th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE

2012  7th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, U.K.

2011 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia; Affirmative Action (mimesis), curated by Marco Scotini, Laura Bulian Gallery, Milan, Italy –solo show; winner of the Innovation Prize 2011

2010   History of Russian Video Art, Volume 3, curated by Antonio Geusa, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia; Affirmative Actions, curated by Alexey Maslyaev, Panopticon Inutero, Moscow, Russia;

Zones of Estrangement, curated by Marina Fomenko, Land of Tomorrow, Lexington, USA; Time, Forward?, curated by Arseniy Zhilyaev, Souz factory, Moscow, Russia; Intimate Capital, II Moscow international biennale for young art Qui Vive? Proekt_Fabrika, Moscow, Russia

2009   Aluminium, curated by Leyla Akhundzadeh, 4 International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Baku, Azerbaijan; Duration: London, Candid Arts Trust, London, UK; Let me think!, curated by Stanislav Shuripa, Red October factory, 3 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, parallel program, Moscow, Russia; Really?, curated by Alexander Sokolov, Artplay, 3 Moscow biennale of contemporary art, parallel program, Moscow, Russia; Topography of happiness: Russian wedding end of XIX – beginning of XXI century, curated by Olga Sosnina, State Museum Tsaritsino, Moscow, Russia; My love My friends, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia; We will take the lead from now on, Voronezh centre for contemporary arts, Voronezh, Russia; Art of young artists, Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts, Makhachkala, Russia

Koka Ramishvili was born in 1956, in Tbilisi, Georgia. He lives and works in Geneva, Switzerland.

Selected exhibitions since 2009:

2016 Independent Organism II, Häusler Contemporary Zürich, Switzerland – solo show

2015 Aeroland, Galerie Laurence Bernard, Geneva, Switzerland – solo show

2014 Radiance, Häusler Contemporary Zürich, Switzerland – solo show; Echolot, Stiftung Binz39, Zürich, Switzerland; Prix de la Fondation Irène Reymond, Lausanne, Switzerland; Bourse d’aide à la création, Ville de Genéve, Geneva, Switzerland

2013 Perforated Screen, Artra Galery, Milano, Italy– solo show; Temperamente auf Papier II, Häusler Contemporary Zürich, Switzerland; Trait Papier II, CCA, Yverdon, Switzerland; The Collection as a Character, M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium

2012 (HN+SPK)/FMAC=excerpt-fragments d'une collection, Fédération des associations d'artistes en lien avec les arts visuels, Geneva, Switzerland;  Migrasophia, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE; A Window on the World, Museo Cantonale d’Arte and Museo d’Arte, Lugano, Switzerland – solo show

2011 Back to the future, Mitterand+Sanz, Zurich, Switzerland; To see The Dimensions, Konsthalle, Lund, Sweden – solo show

2010 Teaching Photography, Museum Folkwang Essen, Germany; Lonely at the Top #4, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

2009 53nd International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

Life from my window 

Curated by Andrey Misiano

Opening October 19^th 2017, 6.30 pm

Artists:Babi Badalov, Lusine Djanyan, Aslan Gaisumov, Musay Gaivoronskiy, Taus Makhacheva, Koka Ramishvili

From October 19^th 2017 to January 26^th 2018

At Laura Bulian Gallery, via Piranesi 10, 20137 Milan