CLOUD OF UNKNOWN. Installation: print on banner, sound, photo, video. 2018
The Moscow State Vadim Sidur Museum. Moscow, Russia.

In an artist’s life sooner or later there can be such a moment when she is not able to independently satisfy the increasing demand for the product of her activity and has to turn for help to assistants. History usually erases the names and faces of the co-creators standing behind the works of famous masters. In rare cases, when experts cannot attribute the work to a particular artist, the museum explications remind us of the existence of nameless in a generalized form. The striking similarity between the works of a master and his apprentices best illustrates the tradition of the workshop production as a way to pass on the experience from one generation to the other. However, the displacement of manual labor by machines, continuous lowering of requirements for an object of art, and complications with establishing criteria for art’s evaluation have significantly blurred the boundaries between a professional and the amateurs.
Today, an initiator of an art process should be, first of all, well informed and able to use her knowledge of trends and ways to use appropriate medium to fill exhibition spaces with up-to-date statements. The more participants will be involved in her projects, provide her with necessary information, and perform instead of her self-set tasks, the less the artist’s presence will be needed in the process of production. The more projects she will be able to implement, the higher her ratings, and therefore the more significant her works will become for the contemporaneity, and the more likely it will be to have a long and successful professional career.
The Cloud of Unknown mobile application will help everyone to become an initiator of an art process and to optimize one’s results by attracting and using the labor of anonymous participants. It works on the principle of mutual assistance (similar to Airbnb or Uber) and will allow everybody to become a contributor to an art process, a creative agent. The Cloud of Unknown has no user restrictions. The app is designed both for professional use in educational or commercial fields and for practices where art is regarded as pastime with no set, finalized result.

CURATORS:
Victor Belozerov
Maria Korchagina
Inga Kurilova
Anastasia Manuilova
Victoria Rovnova
Julietta Sarkisyan
Svetlana Sulaeva