2023, GES-2 House of Culture
Curators: Anna Ilchenko & Andrey Parshikov
Artists: Arkady Nasonov & the Cloud Commission group, Polina Abina & Alexey Sebyakin
Architect: Sasha Kim
Producers: Alisa Kekelidze, Dmitry Ryabkov
Technical production: Aleksandr Dolmatov, Artem Kanifatov, Pavel Luzhin
Photographer: Varvara Toplennikova

The exhibition explores the theme of archiving and showcases works by the Cloud Commission group, established in 1992 by Arkady Nasonov, alongside contemporary CGI duo of Polina Abina and Alexei Sebyakin. While the Cloud Commission group focuses on Soviet heritage depicted in celestial and bureaucratic chancellery images, contemporary artists are interested in storing big data and digital footprints. Designed to reflect this generational divide, the exhibition offers two equally important areas in the form of analogue and digital archives.

The analogue archive features Cloud Commission’s canvases exhibited on industrial shelving units used in actual museum storages. To intensify the archive experience, Cloud Commission's works lack traditional exhibition labels — the audience is supposed to navigate through the show by studying the exhibition catalogue.

The digital archive is formed by two long galleries, where visitors are offered a number of screens displaying works by Polina Abina and Alexei Sebyakin and an immersive VR experience in absolute darkness. The minimalist screen space is partially covered in shiny black paint to reflect the video art and the canvases of Cloud Commission when viewed from a certain angle. In this way, the analogue reality dissolves and reflects in the digital one.

Despite differences in approaches and mediums, both archives are rationally and sensibly organised. Their spaces are furnished with pieces found on-site and re-purposed to fit the exhibition's needs — examples include refurbished tables of the analogue archive and customly upholstered black seats in VR area. After the exhibition, GES-2 also took over the shelving units to minimise architectural waste.