Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich: My Water is Your Water

In Russia there is a saying that goes: “Don’t spit into the draw-well.” Russians have a special relationship with water. They believe that water can be “dead” or “alive” that water can kill, or have the power to heal. As in Brazil, where we have holy water, in Russia the Orthodox churches offer blessed water to the faithful. The tap water made sacred by way of a religious gesture. People brings this water home in small bottles, using it for drinking, as a medicine, a cleaning spray, or to protect against evil spirits.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

The visitors/participants are invited to go up a staircase to reach the top of the draw-well, build with plywood, a material often used by the artist.

Before venturing up the steps, the visitor will receive a ticket with the following instruction: When reaching the top of the stairs, please spit gently into the draw-well.

Upon reaching the small platform at the top, the visitor will see the artist immersed in the water. Two slender tubes connected to the artist’s nostrils are the only other objects visible. Nude and fragile, in a fetal position, the artist makes subtle movements to one side and the other, lit by a small light.

Art can also be a sacralized object. The presence of the artist in an artwork resignifies it, pluralizing its possibilities and creates a relationship between his/her action and the reaction of the spectator – an experience where contemplation is not enough, one must participate.

At the top of the well, as each visitor sees the artist, he or she will be the only one responsible for his or her attitudes.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich (1976) was born in Moscow, and lives between Moscow, London and São Paulo. A performer, writer, play director and filmmaker, his most recent projects include the performance Hygiene, 2009, at the now defunct Deitch Projects, in New York; My Mouth is a Temple, an installation-performance curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Maria Balshaw (part of the exhibition Marina Abramovic Presents, at Manchester International Festival); and Whose Smell Is This, 2010, a site-specific installation project presented at Volta, in New York.

http://www.fpavlovandreevich.com

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Maria Montero (1974)was born in São Paulo, where she lives and works. A cultural producer and independent curator, she is currently a student of history, criticism and art curatorship at PUC-SP. She holds a degree in art psycotherapy from Goldsmith College, in London. She coordinated the Brazilian version of the Multímidia Sonar art festival at Instituto Tomie Ohtake, in São Paulo; she was a curator for three years at the Galpão of fashion publisher Erika Palomino, presenting various shows by contemporary artists (including the performance of South African artist Steven Cohen). In 2009, along with Lucas Bambozzi, she curated the artist’s residency project RBHA, which brought together ten artists from seven nationalities in a deactivated hotel in downtown São Paulo. In partnership with Franz Manata, she organizes the experimental project Abotoados Pela Manga.