Installations
The work with space began with the construction on the canvas, continued with the intention of painting to go into the volume, beyond the canvas, and through the saturated objects of artistic “trash” arrived at the reduction of the objects to the “frame”. It continues in exhibition projects that combine different media and elements.
” The Red Wedge Splintering “, Electrozavod Gallery, Sept. 2023
In the exhibition “Diary of a Moscow Schoolgirl,” the frames were reduced to lines that organize the entire space into a kind of map.
Sound is also part of the installation, as it is in the exhibition “The Color of the Air is Red” at the CСI Factory (May-June 2018).
Polygon
The work with installation in the era of the Polygon Group began with the creation of painting outside the canvas, in the unification of found and artistic objects, and then in the gradual constructive reduction of its elements.
Polygon 4, Central House of Artists, Moscow, installation
by Natalia Smolianskaia, wood, oil, 1994
In many installations from 1990-1991, the work with color is transferred to space and understood as the creation of a color space.
1. Natalia Smolianskaia, “Red Space”, 1990, Polygon, Kashirka, Moscow;
2. Natalia Smolianskaia, “Blue Space #2”, 1991, Polygon – 2, Youth Palace, Moscow;
3. Natalia Smolianskaia, “Blue Space #1”, 1990, Polygon, Kashirka, Moscow
Natalia Smolianskaia, installation at the group exhibition “Metaphysics in Art”, Otso Gallery, Helsinki, Finland, 1991
Beginning with the series of installations “Forest” in 1991, the installations are composed according to the principle of rearranged construction kit elements.
Natalia Smolianskaia, Polygon-2, Youth Palace, Moscow, 1991
1.Natalia Smolianskaya, Polygon-3. Duets, Eastern Gallery, Moscow, 1993;
2.Natalia Smolianskaia, personal exhibition, A-3 Gallery, Moscow, 1993
Natalia Smolianskaia, installation views at the exhibition Polygon – 4, “Monuments on the Polygon”, Central House of Artists, Moscow, 1994
1.Natalia Smolianskaia, installation at the exhibition “Monuments on the Polygon”, Central House of Artists, Moscow, 1994;
2.Natalia Smolianskaia, installation in the studio of Boris Markovnikov, Moscow, 1994
Natalia Smolianskaia, three types of installations from elements of the installation “construction set” at the exhibition in 4 cultural centers in Belgium: Polygon-5, “Transformers”; Strombeek-Bever, Tielt, Kortrijk
Inclusions in everyday life
Experiments with creating space go out into the surrounding everyday life, enter into dialog and/or conflict with this everyday life.
“Forest” and “frames” in front of the workshop, 2003
2003, installations in urban space
The first group exhibition in Podkolokolny Lane, mobile object “Triangle”, participation in a collective installation in the courtyard, curator Dima Filippov, 01.05.2015
Installation and performance
The installation space, which provides for interaction, is transformed into a performance space in projects where the scenography of movement occupies a special place. Three projects have been realized for the solution of the installation and dance space: two in collaboration with the group “Blind” and one with the French-Brazilian dancer Barbara Eliasque.
Performance “Sister”: group “Blind” and Natalia
Smolianskaia, “Phoenix” gallery, Moscow, 1997
The performance “Sister” was realized several times in different spatial solutions. Below are photographs from the first experimental performance in B. Markovnikov’s workshop in 1997. Performer: Anna Kuznetsova; photography: Natalia Smolianskaia
The performance “Crossroads” was shown only once, in 2002 at the Sam Brook Gallery. Performer: Anna Kuznetsova, photography: Kirill Chelushkin.
Installation – interaction
The work with performance has also changed the work with installation space in search of interaction and reduction of elements. In addition, installation space works on the scale of the human body and interaction with it, as well as on smaller scales.
Interaction with moving elements in an installation at the
Frame Break exhibition at Ruarts Gallery, 2011
Paper constructions are installations in a reduced scale, they offer opportunities for experimentation.
An object from the series “Adventures of a Square”: “Exit”. Two-sided fanfold paper, tracing paper, watercolor, ink, strip size 13×24 cm, 2002
The series of paper/cardboard objects “Train” was completed with an installation where many elements are freely dismantled, moved and rearranged from one “pocket” to another.
The Frame Break project is based on the importance of interaction with objects in space. Here, the “supremes” move on magnets, changing the composition, shifting frames and boundaries.
Frame Break, installation at Ruarts Gallery, Moscow, 2011
Mapping
There is a transition from the “frame” – the skeleton of the installation – to the marking of the space. Natalia Smolianskaia calls this transition “mapping”. It is most fully manifested in the project “Diary of a Moscow Schoolgirl”.
Ruarts Gallery Space: The Moscow Schoolgirl’s Diary exhibition.
Photo courtesy of Ruarts Gallery, 2023
The first time a radical rejection of works and mapping of space took place was in the group exhibition “Smoke and Chocolate” in December 2019 (Kozlovskaya, Mironova, Smolianskaia, Filippov). Both the rejection of the works and the mapping were a collective decision.
Mironova, Kozlovskaia, Smolianskaia, Filippov: exhibition “Smoke and Chocolate”, CTI Factory, Moscow, 2019-2020
Total installations
Since 2018, Natalia Smolianskaia’s exhibitions are mainly total installations, that is, all the constituent elements of the exhibition space are combined into a single composition, where one element in itself does not carry a particularly significant semantic load, the main meaning is manifested in the general solution of the space and the objects in it.
Exhibition “The Color of the Air is Red”, CTI Fabrika, artist Natalia
Smolianskaia, curator Dima Filippov, 2018
“The Color of the Air is Red”, CTI Fabrika, 2018
In the exhibition “Diary of a Moscow Schoolgirl”, created at Ruarts Gallery in 2023 in collaboration with curator Dima Filippov, the mapping of the gallery space is combined with a focus on the total installation.
“Diary of a Moscow Schoolgirl”, curated by Dima Filippov, Ruarts Gallery, Moscow, 2023, photographs courtesy of Ruarts Gallery.
The exhibition “The Red Wedge Splintering” is also a site-specific installation, taking into account the nature of the space.
“The Red Wedge Splintering”, Electrozavod Gallery, September 2023