Alyona Larionova
Born in 1988, Moscow Russia
Lives and works in London, United Kingdom
ㅇ Stay in ㅣ 2015
ㅇ Email ㅣalyona.larionova@me.com
Alyona Larionova (Russia, b. 1988) a London based artist earned her BA in Fine Art Photography from London College of Communication in 2010 and her MFA from Slade School of Fine Art in 2013. She has had solo exhibitions at Temnikova & Kasela gallery in Tallinn and Salon Gallery in London and has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including II Moscow International Biennial of Young Art, Prizma Art Space in Istanbul and Mark Wallinger Presents: The Best of Bow Arts at Bermondsey Project Space in London.
ㅇ Works
This Conversation, 2013 (Mixed media installation)
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Moving Together| Like a Flock of Birds, 2014
Moving Together| Like a Flock of Birds, 2014
The Changing Mind of Present, 2014 (HD Video, 8’ 20”)
The Changing Mind of Present, 2014 (HD Video, 8’ 20”)
Alyona Larionova
Alyona Larionova's recent work adapted into the diverse media of video, sculpture, drawing and sound, deals with understanding of today’s thinking through popular and primitive myths, sometimes referring to the nostalgia for a time when both nature and culture were seen as an inseparable one. Her work can be seen as an attempt to force an alternative interpretation of the world, by reconnecting stories and cultures separated by time and space. By layering different temporal strata, she is creating works that blur the boundaries between what is real and what is imaginary.
In her recent works, the artist has been particularly interested in exploring the proximity of the two fields – that of art and archaeology. Nothing of human life is outside the scope of archaeology; the interest lies not in the actual object, but succession of users, its circulation and journey. Like an archaeologist, she finds her fascination not only with what was found, but what was not found – what was brought elsewhere in another part of the itinerary.
At the heart of Larionova's latest film Across Lips is an investigation into the heightened state of immediacy, brought on by the proliferation of the Internet and as a consequence - mind's ability to stretch beyond the limits of human body to access any corners of the universe. It is about this dual feeling of unease and at the very same time excitement about things constantly coming in and out of view, about forgetfulness, about distraction and ideas flying off. By being locked in the moment, the histories and stories we tell are suddenly vulnerable and exposed to the infinite number of edits and rewrites. So once the story starts crumbling, everything else follows.
Part of the film is shot at the Internet Archive, an organisation housed within the walls of a former church with a utopic mission of arresting and archiving the present moment; the other part of the film is shot in another active church, which is also a rehearsal space for a well-known jazz drummer. Both the Internet and jazz improvisation thrive and survive upon the immediacy of experience; both present an alternate way of connecting with questions of infinity and infinity of choice. At the core of any jazz improvisation is a worship of the present moment in the face of having no future – the changing same. Like the internet, it is infinite.
In the film the camera becomes a needle stitching and patching various visual fragments together, treating them as something physical and material, creating meaning as it goes along. The back and forth movements of the ‘needle-camera’ guided by the beat propose a storytelling that rests so heavily on the immediacy of experience and improvisation, that it becomes stress-free.
