Myth as narrative form in contemporary Russian art

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Viola Hildebrand-Schat
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 457323374

Myth as a conceptual form of contemporary art will be examined using Russian art as an example. The motives that motivate artists to create their own myths in different places and under different conditions will be shown. Beyond individual disposition, socio-political as well as technological-media conditions are to be assumed as prerequisites for the creation of myths. Last but not least, in connection with information and communication technologies, phenomena occur which inseparably merge reality and fiction. Parallel and illusory worlds or fake news are some manifestations of border dissolution. The crossing and dissolution of borders reflect in a similar way the myths of the artist's own work that are at our disposal. The aim here is to examine to what extent the myths can be read as a reaction to the new phenomena - in accordance with what Schmidt said for the digital samizdat - and to what extent they are located in a tradition that can be traced back to the non-conformist art of the Soviet era via a phenomenon that can be described as a flight from reality or escapism, or even beyond that to the utopias of the avant-garde of the late 19th and the first decades of the 20th century.The question that follows concerns the specificity of the myth in a contemporary context, since intermediality references that combine written and sign language with pictorial forms are currently becoming conspicuous. The linking of medially differentiated forms of expression leads to specific objects that can expand into space-consuming installations. Corresponding with the medial crossing of boundaries is the dazzling role that artists play within the cosmos they conceive. That of the collector, the archivist or the archaeologist only insufficiently outlines the artistic self-location. No less striking is the materiality linked to the myths inherent in the artist's own work. Another aspect of the investigation into the significance of myth as a narrative of contemporary art will be the role of the language of the material and the symbolism inherent in the material in the constitution of the artist's own myths.The objects of investigation are 1) the new edition of the myth and myth-characterizing qualities as a narrative of contemporary art creation in the Russian context, 2) its conceptual and material transformation, thus a material specificity supporting the mythical narrative, 3) the prerequisites and points of reference of contemporary concepts in forms of writing and art of the late 19th and 20th centuries, and 4) similarities and differences of mythization in Russian and international art creation, from which explanatory modes of myth formation in art are derived.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants