Artist: Dmitri Prigov

Curator: Dimitri Ozerkov

Venue: Universita Ca’ Foscari, Dorsoduro 3246 (Calle Foscari)

Challenging the viewer from the moment they step through the dark curtains, this exhibition by Dmitri Prigov thrusts the viewer into a tense, threatening environment. Initially faced by a shrouded man banging on a manuscript and shouting in Russian, we are however acutely aware that the sounds around us are not solely accounted for by this image. Our curiosity grows, and as we step through the second set of curtains we are faced by what appears to be the true(r) source of the aggressive noises, as two men sit in chairs shouting at one another. But once again, we do not have the ‘full’ story. Casting our glances back over the forbidding curtains behind us, we move forward to continue this tense experience with the third man, who retells a story in an increasingly emphatic tone.

While this corridor of tension is intriguing, despite all attempt to linger and watch the entire sequence, it is hard to remain within the curtains for any length of time. Instead, one longs for the white space beyond the final projection. And yet even on escaping this channelled aggression, the graphic drawings and installations of Prigov are infected with the tension and anger embodied in the initial videos. While both absurd and at times disconcerting images, the noise that resonates through this exhibition, as well as our memory of the initial projections feeds into the graphic works, with sight, concealment and above all discomfort coming to the fore as the major themes expressed in Dmitri Prigov.

Jennifer Owen