Fate

Association 'M'ARS': Konstantin Khudyakov's Project 'Hotel Russia' The project was prepared by the 'M'ARS' Association Konstantin Khudyakov About the artist: Today, Konstantin Khudyakov's work can be seen as a triumph of digital aesthetics. Many avant-garde movements in 20th-century art owe their emergence to new media. 'Digital painting', which appeared in the 1950s, was initially more automated graphics with random combinations of numbers and simple images, and its randomness was a hallmark of the creative potential of the engine seeking collaboration with humans. As an avant-garde creative practice focused on the still-relevant issue of artificial intelligence, digital painting long remained an elitist art. By the 1970s, experiments with digital technologies were firmly established in artistic practice. When artists began creating alien monsters for spectacular scenes in sci-fi movies and video games, avant-garde digital art turned into kitsch. During this period, Konstantin Khudyakov, always following new trends, turned to digital art. It is likely that the artist discovered digital painting through modeling. In this case, it is important to note his previous experience in architecture. Computer graphics, which help simulate reality, are now replacing drawing and becoming an indispensable tool for architects. The avant-garde futuristic pathos in Khudyakov’s art perfectly aligns with the visual aesthetics of the digital myth. Khudyakov is, in a sense, a visionary artist who predicted digital totalitarianism and the subjugation of reality by the glossy aesthetics of gadgets and massive advertising structures consuming urban space. His work from the Museum of Contemporary Art 'Erarta' titled 'Farewell of Slavianka' is part of his large-scale project 'Hotel Russia', dedicated to the aesthetics of Soviet totalitarianism and the utopian idea of human perfection through cloning and genetic engineering. The digital world in his art, with its references to Soviet mythical innocence and kitsch, is always combined with fragments of exaggeratedly distorted reality. The author himself calls his 'Hotel Russia' series a truly Russian digital Kunstkamera. The conceptual 'screenshots' of Khudyakov's fantasies, in which fragments of familiar reality pierce through glossy digital effects, reflect on the relationship between the real and the virtual. Biography Born on January 2, 1945, in the village of Tsarevshchina, Saratov Region. Since 1971 — chief artist of the Central Lenin Museum in Moscow. Since 1984 — Honored Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR. In 1988, founded the 'M'ARS' Gallery. In 2005, received the Silver award in the 'Portrait of the Year' category at the LEAD AWARDS 2005 in Hamburg, Germany. Chairman of the Center for Contemporary Art 'M'ARS'. Lives and works in Moscow. Education In 1971, graduated from the Faculty of Industrial Design of the Moscow Institute of Architecture. Graduated with honors; diploma thesis: 'Concept of the City of the Future'. Projects 1972–1974 — Development and implementation of the reconstruction project for the main exhibition halls of the Central Lenin Museum 1974 — Design of the Soviet pavilion at the 'Unita' newspaper festival in Bologna, Italy 1975–1980 — Design of more than 100 exhibitions of the Lenin Museum in the USSR and abroad (Switzerland, Finland, GDR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Vietnam, Cuba, Bulgaria, Yemen, France) 1980–1987 — Design of branches of the Lenin Museum in Frunze (Bishkek), Kyrgyzstan, Kuybyshev (Samara) 1985–1987 — Work on the architectural concept for the reconstruction of the Central Lenin Museum in Moscow 1988–present — Chairman of the Board of the 'M'ARS' Contemporary Art Gallery Solo exhibitions 1986 — Solo exhibition, Zelenograd, Moscow 1987 — Solo exhibition, Exhibition Center on Kremenchugskaya Street, Moscow 2004 — 'Deesis', State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 2005 — 'New Russian Font', M'ARS Contemporary Art Gallery, Moscow 2006 — 'Hotel Russia', M'ARS Contemporary Art Gallery, Moscow 2009 — 'Deesis', Dimitrovgrad Cultural Center; Lenin Memorial Complex in Ulyanovsk; Historical and Architectural Reserve in Usolye, Perm Region 2010 — 'High Resolution Art', Museum of Contemporary Art of the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow 2011 — Solo exhibition, Mimi-Ferzt Gallery, New York, USA 2011 — Solo exhibition, Care-Dore Gallery, Monaco 2012 — 'Konstantin Khudyakov. High Resolution Art', Exhibition Halls of the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow 2013 — 'The Last Supper' as part of the 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow State Stroganov Academy of Design and Applied Arts, Moscow 2014 — 'Number and Myth', Museum of Contemporary Art 'Erarta'