“These people are sick…”

15 11 2017

The border war in eastern Ukraine is, it turns out, also about art. Or so this video (below) suggests.

It was made in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, after its military occupation by the separatist “Donetsk People’s Republic” a few years ago. The first interviewee is Leonid Baranov, head of a special committee that lodged itself on the premises of Donetsk’s Izolyatsia Art Center after its takeover by pro-Russian separatist fighters. The building housing the non-profit art center had previously been an insulating materials factory.

Baranov decries the art of the center and vigorously defends the DPR’s occupation of it:

“They say it’s been almost a world art center which we have seized. Considering what kind of art they have shown here, this Center had to be occupied… This is not art and it cannot be art. These people are sick… We could only oust these sick and foul people from the factory’s territory… This has nothing to do with anything lofty or sublime, with anything Slavic. These people hate everything Slavic, everything Russian.”

The images he shows are from a catalogue of Boris Mikhailov’s photography. (More on Mikhailov below.) When probed a little further to show more of the art he finds objectionable, Baranov wizens up and says, “No, you must cut this off now. I don’t know what kind of montage you will do with what kind of commentary, and I will be seen on screen holding this crap in my hands.”

He then questions the “Russian Forbes” magazine, which his interviewer and photographer have told him they work for. “Forbes cannot be Russian,” he argues. “This is a similar grant-eating organization as the one that used to be here. So as we’ve banished one organization, another one has arrived (odnikh vygnialy, drugi priyekhali). I am sure you will montage everything in a very interesting way.”

Back to the art, he says, “I won’t be able to clean my hands from this for a hundred years.” “These people,” he continues, “messed with our young people’s heads. Our young people should grow, get married, have children, and generally multiply exponentially the population of our republic. It’s logical that we’ve taken measured to throw this so-called art to the garbage bin.”

He then repeats this accusation that the artists have “brainwashed our youth”: “Our youth instead of growing, marrying, having children, and getting jobs at normal places of employment, have been degraded. And our population instead of growing is dying out. After we’ve seized power, our people’s power, I hope this process will stop.”

Like every ethnic ultra-nationalist, Baranov aims to cleanse the world of its impurities — its corrupt, cosmopolitan, liberal elites with their “degrading” values, ethnic mixing, homosexuality, pornography, and all the rest.

As for the art itself, Boris Mikhailov is one of the most celebrated photographers from Ukraine (and in fact from the former Soviet Union). His works document the poverty, harshness, and hopelessness of everyday life for homeless citizens in Ukrainian (and other) cities. Given Mikhailov’s international recognition, DPR representative Baranov here is attacking the contemporary art world itself.

For the art world, Mikhailov’s art is about the humanization of the homeless through documenting them in their full, perverse abjection (see the Saatchi Gallery’s Case Histories, for instance). Or it is a cry of rage against the Soviet and post-Soviet condition. Or something like that. It is always also an art commodity — a token by which art connoisseurs solidify their identity as knowers of art and (something like) cultural masters of the world, with enough intelligence and heart to appreciate the world’s problems. 

But Baranov, no less than the artists he rails against, recognizes the power of the image — whether it’s the image of him holding this “pornography” in his hands, or the images of the artists exhibited by Izolyatsia. Baranov states that “you don’t have to be an expert to know” that a “pervert” or a “girl pissing into a bucket” “is not art.”

This debate is, of course, the same debate that pits Trumpists and Christian fundamentalists against coastal U.S. liberals, Putinists and Russia’s Orthodox Church against “homosexual Europe” with its Soros-funded NGO tentacles, Turkey’s Islamists against their secular (ex-)establishment, and the Talibans and Islamic States against the liberal world order.

And Baranov’s views are undoubtedly shared by many of the Poles demonstrating in Warsaw last weekend, and so many other neo- and ultra-nationalists around the world (not to mention some on the pro-Ukrainian side of Ukrainian politics).

His is a fight against global liberalism, which is perceived (rightly or wrongly) to be cynically and brutally victimizing the righteous “real” people of the world.

There’s a communication problem in there somewhere.


Actions

Information

36 responses

22 03 2018
agario games

Brutal.io is from the creator of the successful Wings.io, which could be why it plays so well.

25 03 2018
joel willard

this situation is very common in societies which unfortunately have not taken further steps in democracy. hopefully these societies learn to be respectful to each other as soon as possible and people say good words to each other and protect each other.

30 03 2018
ecarddetails

check it out all aadhar card details online find out here,..

30 03 2018
iquoteshindi

check it out herre for quotes in hindi can check it out here.

30 03 2018
shayari in hindi

shayari in hindi can check it out here for more details online..

30 03 2018
wishes in hindi

find out all awesome collection in hindi

30 03 2018
sms in hindi

find out all awesome sms in hindi can check it out here..

30 03 2018
ishayarihindi

more details online ishayarighindi can check it out here..

30 03 2018
love images

love images download from here..

30 03 2018
good morning wishes

very good morning wishes in hindi check it out here..

30 03 2018
e aadhar card

check it out e aadhar card online find out here..

30 03 2018
soft product key

softwere product key find out here for more details online..

1 04 2018
Kitchy Scramby

I agree that this type of situation happens a lot around the world but we must continue to work hard and try and live together in the harmony.

30 04 2018
Play Agario

This is a great song….I just love it…..

16 07 2018
Coating Mobil Jakarta Utara

whoaaa thats people make me sad

25 07 2018
the8best

These people are sick…

3 08 2018
govt job circular

thanks for your good information

19 08 2018
bestandroidtoroot

dWkopclHZx “These people are sick…” htv 2 firmware download http://gofirmware.com/content/htv-2-firmware-update

20 08 2018
P_S4FIN_1709 Exam Questions

What a amazing post shared here. I really love this website, I would like to say thanks for sharing such great post. I would like to say bundle of thanks for sharing.

28 08 2018
Quicken Support

Why people are thinking so much rude about that topic that you have been posted here. And this article does not motivate to the people who are sick to war, Thanks for the pieces of information that you have been shared here.

28 08 2018
bestandroidtoroot

j2q2ma92vb “These people are sick…” root condor griffe g5 http://bestandroidtoroot.com/post/condor-griffe-g5-phq520-griffe-g5

4 09 2018
gofirmware

BcDSUlp4yr “These people are sick…” root advan 5041 http://bestandroidtoroot.com/post/advan-digital-5041-advan-5041-5041

14 09 2018
yahoo mail sign up

This is not art and it cannot be art.

21 09 2018
vikash

Done man..

6 10 2018
Rathi

You are saying the right thing but some people are in trouble, we should care about them. Technology is the most powerful weapon in this modern world and we should learn about it Here is the Balance check sbi
Thanks

5 11 2018
tempat tidur tingkat

You are saying the right thing but some people are in trouble, we should care about them.

5 11 2018
set kamar anak

Why people are thinking so much rude about that topic that you have been posted here.

30 11 2018
Minions

thank you good post really like.

12 12 2018
Polish Jam Tangan

The border war in eastern Ukraine is, freelancer tips it turns out, also about art. Or so this video (below) suggests.

18 12 2018
showbox apk

Watch free movies by downloading Showbox apk file for your Android

19 12 2018
https://hotmailcorreologin.org/

Thanks for your sharing. Hope you can contribute more quality posts to this page

30 12 2018
RRB Allahabad Group D Result

Thanks for Great info 🙂

30 03 2019
carder

utal.io is from the creator of the successful Wings.io, which could be why it plays so well.

seo services

2 04 2019
membersuper.net

you are really a just right webmaster. The website loading pace is amazing.

It seems that you are doing any unique trick.

Furthermore, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed a wonderful process in this topic!

2 04 2019
jagoanprediksi.com

Great items from you, man. I’ve take into accout your stuff prior to and you are simply extremely wonderful.
I actually like what you’ve bought here, certainly like what you’re saying and the
way in which through which you are saying it.
You make it entertaining and you continue to care for to stay it smart.
I cant wait to read much more from you. This is really a wonderful web site.

25 12 2020
arven like

ridiculous how people treat each other like this

Leave a Reply to RathiCancel reply




Skip to toolbar