A 5-hour live endurance performance
Gazelli Art House, London
February 15, 2018
Performed: 5 hours
Commissioned by Gazelli Art House
With: Mila Askarova, Federica Marino, Alyona Mikhalkina, Rafal Pajak, Nazrin Ibadova, Alexandra Mtaini
Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich Studio: Anna Shpilko (director), Alexandra Velichko (co-ordinator), Katya Petrova (assistant)
Photos: Scott Mains, Thierry Ball, Roslyn Sulcas, Oxana Smirnova, Yulia Filipovscaia, Lyuba Galkina, Layla Alexandra-Garrett
Temporary Monument N0 is the first-ever work by Pavlov-Andreevich to capture socio-political momentum through the medium of long durational performance. In an attempt to exterminate LGBT people in the region, Chechen authorities have applied the most draconian methods imaginable.
This five-hour durational live piece by Pavlov-Andreevich reflects the pain and the suffering that they cause. The artist’s body is wrapped in a rug that reminds spectators of both Muslim prayer rituals and Chechen funeral ceremonies. His body is then suspended on the second floor level from the outside wall of Gazelli Art House’s building in London Mayfair, for five excruciating hours.
Audience members were able to see the rug covering the artist’s body and his head sticking out of the rug, left with no physical support. Unable to relax his neck, the artist will suffer a great deal during the performance; however, his pain will be of little significance compared to the torture and severe violence experienced by victims of the anti-LGBT campaign in Chechnya (the same campaign targets witches, drug addicts, and political dissidents). The suspects are kept (and often executed) at a secret prison in Chechnya, described by those who have managed to escape as equivalent to a Nazi concentration camp.
The performance was seen by both passers-by on Dover St as well as friends and visitors to the gallery, who were invited to be eyewitnesses of the live work. Gallery guests had the opportunity to purchase limited-edition prints of a photographic work by the artist, with 100% of the proceeds going to cover the expenses of the Russian LGBT Network, a Saint Petersburg-based charity that has organized the evacuation of gay individuals persecuted by the Chechen police since March 2017.
