"Only dead is not discussed"

On the eve of Victory Day, the Krasnoyarsk artist Vasily Elephants presented his new project - "Supersisian identity". Those who managed to get acquainted with the project came up with a simpler name - "cotton bears".

According to the elephants himself, the "bears" is the continuation of its famous "cotton series." Vata, he believes, the best material to convey all the features of the Russian soul:

Victory Day is my favorite holiday since childhood, I love it more than even the New Year. But for me, war is crippled people. And this is also the price of victory

- Vata - supple, warm. And in order to warm up to her, no one needs to kill anyone. It is clean and environmentally friendly - it is not in vain used in surgical operations. And at the same time, cotton wool is a filter that absorbs different sewage. Vata can be fiery. And the quilted jacket is a dress code of Russian civilization, eternal fashion. A symbol that is used, in particular, with a cinema, both our and Western. This, one might say, is the intersection of myth and reality.

In recent years, elephants have made several projects of his cotton series: "Watniks of the Apocalypse" , cotton wool and even a cotton zhdun . And so, Vata and another indisputable national symbol - the bear - met in the new project of Ilekunov. So "cotton bears" is not just an art project, says an artist, but a symbol in a square, the same "Supersian identity".

Vasily Elephants presented the new project on the eve of Victory Day. On May 8, at a press conference, he showed cotton bears-veterans, war disabled people.

The artist devoted his project to Viktor Astafyev and his novel “Cursed and killed”, the victory over fascism and veterans and disabled people of all wars. And on the Internet, disputes are already flareing on whether it is permissible in this form to talk about the war, to “reward” cotton toys with orders. And, in general, the majority of the debaters agree that the scandal around the project is inevitable.

-Vasily, it is true that many media have refused to participate in a press conference when they found out what exactly would be on it?

- About the media - yes, really. Ninety percent was returned. There were publications in which they immediately advised me not to poke my nose. This, of course, is pro -government media. In others, they did not want to contact a similar topic. They told me: why are you soared, make a presentation immediately in some kind of artistic space, why do you need a press conference? But I wanted to do everything right. The artists are already treated as clowns, and the presentation in the gallery would look like a funny that does not mean entertainment. And I need a serious approach. Moreover, I imagine not so much an art project as a kind of discovery, and in this case I consider myself not an artist, but by the discoverer of the "Supersian identity". By the way, the project is completely non -profit. I know how to make money in other ways, and this is such my special buzz. Although in general he should have a huge capitalization, and if some people suddenly decide to earn money on him, sew, for example, such bears-for God's sake. I will not apply any copy of the opening. And then, a meeting with journalists is like a trip to the registry office: they gave birth to a child, registered, and they will raise him.

- cotton bears - where are they from? How did the idea itself appear?

- At one time, around 2010, I read an article in which sociologists reasoned that if the nation does not give birth to new toys, this is evidence of its stagnation. And in order to find out the future of the nation, you need to look at what children play in toys. Of course, these are too global conclusions. But now I stumbled about this opinion, I thought: indeed, over the last century, the Russian nation has not created new toys. I mean, such a scale as, for example, a nesting doll that has become a symbol of Russia. Once in the last hundred years, in our country there was no up to the younger generation, all the forces went to another. Well, yes, different characters appeared, Cheburashka, for example. But Cheburashka is an alien (not to mention different lunts, pounds, mixariks that appeared after perestroika), through him it is impossible to identify the Russian world, the Russian soul.

Another thing is a cotton bear. There is no such sphere of Russian life in which this hero could not be placed. Today I did not present the author’s toy - this is a symbol of Russia, describing what has happened in it for the past 100 years. I have been doing different bears for five years. I have bears-cosmonauts, bears-the sectors of the Gulag with tattoos, bears-alcoholics in T-shirts ...

- ... bears - disabled people and veterans ...

- The war has many sides. I met the war like this. In our village were so strange, in my childish look, people who moved not on their feet, but on carts or were without one leg, without a hand, blind. They later explained to me that these are disabled people. For me, these people became her face. Any war has been looking for me since then - be it the Great Patriotic War, Afghanistan, Syria. Now in our country there is a sacralization of victory - and this, in my opinion, is a very dangerous phenomenon. To some extent, power can be understood: our society hurts, disparate, and victory is almost the only point at which society can be “collected” and united. But how it is done ... Victory Day is my favorite holiday since childhood, I love him more than even the New Year. But for me, war is crippled people. And this is also the price of victory ...

I will not spread about the attitude to the disabled in our country - everyone knows cases when they were taken away from sight to hell for a “beautiful picture”.

And the bears are designed to illustrate our reality in all its manifestations, that's all. Realistic ideas in people about the war, empathy - these are the purpose of the project.

- What reaction to your work do you expect? In my opinion, it is almost guaranteed to wait for statements from all kinds of "offended" ...

Veterans who won that war, especially, are unlikely to be offended. Worthy people who know their own price are never offended

“I don't know what reaction will be.” It is impossible to predict it, it is impossible to manage it. For me personally, this is an exceptional joy - to be involved in this story, that's all. And if any negative opinions go ... Well, this is evidence that it has life, not rotten. Only dead is not discussed. All living things are controversial.

As for the "insulted"-in my opinion, there is definitely nothing to be offended. In general, I can hardly represent a person in our country who, being in his right mind, decided to insult veterans. And the veterans who won that war, all the more, are unlikely to be offended. Worthy people who know their own price are never offended.

Yes, they immediately told me that the project would insult someone. But recently, Nikita Mikhalkov spoke angrily in his program about some film: "Would you like your children to watch it?" That is, if children can be watched, then this is an indicator of a certain legitimacy of the work. But the whole culture cannot be made with an eye on children's consciousness ... So here: someone or not is offended-this is not a criterion in art at all.

- Will there be a large exhibition of cotton bears?

- I think the exhibition will be held in November or in December - and there will be a lot of cotton bears, very different. Where exactly - I don’t know yet. In fact, this project was easier for me to advance somewhere in Moscow. But I believe that a cotton bear had to be born in Siberia-here, in the region of exiles, in the core of popular suffering. And where will he then find it out, what he will go to the cities - this is already a technology.

In general, the world of a cotton bear - it can be limitless. Like, for example (if we are talking about toys), the world of Barbie dolls, something new is constantly introduced into it. So and here: can appear, for example, a jangle of a new style. Or a wheelchair trolley is not like that on which the bear is sitting now, but more comfortable and comfortable ...