Continuing the series of publications within the framework of the discussion program “The Sinister Quarter and So On” - the title refers to the text by Ivan Shcheglov - we are publishing a conversation between Marina Israilova (M.I.), Egor Rogalev (E.R.) (working group of the “Assembly”) and researcher Ivan Onosov (I.O.) with the poet Alexander Skidan (A.S.).

The debut book “The Grayness of the Ocean” by the poet and musician Dmitry Trushkin has long been awaited by fans of the group “Cremation of Boniface,” which the author founded in his hometown of Vladimir in 2009. It’s a rare excerpt for a graduate of the poetry seminar at the Literary Institute to frame words in hardcover only ten years later, previously limiting himself only to the page of the same name on a popular social network.

Contemporary art for most seems to be a mysterious world, separate from everyday reality, which only a few can understand. Pile of difficult-to-understand images and ideas, eccentric characters and even more complex explanations or lack thereof. Is contemporary art as complicated as it seems at first glance?

Is it necessary today, in 2020, to write seriously about Generation “P”, bearing in mind both Pelevin’s novel and the generation itself, because, as the writer Bykov, who belongs to the “P” generation, seems to have noted: Pelevin’s book is not one of those by which one can comprehend the 90s? But what else can we do today, seriously, during a sluggish quarantine, if not understanding the 80s, 90s, in general, how we got to such a life.

on my thighs Some child sitting in the darkness I decided to draw red tulips Here's a big scarlet spot With radiating cracks He's not very good at drawing He's only trying Sculpts with a brush Drop by drop So I pulled I smeared it with a large stroke from the crotch Now there are two prints Identical Butterfly wings Purple and light On the heavy meat of my leg The child has no other paint Here is a crimson tulip with its stem flowing downwards Not the direct way And rushing, now to one, then to

The wolf who hangs out with dogs thinks cats are sheep. *** A hungry shepherd is worse than a wolf. *** Even a sheep will say a word when they eat a wolf. *** How can you tell if the trail is the right one until you reach the end of the trail? - the dog asked the wolf “You will never comprehend this, because you are not a wolf.” - answered her wild brother. *** Wolves howl at the moon because they smell the chicken coop there. *** The black sheep thinks he's a tiger until the wolf spits on him.

It is no secret that contemporary art is a subject of interest to a limited circle of people, and an even more limited circle understands it. And although art cannot exist completely without an audience, it also does not need the broad masses. On the contrary, it is beneficial for modern art to maintain an atmosphere of mystery and incomprehensibility around itself, thereby asserting its otherness in the eyes of the average person.