Corner

Vyacheslav Akhunov and Sergey Tichina have collaborated on video works since 2000. The two conceive the works together. Then Akhunov using a hand-held camera, records Tichina performing simple acts that are intended as philosophic parables.

Corner

The historic architecture of Uzbekistan plays an important role in Corner. Tichina wearing Muslim headdress recites a namas or prayer standing in the corners of a wide variety of buildings, both secular and religious. Julia Sorokina notes that by not turning “towards Mecca as required by the rules of Islam”, but rather choosing to pray in corners, he is “completely focusing on himself. The corner becomes an iconographical motif of a sacred place, where spiritual quest and reality cross. Should it be a mosque, a museum, or an office, the type of building or space makes no difference.”

The artists write:

“The aim of the video is to show how human beings strive to gain individuality, mental space and authenticity in the epoch of the individual's 'effacement' in favour of the public body. It is as if the corners endured by the human being underline the correlation between the spiritual quest and existence in a reality determined by the sharp edges of corners of misunderstanding. In other words, this is the problem of being in demand and simultaneously paying attention.”

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