Sergey Kishchenko is an interdisciplinary artist hailing from Stavropol and currently based in Moscow. With a background in theatre and science of culture, he works with a wide range of media from performance to installation and large-scale research projects. In his practice, Kishchenko explores the contemporary mythological environment and cultural symbols. He sees his works not as a result but as a part of the continuous process of global intercultural communication. His works have been shown in many galleries and museums in Russia and Europe.
Recommended by Khristina Ots
Duck Test No. 4 (Cherry), 2014–2020. This video installation sees a man dressed as a duck wander amidst the industrial ruins to the text of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard
Duck Test No. 4 (Cherry), 2014–2020. Here, the tale of the destruction of the past era is set at the ZIL car plant, once the largest in Russia; it was also where where Kishchenko tried to start a business and later had a studio
Duck Test No. 4 (Cherry), 2014–2020. For Kishchenko, the Duck Test (“if something looks like a duck…”) is a test for humanism on the one hand, and a way to understand his own artistic method, on the other
Observation Journal, 2014-2017. In this large project, Kishchenko studies the tragic fate of botanist and geneticist Nikolay Vavilov, a victim of Stalin’s purge, and the history of the seed collection of the Soviet Plant Research Institute where he worked
Observation Journal, 2014-2017. The Institute’s seed collection was heroically saved by the scientists during the Siege of Leningrad
Observation Journal, 2014-2017. In other occupied territories, some of the seeds that the researchers had collected were seized by the Nazis. Those later became the basis for the experimental crops of the SS Institute of Plant Genetics in Austria
Observation Journal, 2014-2017. The project deals with complicated and tumultuous history of the 20th century in Russia and Europe, and its impact both on individual lives and on culture in general
Observation Journal, 2014-2017. The project was exhibited at multiple venues, including the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry in 2017
Observation Journal, 2014-2017. Exhibition at the Lenin Library, 2018
The Temple of Venus, 2019, for Garage MCA. In this project, Kishchenko brings together ideas of Giulio Camillo, aesthetics of Andrey Tarkovsky, ancient images, and his own long-term research of fertility cult
The Temple of Venus, 2019. Here, Paleolithic figurines of goddess Venus found in different regions meet each other: among them are Venus of Bryansk, Venus of Yeliseevichi, Venus of Khotylev, Venus of Savignano
The Temple of Venus, 2019. Another important part of the work is a group of scaled-up “hyperdocumentary” photographs of seeds, grains, and their ancestors, such as wheat, rye, oat, barley, and aegilops
