Globalization appears to be a major world process at the moment. It is also clear that these ongoing processes and changes bring forth a number of unhealthy Symptoms in a society. Today many sociologists and psychologists speak about changes occurring in fundamental bases of human personality; in particular, we can observe the slow but sure demise of the concept of Native Land. It is
influenced by a transparency of borders, new means of communications, and even by the disappearance of National currencies. Today the Native Land concept has new features, which are different from traditional, National, and geographic paradigms. Moreover, the full disappearance of the Native Land Idea can have a strong traumatic aftermath both for individuals, and for society. In this Situation the Artist's mission is to step forward with the question: What is the Native Land today? And the answer can also sound like this: the Native Land is Me.
The project is dedicated to the problem of cultures’ interaction, the efficacy and the adequacy of communication between West and East. At the base of the
globalist myth lies the idea of the possibility of all humanity merging in a kind of total communication. Although this myth is quite attractive it should be a subject for serious criticism. It’s obvious that in the Other we see, first of all, ourselves, and the culture, in spite of the common opinion, is inclined to be more of an obstacle than a mediator in communication. The video presents a string quartet performing Beethoven’s quartet #4 op.18 and while phonogram plays Shostakovitch’s quartet #8. The disparity between sound and image illustrates the idea of tragic impossibility of cultural language translation and of an adequate understanding between cultures, peoples, and individuals.

Valeriy Ayzenberg (1947), Anton Litvin (1967), Bogdan Mamonov (1964), Liza Morozova (1973)

www.escapeprogram.ru

Selected exhibitions: 2002: MAK, Vienna; Davaj! New Russian Art, Postfuramt, Berlin; XI.IX, L-Gallery, Moscow; Moscow International Forum of Art Initiatives, Novy Manege, Moscow; 2001: Moscow International Forum of Art Initiatives, Novy Manege, Moscow; 2000: Liza and the Dead, ESCAPE, Moscow.