Documentation of the situational performance Omelet

Alexander Lyashko, founder of the photo studio at Borey Gallery and a member of the New Blockheads Cooperative, worked alongside artists, writers, and philosophers who rejected traditional artistic forms—Vadim Flyagin, Igor Panin, Vladimir Kozin, Sergey Spirikhin, Maxim Rayskin, Inga Nagel, and Oleg Khvostov. Inspired by the poetics of the OBERIU group and contemporary philosophy, New Blockheads Cooperative regarded life as a performative practice. Over six years of its existence, the group carried out around 70 performances, many of which were documented by photographer Alexander Lyashko.

Artist and writer Sergey Spirikhin’s performance Fried Eggs was a spontaneous response to the event Burning Vanities, organized on May 23, 1998 by the New Academy of Fine Arts and the newspaper Khudozhestvennaya Volya (Artistic Will), which advocated for the preservation of “cultural ecology.” Marking the 500th anniversary of the execution of Girolamo Savonarola—the monk and preacher of asceticism and moral purification, the action took place at Fort No. 7 in Kronstadt, where participants burned magazines, posters, and artworks under the slogan: “The New Academy calls for the burning of everything worst!”

In response, Spirikhin built a bonfire from stretcher bars and fried eggs with sausages over it. Initially, he planned to stage the performance at the fort itself but, having missed the bus, relocated it to the courtyard of 59 Liteiny Prospekt. The frying pan used in the performance became an ironic reference to the philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda. Spirikhin’s author’s note underscores the philosophical intent of the gesture: “Artists are busy looking for their niche. How foolish. Isn’t it time to learn how to produce one’s selfhood in any space and perspective? This short novella is about that: ‘The world tried to catch Skovoroda but could not.’” According to legend, the philosopher asked that his tombstone bear the inscription: “The world tried to catch me but could not.”