42 is a series of masterclasses and conversations about today. Artists will invite you to look at the artistic process from within, to analyze artworks together, and/or to express yourself through co-authorship.
42 will run until the end of 2023. The aim is to create a diary that notes the condition and issues of artists and viewers throughout the duration of the project.
The idea for the meetings arose from the impossibility of organizing the usual institutional artistic production, which was based on the international context and a lack of difficulty with logistics and long-term planning. It also came from gratitude and a desire to recognize those who continue to create and remain close. In addition, moving through the calendar, which no one can claim as exclusively theirs, is therapeutic in its sequentiality.
The urge to observe and record determined the methodology of the project. It is maximally simple and deliberately includes an element of momentariness. Any artist can take part, whether they are well-known or at the beginning of their career. All of the artists are living and working in Russia when the meetings take place and that they share the observational, descriptive, and discursive mode of the project: finding value in meeting with the Other, the audience, and seeing the transfer of creative skills as a resource. The meeting format, be it practical or contemplative and discursive, is up to the artist.
The concluding event on December 23 will involve a presentation created from the diary, which will be published online.