Lecture by Andrey Velikanov: Nikolay Nosov, The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends. // Utopia and Dystopia.

Date

Schedule

17:00–19:00

Place

Garage Education Center

DESCRIPTION

The lecture is structured around the theme of the prophetic power of Nikolay Nosov’s fairytale novels.

Utopian ideas initially emerged in philosophy, literature, and art before reaching everyday life. A number of attempts to build an ideal utopian state ended up with multiple tragedies and victims. Since the mid-twentieth century, utopia has been extremely popular as a literary genre, describing the type of social policy leading to an undesirable, bleak, and horrifying future, while also warning the reader against and defending them from such careless strategies. The surprising thing is that philosophical and literary utopias are being realized in reality. Nikolay Nosov’s books were written for children and can hardly be considered communist utopias, or capitalist dystopias. A spoof of sorts, perhaps. However, Nosov had ingeniously predicted many of the features of modern Russia. Is our life an invention of the author? And where, we have to question, is the borderline between reality and fiction?

ABOUT THE LECTURER

Andrey Velikanov is a philosopher, art theorist, and artist. His publications on art and cultural theory include Am I a Trembling Simulacrum, or Do I Have the Right? (NLO, 2007). He has taught at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russian State University for the Humanities, UNIC Institute, Wordshop Communications Academy, Moscow 1905 Art Academy, MediaArtLab Open School, Center of Avant-Garde at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, and Free Workshops Art School, and regularly gives talks and takes part in discussions at various venues. He is also a recipient of several media art awards and prizes including Ostranenie (Germany), DADANET (Russia), Art on the Net (Japan), TrashArt (Russia), Southwest Interactive Festival (U.S.A.), and Split (Croatia).

HOW TO TAKE PART

Free admission