October 20, 8:00 pm
The series of events accompanying the exhibition by Arseny Zhilyaev will be continued by the screening of the first and the second films from Anton Vidokle’s trilogy on Russian cosmism.
This is Cosmos is the first in a trilogy of films by Anton Vidokle, dedicated to the themes of Russian Cosmism, whose influence and manifestations can be felt throughout all fields of scientific and philosophical knowledge, from literature and the fine arts to theology. The first part is connected with the figure of Nikolai Fyodorov, a Russian Orthodox philosopher who authored The Philosophy of the Common Task, a series of articles based on the idea of a literal, physical overcoming of death, including the programmatic resurrection of every one who has ever lived and their gradual resettlement to other planets. According to Fyodorov’s teachings, death is a mistake, “because the energy of the Cosmos is indestructible, because true religion is a cult of ancestors, because true social equality means immortality for all.”
In the second film of the trilogy, The Communist Revolution Was Caused By The Sun, Anton Vidokle continues his research into the questions of immortality at the core of the theories of Russian Cosmism. Shot in Kazakhstan, where the Soviet biophysicist Alexander Chizhevsky was imprisoned and later exiled, the film introduces Сhizhevsky’s legacy, while walking the line between a documentary format and televised hypnosis.
Vidokle’s series of films on the Russian Cosmists, This Is Cosmos (2014) and The Communist Revolution Was Caused By The Sun (2015) have been exhibited and screened internationally at the Shanghai Biennale (2014), Witte de With, Rotterdam, (2015), the 65th and 66th Berlinale International Film Festival, Forum Expanded (2015, 2016), the Moscow Biennale (2015), the Gwangju Biennale (2016) amongst many others.
Before the screening, there will be a skype-conference with Arseny Zhilyaev, who will present the films.
The films are screened in Russian with English subtitles.
This is Cosmos, 2014, 31 min.
The Communist Revolution Was Caused By The Sun, 2015, 34 min.
