“We always receive something from a source that lies neither where we happen to be nor when we happen to be there.”
— Mamardashvili
Our experience preserves the moments we have lived through—various situations, strokes of good fortune, or forgotten opportunities. We carefully store these events in our memory so that, when the right moment arises in a similar situation, we can retrieve and apply them. We feel entirely secure in the world and the foundations of our reality; we know ourselves and our surroundings, often without suspecting that behind the established picture of our lives, an “other place” might be hiding. This “other place”—concealed from everyday life and our view—is where our deepest motives and desires, our passions and fears, reside; yet, most importantly, it is also the place of their liberation. These two worlds—the hidden and the visible—are constant companions, each reflecting the other; one acts as a kind of shadow, a visible projection of the real. This “other place” is lost to the conscious mind, yet it envelops one’s entire being like a fog; it acts like a stencil, replicating its forms in daily life—like tracing paper through which we transfer our hidden motives into the reality that surrounds us here and now. Our emotions, feelings, and sensations—and the choices, needs, and desires that stem from them—are products of this “other place” rather than of our own conscious selves. We remain trapped in the depths of our memory, caught in a tangle of motives that compel us to act in one way or another. Through the situations, encounters, and challenges of the present, we subconsciously brush against “another place.” We instinctively seek a connection from the past—a bond formed long ago yet forgotten—that now seeks resolution through these very experiences. People, circumstances, and relationships form a coded map of forgotten meanings; we must decipher its coordinates and significance in order to let go and start anew, with a clean slate.
M2 presents three distinct artists—Sergey Poteryaev, Anna Tretyak, and Evgeny Mikhnov-Voitenko—united by the theme of searching for an invisible world, its hidden significance, and its lost meanings. Each artist approaches this differently: Sergey explores the interplay between the spaces of the present and the past; Anna examines the interaction of glass and concrete; and Mikhnov-Voitenko ventures boldly into an “other-reality” or the unknown. While employing diverse techniques—such as photography, sculpture, and graphic art—the artists share a common conviction: that this realm can be accessed only through art. Art serves as a means to experience something new—or something long-forgotten yet innate—to see beyond the limits of physical sight or memory, and to hear the inaudible or one’s own inner voice.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
— M. Proust
Sergey Poteryaev
Sergey presents the project *San Donato*, which recounts the legendary tragic romance between Prince Demidov and Mathilde Bonaparte, the niece of Napoleon Bonaparte. “San Donato” is the name of both a small settlement in Nizhny Tagil and a luxurious villa in Italy—sites that once belonged to the Demidov family. Although located in different parts of the world and lacking a direct connection, both places exist as reflections of a shared history—a memory preserved in local consciousness. In these works, the artist merges these spaces by superimposing their images to create a unified whole, as if fragments of disparate geographies, surfacing from memory, were converging at a single point. A pivotal role in this juxtaposition is played by the combination of digital images of Italy with the artist’s own series on Tagil. Here, “digital images” refers to visual material obtained via online mapping services, which capture space automatically, without the artist’s physical presence. The contrast between these modes of image creation—one remote and algorithm-mediated, the other direct and artist-driven—does not create a rift but rather intensifies the effect of the overlay. This generates an additional layer of perception where the personal, the historical, and the visual intertwine, forming a complex, multi-layered image structure.
Anna Tretyak
Anna’s creative practice involves working with glass and concrete—materials whose interplay she seeks to balance. Fragile, transparent glass forms reaching upward are held together by inserts and anchored to a shared concrete base. A multitude of fluid lines is held in place by a raw block of artificial stone; this element simultaneously supports the forms and encloses them within itself. The layering of various glass forms and textures evokes a sense of fragility, movement, and fluidity, while concrete conveys a feeling of mass, solidity, and stillness. These two materials—representing distinct densities—complement, replace, or encompass one another, as if two worlds had met and frozen in a single moment.
Anna’s technique consists of using plaster molds for bending, firing and cold working, through which the artist casts various textures and shapes of glass. The difference in temperature conditions, exposure and other factors allows you to achieve different textures and color shades desired by the author. The artist constantly experiments with the material, but only after several weeks have passed, when the glass has cooled, can she learn about the final result of the work.
Mikhnov-Voitenko
(based on personal notes from MV and his friends)
Mikhnov-Voitenko is a blue artist who reflects not only on the surface of his works, but also in writing on paper. An author who has retained numerous notes that allow for a broader look at his creative intentions. His notes contain references to various branches of Buddhism and an interest in other forms of sacred actions. The artist comprehends his art, presenting its understanding through knowledge of the process of creative action. Evaluating “each of his work as an entrance into oblivion, daring,” he invites the viewer to trust and follow him, to “take risks” to search for “one,” “which will allow a person to look at the world with open eyes and see the world as a whole…”. For the artist, there was no unambiguous definition for the perception of his works; by combining, superimposing, overlapping each other with various figures, signs, symbols, he constructed a special subjective state, at first glance giving the impression of chaos with numerous elements, but rather, on the contrary, some special “whole image of the general state” of the author. The artist represents the embodiment of such a state through the realization of his true, deep reactions. “He demanded that the viewer be able to see the work with a pure gaze, free from everydayism, detached from everything external.”* In moments of such states, “he experienced complete separation from the outside world, going beyond the limits of the real — he had the feeling that he was in an epileptic fit.”* The artist’s constant creative experiments, the use of various techniques and materials give rise to a new space of movement, flight, the search for another state, the unknown, other existence.
“It takes desperation or some kind of overwhelming need to take such a risk in the unknown. Go to nowhere, trust a guide who himself takes the same risk… I can only offer an entrance… everyone will find and see what they themselves are. I’m the worst of all — I’m walking as a guide…”
MV
Curator Anastasia Loktaeva
* A. Alshuler
