For the second time Center of Visual Culture Béton will take part in the second St Petersburg Fair 1703.
Last year we took part in the ‘Collections’ section and presented the classics of Soviet photography, for whom the camera served as a tool to transform reality.
This year we participate in the ‘Galleries’ section and present contemporary authors who continue the search for Soviet classics and work on creating their own fanatical worlds. And so we present: space planes by Sasha Gentsis, depersonalised parades by Almond Chu and ‘Future Dwelling’ by the art group ‘GrOM’. The theme of our stand is ‘Society of the Future’.
What can, or, to be more precise, should be the society of the future? How can, or, to be more precise, should this society differ from the modern one? It is a society in which the social community is not torn apart by petty internal contradictions. It is a society in which petty concerns do not supplant dreams of the great, where daily routine does not kill the desire for grandiose achievements, where personal egoism does not prevent the solution of global problems of mankind. It is a social reality in which humanity is protected from self-destruction by the forces of order and knowledge. It is a world in which the individual realises the value of others and cherishes them as himself. It is a universe in which man’s animal instincts become atavisms of the primitive epoch, subordinating to the true essence of man – his rational consciousness.

What can, or, more precisely, is the digital art of the future capable of becoming? It is an art that both respects the old and does not seek to reproduce moulages of what has existed for a long time. It is an art where the size of the works and the complexity of their production correlate with the scale of the artist’s creative tasks and philosophical questions. It is an art capable of using the latest achievements of science and technology not for entertainment purposes, but to show mankind a possible new path of movement and constructive development. It is an art where the reality of social problems does not obscure a glimpse of a desirable world of order and justice, a world where unique parts form a whole greater than their mathematical sum. It is an art where technology is not an end in itself, but becomes a tool for expressing the author’s imagination and overcoming creative limitations. It is an art capable of overcoming the limits of the common man’s perception of reality to show the viewer the beauty of a perspective accessible to the modern viewer only through the prism of computer processing or the ‘vision’ of artificial intelligence. It is an art that encourages the viewer not to run away from problems and each other, urges not to lose the ability to think straight and does not cultivate spontaneous idiocy, but promotes unity and interaction in order to overcome difficulties and create a better future, to move consistently towards a clearly defined goal worthy of collective endeavour. It is an art in which the artist recognises the difference between creative freedom and immoral arbitrariness, distinguishes the boundary between innovation and comic show-off, strives for the expressiveness of the author’s statement rather than for the volume of commercial gain or vainglorious narcissism. It is an art that is capable of evoking by its radiance feelings of emotional admiration without the need to provoke shock and disgust by demonstrations of abomination. It is an art in which the viewer does not feel humiliated by an outsider, but to which he seeks to join in order to deepen his own spiritual world and, in turn, to attune himself to creative activity. It is an art in which artistic creation is not an experiment for the sake of experimentation, not an exclamation for the sake of idle talk, not an emotion for the sake of overcoming boredom, but a means of strengthening the human will, a tool for expanding the boundaries of wonder at the universe, and, of course, a method of creating in this universe a reality suitable for the prosperity of all.
We look forward to seeing you from 14 to 18 June 2023 at the Central Exhibition Hall ‘Manezh’, St. Petersburg, at stand F1.