Evgeny Granilshchikov

Evgeny Granilshchikov (born June 23, 1985, in Moscow) is a Russian artist and independent film director. He currently lives and works in Moscow.

Biography

He graduated from the Lyceum of Animation Cinematography (2004), the Moscow Institute of Journalism and Literature, Department of Journalism and Photography (2009), and the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia where he studied at Igor Mukhin’s studio in 2010-2013.

Evgeny Granilshchikov’s works belong to various media including video and sound art, photography, installation, and independent cinema. In many of his projects artist explores questions of his own generation as well as themes of personal and political frustrations.

Bohemia (2009-2011) and Insomnia (2011) photo series are the first two projects completed by Granilshchikov.^[1]

Artist’s thesis became a three-channel film Positions, which, directly referring to Jean-Luc Godard’s film La Chinoise (1967), depicts personal and political search of the three young citizens of Moscow. For this work, Granilshchikov became winner of the Kandinsky Prize in nomination “New Artist. Project of the Year” in 2013.

In 2013-2014 artist’s works were on display at the cycle of shows High Hopes, organized by the Museum of Screen Culture Manege | MediaArtLab in cooperation with Triumph Gallery (Moscow), hosted by the Manege Central Exhibition Hall.

In 2014, Granilshchikov’s film Courbet’s Funeral was screened as part of the 4th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, which went by the theme A Time for Dreams and was curated by David Elliott.^[2] The film was also featured in the main programme of the Kino Der Kunst festival in Munich^[3] and was listed among best artworks of year 2014, according to aroundart.org journal on contemporary art.^[4] The film was shot using a smartphone and comprised found videos, both documentary and production footage.

In 2015, Unfinished Film (2015) by Evgeny Granilshchikov was screened during the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, where it won the OPEN FRAME AWARD.^[5] The film was also shortlisted in nomination “New Generation” of the Innovation Prize-2014, the 10th all-Russian competition in contemporary art.

Artist’s films are characterized by a non-linear structure and absence of a particular storyline; characters are often played by director’s friends who wander around the city, discussing personal topics, criticizing current social and political situation and possible actions within this context. “A direct point of view, medium-shot, but more often a long shot, the interspersing of long and short episodes, an uneven rhythm,” describes Granilshchikov himself. “In this film, there is no classical narrative, as if it has been assembled from chance scenes which have no unambiguous links between them. We never find out where the characters are going, what their aims are, but we see how an implicit feeling of alarm is hidden behind all their simple actions and movements.”^[6]

Together with the short video Untitled (reenactment), works Courbet’s Funeral and Unfinished Film form a trilogy that, according to artist’s own words, can be interpreted as “a reenactment of the everyday life of the noughties.”^[7]

The next film by Granilshchikov, To Follow Her Advice, which was shot in Thailand, was on display in 2015 as part of the main programme of the 6th Moscow Biennale, opened under the theme How to Gather? Acting in a Center in a City in the Heart of the Island of Eurasia (curated by Bart De Baere, Defne Ayas, and Nicolaus Schafhausen).

In 2016, Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow) organized artist’s solo show Untitled (after defeats), curated by Andrey Misiano and Anna Zaytseva, which presented the polaroid series Untitled (accidental shots), videos Munich (2015), Empire (2016), and Ghost movie (2016). Same year this exhibition entered the finals of the Kandinsky Prize in nomination “Project of the Year.”^[8]

In 2016, Granilshchikov’s project War (untitled), first screened as part of the show One Within The Other. Art of New and Old Media in the Age of High-speed Internet in the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art,^[9] was shortlisted in nomination “New Generation” of the Innovation Prize 2015.^[10]

In 2013-2015 Granilshchikov was also entitled to the scholarship provided by Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, as part of the institutional programme for support of young artists.^[11]

Granilshchikov was represented on the inaugural Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, organized by Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, in the Common Language section, which featured “artists who work with the internationally spoken language of contemporary art in no need for translation.”^[12]

Filmography

2016 — The Ghost

2015 — To Follow Her Advice

2015 — Untitled (reenactment)

2015 — Unfinished Film

2014 — Courbet's Funeral

Personal Shows

2016 — Untitled (after defeats), Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow - http://www.mamm-mdf.ru/exhibitions/evgr/

2014 — Something Will Be Lost, as part of the cycle High Hopes, Manege Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow - http://moscowmanege.ru/ru/granilshikov/

Group Shows

2017 — Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow;^[13]

2016 — Exhibition of the nominees for the 11th Innovation Prize 2016, National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow;

2016 — Experiences of the Imaginary, “New Holland: Cultural Urbanisation,” New Holland Island in St. Petersburg;^[14]

2016 — Moscow International Experimental Film Festival, Moscow;^[15]

2015 — How to Gather? Acting in a Center in a City in the Heart of the Island of Eurasia, as part of the main programme of the 6th Moscow Biennale, Central Pavilion of VDNKH, Moscow;^[16]

2015 — One Within the Other. Art of New and Old Media in the Age of High-speed Internet, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow;^[17]

2015 — XVI Media Forum of the Moscow International Film Festival, Moscow;^[18]

2015 — Alanica. The Experimental Method, Special Programme of the 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art;^[19]

2015 — Exhibition of the nominees for the 10th Innovation Prize 2015, National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow;

2015 — Notation, Anniversary exhibition, Center of Creative Industries "Fabrika," Moscow^[20]

2015 — International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany;

2015 — Kino Der Kunst Festival, Munich, Germany;^[21]

2015 — goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, Wiesbaden, Germany;^[22]

2015 — High Hopes, Final show in the cycle, Manege Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow;^[23]

2015 — Political Populism, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria;^[24]

2015 — Boderlands, GRAD Gallery, London, UK;^[25]

2014 — Time for Dreams, the 4th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow Museum, Moscow;^[26]

2014 — 11. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow;^[27]

2014 — Burning News, Hayward Gallery, London, UK;^[28]

2013 — Kandinsky Art Prize Exhibition, Udarnik, Moscow;^[29]

2013 — Zero Gravity, Parallel programme of the 5th Moscow Biennale, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, Moscow;^[30]

2013 — Stability. Ghosts, Random gallery, Moscow;^[31]

2013 — The Happy End, Exhibition of the Rodchenko School Alumni, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow;^[32]

2013 — Rehearsal Time, Triumph Gallery, Moscow;^[33]

2012 — Unfinished Analysis, Special Project of the 3rd Moscow Young Art Biennale, Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow;^[34]

2012 — Kandinsky Art Prize Exhibition, Udarnik, Moscow;^[35]

2012 — Show and Tell, Exhibition of the Rodchenko School Alumni, E. K. ArtBureau, Moscow;^[36]

Web-site

Artist’s page

Media

2017 — “The Extent of Freedom. Interview with Evgeny Granilshchikov,”

Arts Dialog the Journal of the Moscow Modern Museum of Art, January 2016.

2016 — “Top-10 +1 & 50: prominent young artists,” The Artnewspaper Russia, №45, July–August 2016.^[37]

2016 — “Something Personal Untitled. Interview with Evgeny Granilshchikov,” arterritory.com.^[38]

2015 — “Evgeny Granilshchikov. Untitled,” text by author, Arts Journal №94.^[39]

2015 — “Evgeny Granilshchikov: ‘Screens are part of the landscape’,” seanse.ru.^[40]

2015 — “Challenge by Choice. Interview with Evgeny Granilshchikov,” Arts Dialog the Journal of the Moscow Modern Museum of Art.^[41]

2015 — “Evgeny Granilshchikov. Untitled,” aroundart.org.^[42]

2015 — “‘The History of Cinema is a Long Discussion of How to Make Art Democratic.’ Evgeny Granilshchikov on film as method and liberating intentions of the cinema,” Theory and Practice.^[43]

2015 — “Key Artworks of 2014,” aroundart.org.^[44]

2014 — “Interview with Evgeny Granilshchikov for the section ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’,” aroundart.org.^[45]

2014 — “Evgeny Granilshchikov. Until Sorrow Takes Over,” aroundart.org.^[46]

2013 — “Evgeny Granilshchikov. Elusive Places,” Arts Journal №90.^[47]

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