What Flowers Say: New Exhibition at the School of Design

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: State University “Higher School of Economics” –

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HSE ART GALLERY in partnership with the platform Artz. Vork continues the cycle of group exhibition projects from the “Big Themes” series, rethinking fundamental ideas and offering new interpretations of timeless concepts. This time, the theme of the exhibition was flowers – their images, symbolism and meanings.

Flowers are traditionally associated with transience: they do not live long, quickly fade, and disappear almost without a trace. Therefore, flora in art often becomes an image of memory, loss, something that slips away but continues to exist. Alexandra Lurye, Maria Panina, Anna Stavinozhenko, and Alina Kerimova work in this vein. In the context of the climate and political crisis, flora is increasingly acquiring features of vulnerability and anxiety — as in the works of Anastasia Kovaleva, Alexandra Zamurueva, and Polina Filippova. Some artists — Irina Afanasyeva and Galya Fadeeva — radically rethink the very idea of the “language of flowers,” rejecting established symbols in favor of new ways of expression. When we talk about flowers, we most often imagine something living, fragile, tangible. But what happens when flora loses its materiality and turns into a digital image? This question is asked by Masha Rogova, Dariella, and Olga Filina. Flowers at the exhibition become a reason for a conversation about identity, personal history and deep self-reflection — in the works of Inga Tatarshao, Ekaterina Ivanitskaya and Marya Dmitrieva. Separately, the exhibition presents “Flower Horoscope” — a fantasy digital project by the art group Agey Tomesh.

One of the conceptual lines of the exhibition is the metaphorical convergence of the phenomena of herbarium and collecting. To collect a herbarium and to collect art means to touch time. In both cases, it is about choosing, selecting and preserving what can disappear. However, in the post-digital era, when the boundaries between the physical and the virtual are increasingly blurred, a new form of interaction with art is emerging – phygital collecting, combining the material (physical) and the digital (digital). Being part of the exhibition program Biennale of private collections, the project invites us to reflect on the nature of phygital collecting. This format became the basis of the platform Artz. Vork, where viewers can find all the works on display — add a memorable piece to their digital collection and purchase a print based on it. The Flower Horoscope is an archaic system of symbolic classification found in cultural layers of the supposed pre-continental period. Unlike astrological systems based on observation of stellar movement, this model correlates human individuality with phenological cycles — the flowering time of plants, seasonal weather changes, and the migration of fauna.

Each day of the modern calendar year corresponds to a certain type of ancient plant (usually a flower), supposedly possessing its own "character" or behavioral metaphor. It is believed that a person born on this day inherits the qualities attributed to "his" plant, as well as its supposed role in the natural-social structure.

Choose a flower

Art group Agey Tomesh, Dariella, Ira Afanasyeva, Marya Dmitrieva, Alexandra Zamurueva, Ekaterina Ivanitskaya, Alina Kerimova, Anastasia Kovaleva, Alexandra Lurye, Maria Panina, Masha Rogova, Anna Stavinozhenko, Inga Tatarshao, Galya Fadeeva, Olga Filina, Polina Filippova.

HSE ART GALLERY in the Vinzavod Contemporary Art Center4th Syromyatnichesky Lane, 1/8с6 (entrance C8, floor 2)

Gallery opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday | 12:00–20:00Free admission by prior arrangementregistration

Director of HSE ART GALLERY: Vassa Pyrkova Curator of HSE ART GALLERY: Ilya Kronchev-IvanovProducers: Anna Aravina, Polina Saratovskaya, Anastasia Shabashova, Elena KirpuGraphic design: HSE DESIGN LAB

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