GOROD USTINOV MICROTERRITORY
Untitled/Guest Banner
(Izhevsk, Russia)
The Kirov Factory Museum is packed with banners. These artefacts hold manifestos of the past and tallies of bygone achievements. The artists are contributing another banner, this time dedicated to the future. A blank canvas will appear in the historic foyer, while scraps of fabric, thread, and scissors appear on a conference table. Visitors/guests will be able to help shape a collective history—to make their mark, leave a review of the museum, or make a statement that matters to them personally.
The City of Ustinov (gorod Ustinov in Russian) lasted only 900 days (from 1984 to 1987). Today, it is the city of Izhevsk. Ustinov no longer exists on the map, but a trace of it remains on the IDs of people who were born at that time—people like the members of Gorod Ustinov Micro Art Collective. Their art is bound up with this place which no longer exists. They are working to create their own time and place out of what began as the City of Ustinov. In 2021, Gorod Ustinov Micro Art Collective changed its name and transformed into Gorod Ustinov Microterritory. In its 10 years of existence, the collective has established only a symbolic landscape, but also a multitude of interpersonal connections. It seems that the City of Ustinov exists once again but is no longer tied to any given geographic point. It moves freely around the world and is present in multiple sites simultaneously—wherever its artefacts are displayed and its friends and sympathizers reside.