14 boxes sized 30x40x45 cm were arranged in a line approximately 10 meters apart, with four boxes marked with the letters META were placed in the field, while ten boxes marked with the letters FIZI(Ch)ESKOE [In English: PHYSI(C)AL –trans.] were placed in the forest. Into the field box marked with the letter “M” (the first in the series) was placed a photographic print with the following text (white letters on a black background): “The Chancellor of Germany, H. Kohl left Moscow for Kiev. He was residing in the USSR on the invitation of the Soviet government.”
The box that would have logically been marked with the letter K, instead had a rolled-up portrait of K.U. Chernenko (110 x 90 cm in size) passed through it.
Into the forest box marked with the letter K was placed a photographic print with the following text: “In Kiev, H. Kohl was greeted by the chairman of the council of ministers of the Ukrainian SSSR, A.P. Liashko and other officials.”
Continuing the series of 14 boxes, a fifteenth unmarked box was placed on the field from the other end of the forest (the linden grove). Inside was placed a 30x40 cm photographic print (white letters on black background) with the descriptive text of the action For N. Panitkov. Three Darknesses (1980). The box was filled with fiber packing and a rolled-up sheet of photographic paper (size A4, black letters on white background) printed with N. Panitkov’s recollection about this action spoken by him into a tape recorder in 1989 was placed inside. After this, the box with the fiber packing and the described texts was covered with a piece of yellow taffeta (fabric) 3x3 m in size.
Next, four viewer-participants of the actions stretched out by its four corners a blue plastic sheet (4x5 m) about 1 m 80 cm above the ground. The plastic sheet had a hole in its center through which Panitkov, standing under the sheet, passed his head and, addressing those present, spoke one more take about the action For N. Panitkov. Three Darknesses of 1980.
All of the objects from the action (the taffeta, boxes, etc) were left on the place of action.
May 5, 2011
Mytishchi, Losinyi ostrov
A. Monastyrski, N. Panitkov, E. Elagina, S. Romashko.
Viewer-participants: G. Titov, V. Zakharov, V. Mironenko, V. Skersis, M. Leykin, M. Konstantinova, D. Novgorodova, Yu. Ovchinnikova, M. Sumnina, I. Kulik, I. Korina, O. Shmagina, T. Makhacheva, Ira Mironenko, D. Venikov, Yu. Shirkina.
Translated by Y. Kalinsky
Phonogram of the Action (In Russian!)
VIDEO