The Empire of Things.

Project author – Alexander Petlura. Year of creation – 2000. The project includes 12 stylistic stories. Each story contains a photo session, performance and video. The projects are non – commercial and realized on the author’s own expenses.

Alexander Petlura (born 1955) is a Moscow artist. In the history of Russian alternative art he will remain, first and foremost, a collector of rubbish. He has been accumulating his phenomenal collection for the last 25 years. Today the collection numbers more than 20,000 pieces. Its major part is second-hand clothes, footwear and utensils found in city dumps, attics and cellars of abandoned houses. “I’m a collector”, – says Petlura about himself, – “I collect objects which were made by subjects, not I. After the rubbish stage, the objects go through three other stages. The first is scientific investigation. Here I am investigating whether an object could be useful. The second stage is stationary exposition, the third is theatrical action”.

The artistic movement that Petlura works in is described as “New symbolism”. The “New symbolism” method consists of the former object owner transforming energy by the circumstances under which that object was found combining it with the artist’s own added energy and fantasy. That is why Petlura’s stylistically compositions belong to Russia’s real history as much as they express Petlura’s subjective view on that history. “The Empire of Things” is a truly interactive project. Having a concrete date of creation, the project continues to develop both with the audience and the author.

Wearing and using these things which become tomorrow’s rubbish, we, the audiences, together with Petlura, the artist, create “The Empire of Things”.