On May 16th 2015 (the Night of Museums), the opening of the exhibition “And the ship sails …” took place in Saratov. The ship was dispatched exactly on schedule. The guests were placed on the lawn near the stage, where they were greeted by the hospitable hosts of the event, the staff of the Pavel Kuznetsov House Museum. Artist Stas Azarov and Alexey Shilov thanked the organizers and sponsor of the project Nikolai Malygin, and Lyubov Arkadyevna Yakhontova captivated the audience with a story about the concept of the exhibition.
It was fascinating to move around the halls of the museum and look at the works of Stas and Alexey, each visitor found something interesting for himself, mesmerized by the spaces of hypertext, symbols, color spots and various textures. The skeletons of the ships resembled the wreckage of either a long-gone civilization, or the projects of new post-apocalyptic structures. Unusual artistic surfaces — a chair seat with a description of his life story, a closet door hiding a projector for viewing filmstrips (the coveted dream of any Soviet child), ship matrices and their prints with the addition of various details, immerse us in another reality.
Emerging from the space of static art, we find ourselves on the courtyard area with its turbulent life, music, flash mobs, and art installations. We plunge into the cool sea of spring scents of blooming lilacs and apple trees. We participate in coloring oars and happily wave snow-white flags with the help of a signal alphabet proclaiming – “And the ship sails …”.
