Tate Modern, Sharjah Biennial 13, and The National Gallery are pleased to present the premieres of Immortality for All: A Film Trilogy on Russian Cosmism in London, Beirut, and Washington, D.C.
Today the Russian philosophy known as Cosmism has been largely forgotten. Its utopian tenets—combining Western Enlightenment with Eastern philosophy, Russian Orthodox traditions with Marxism—inspired many key Soviet thinkers. In this three-part film project, Anton Vidokle probes Cosmism’s influence on the twentieth century and suggests its relevance to the present day. In This is Cosmos (2014), the artist returns to the foundations of Cosmist thought. The second chapter, entitled The Communist Revolution Was Caused By The Sun (2015), explores the links between cosmology and politics. The film’s recently completed third chapter, Immortality and Resurrection for All! (2017), restages the museum as a site of resurrection, a central Cosmist idea.
Combining essay, documentary and performance, the trilogy quotes from the writings of Cosmism’s founder Nikolai Fedorov and other philosophers and poets. Vidokle’s wandering camera searches for traces of Cosmist influence in the remains of Soviet-era art, architecture and engineering, moving from the steppes of Kazakhstan to the museums of Moscow. Music by John Cale and Éliane Radigue accompanies these haunting images, conjuring up the yearning for connectedness, social equality, material transformation, and immortality at the heart of Cosmist thought.
Anton Vidokle, Immortality for All: A Film Trilogy on Russian Cosmism (2013-17). Kazakhstan / Germany / Russia / USA. DCP, color, sound. 96 minute. Russian with English subtitles.
Schedule of screenings:
Friday, October 6, 7pm
Tate Modern
Bankside
London SE1 9TG
Monday, October 16, 6pm
Metropolis Cinema Empire Sofil
Ashrafyeh, Sofil
Centre Sofil, Ground floor
Beirut, Lebanon
Presented by Sharjah Biennial 13, Tamawuj, Act II
Sunday, November 19, 4pm
The National Gallery
East Building Auditorium
6th & Constitution Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20565
The screenings will be followed by a discussion with the artist and an audience Q&A.
Anton Vidokle (b.1965, Moscow) is an artist based in New York and Berlin. As founder of e-flux and e-flux journal, he has developed projects such as the Martha Rosler Library (2005–07), unitednationsplaza (2006–09), and Time/Bank (2010). Vidokle’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as Documenta 13 and the 56th Venice Biennale. His films have been presented at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin; Bergen Assembly; Shanghai Biennale; Istanbul Biennial; Witte de With, Rotterdam; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Berlinale International Film Festival; Garage Museum, Moscow; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Gwangju Biennale; Locarno Festival; and Centre Pompidou, among others.
