The Protest of a 'Superfluous Man': Vagrich Bakhchanyan and His Artistic Strategies

• In Event: The Wrinkled Borders of Freedom: Russian Migration to the Americas across the 20th Century

Abstract

One of the symbols of the "stagnation" period in the USSR was the massive migration of Soviet citizens known as the "third wave." For those who chose the United States as their new home, the experience of emigration turned out to be a plunge into total freedom. Emancipation from ideological constraints and demands dictated by higher authorities provided émigré artists with space for new individual and collective performative practices, through which they consciously and unconsciously constructed their identity.
The focus of this paper is the conceptual artist Vagrich Bakhchanyan, who emigrated to New York in 1974 and actively participated in the literary and artistic process of the third wave. Unlike other conceptualists, like Komar and Melamid or Ilya and Emiliya Kabakov, Bakhchanyan did not adapt to the capitalist market conditions. However, the lack of solo exhibitions or successful sales at auction is not a sign of a failure. On the opposite, it was a specific artistic strategy, influenced by Dada and Fluxus manifestos and epitomized in the image of a postmodern “superfluous man.” In addressing the idea of the “superfluous,” Bakhchanian engages all the meanings of the word simultaneously: he is both unnecessary, excessive, unwilling, and additive. In my presentation, I want to discuss the way Bakhchanyan constructs the identity of a “superfluous man” in his unauthorized performances in New York galleries, how he deals with the legacies of Soviet ideology and American mentality, and why collage becomes a perfect form for transmitting the artistic message."

Update abstract for Galina Zhuravleva to the following:

"The massive migration caused by the First World War, Revolution of 1917, and multiple civil wars became a recognizable symbol of the country's long-term crisis. America as a popular destination was a promise of freedom – mostly from the horrors of Russian civil collapse. The road to that freedom, however, was a thorny one, and for many it never ended. I attempt to take a look at the experience of Russian immigrants to America in 1914-1920’s through the Ellis Island Oral History Archive. These interviews were conducted in 1970-1990s with people who went through Ellis Island in New Your City as an entry point. These stories are particularly interesting as they represent the experience of people who otherwise would never be remembered: they came as poor migrants, not belonging to the elite or intelligentsia, and occupied common jobs. The main question I pose is the multiple borders these people had to overcome on their way to “liberation”: among them the lingering border of citizenship and language. I argue that their stories are resisting the narrative of the American freedom the interviewers of Ellis Island wanted to follow.

Author

• Elizaveta Senatorova, Columbia U