#Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

[russianreader]

Is the European University at St. Petersburg "Extremist"?

The entrance to the European University at St. Petersburg, which I’ve walked through hundreds of times. Photo courtesy of VG from an unidentified source Rosobrnadzor [the Russian federal education watchdog] and the prosecutor’s office have begun an unscheduled inspection of the European University at St. Petersburg, sources at the university and close to the university have told the BBC. The…

[thebardcce]

Meet-Up Berlin: Bard International Network

In October, Bard College Berlin hosted student leaders from across the Bard international network, including: (American University of Central Asia (AUCA), European Humanities University (EHU), Bard College Berlin (BCB), Al Quds Bard (AQB) and Smolny College (Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences, St. Petersburg State University) to share their civic engagement leadership skills in a series of student-led workshops.  Participants, who were selected for their demonstrated leadership in communities, were asked to develop and lead interactive, skills-based workshops for the group.

Students’ work in Russia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Lithuania is often defined by the challenges faced in those communities. The meet-up emphasized the importance of creative thinking.  “There are no unsolvable issues,” one speaker stated, and the conference tagline quickly became “You can find a way.”  Finding a way became an important inspiration for all participants students and staff alike.  Many also found inspiration while on tours and visits with various German NGO’s, non-profits and BCB student community leader sites all focused on the integration and support of refugees in Berlin.

One participant wrote, “This conference was an open space for students with different backgrounds to develop their skills, projects and take that knowledge back to their communities.  We know change is possible.”

From photography to clowning to writing and thinking, students approached the question of community development through a wide range of innovative practices. Student participants and staff organizers worked collectively on ideas to empower more students across the network, which has inspired a new student Global Fellowship position focused on mentoring peers across the international network.

Student projects include:

Al-Quds Bard College (AQB)

Ghareeb, Raneem & Yamani, Yaqeen: AQB Radio amplifies student voices and expands the use of media on campus.

American University of Central Asia (AUCA)

Kazemi, Ulfat: Sustainistan helps create a greener, healthier environment at high schools throughout Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Arghandaiwal, Sajid: Peace Building Initiatives empowers youth to engage in their own communities and has reached over 20,000 people all over Afghanistan.

Sarmast, Zarlasht: The Recovering Forgotten Conflicts Photography workshop brings internationally renowned photographers and youth leaders for an annual 10-day workshop for 15 young Afghan photographers from 5 different regions of Afghanistan.  

Shirzad, Mustafa & Karimi, Mohammad Tamim: American University of Central Asia Model UN is a student-directed academic simulation of the United Nations reaching over 250 national and international students from Central Asia, along with the first annual high school session hosting over 70 students.

Bard College Berlin (BCB)

Risnovska, Veronika: Clowning Workshops is an acting and arts-based program that prepares Bard College Berlin students to work with children in refugee camps, orphanages and hospitals.  

Sopo Kashakashvili: VOICE/NOIZE focuses on storytelling and the uniqueness of each individual voice.

Hadi, Adeeb: Baghlin is a three-day Human Rights Film Festival between Baghdad and Berlin that explores human rights violations through film.

Smolny College (Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences, St. Petersburg State University

Nikiforova, Veronika: LA&S Magazine is a multidisciplinary publication that takes a diverse and creative approach to journalism, culture and news-making.

European Humanities University (EHU)

Yahor Aleksishyn: The EHU Network focuses on the development of EHU student life. Network activities connect students to community on and off campus.

[didenka-blog]

Hey, I'm Alexandra from Saint-Petersburg. I'm studying music criticism at Smolny College of Liberal Sciences and Arts. This is my blog about my stay at Bard College on the Summer Program #bardsummerscape

I'm sure it will be best the experience in my life!

[virtualbiennale2017-artfog]

Bios _1_2_3_f_

_1_ Cassils

“Our bodies are sculptures formed by society’s expectations…My body is my medium” Cassils

They is a Canadian (based in Los Angeles, California) performance and visual artist working with their body as a social sculpture. Cassils is a gender nonconforming transmasculine bodybuilder who uses art to explore gender in non-binary terms.

Education:

- 2002 MFA Art and Integrated Media, California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, CA

- 1997 BFA Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS, Canada

- 1996 Ecole Nationale Superieur des Beaux Arts, Paris, France

Since 1999 Cassils took part in different group exhibitions in the USA and Europe and since 2013 there were some solo exhibitions. Recently Cassils curated the 2017-2018 Artist Performance & Lecture Series at Stanford University in California, titled “Vital Signs”.

Cassils is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital Grant, a California Community Foundation Visual Artist Fellowship, several Canada Council for the Arts grants, and the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship.

The main themes in Cassils researchers are histories of violence, representation, struggle and survival, transgenderness as a process of becoming but not a crossing from one sex to another. 

_2_Zackary Drucker & Rhys Ernst

Zackary Drucker is an independent American multimedia artist, cultural producer, trans woman who breaks down the way we think about gender and sexuality. In 2008 she met Rhys Ernst and they began their  “Relationship” project. 

Education:

- 2007 M.F.A. California Institute of the Arts

-2005 B.F.A. School of Visual Arts, NY

She has performed and exhibited her work internationally including the Whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA San Diego, and SF MoMA. Drucker is an Emmy-nominated Producer for the docu-series “This Is Me”, as a Producer on Golden Globe and Emmy-winning “Transparent”.

Today Zackary reads lectures at UCLA, USC, Cal Arts, SVA, Columbia, Cooper Union, NYU, Carnegie-Mellon, Colgate, Duke, Northwestern, U of Chicago, and U of Oregon. And she also continues her art practice, working on film and photography projects.

Rhys Ernst is a Los Angeles based transgender artist and filmmaker who studies transgender identity in the context of larger narratives. He seeks for the representation of transgender people in media. 

Education:

- 2004 B.A. Hampshire College

- 2011  M.F.A. in Film/Video from CalArts

Ernst was nominated for a 2015 Emmy Award for directing and producing the webseries “Transparent: This Is Me”. In 2016 he teamed up with Focus Features to create the online series “We’ve Been Around”, short films about transgender pioneers. Ernst has also shown work in the Oberhausen Film Festival, Rushes Soho Shorts, Brisbane International Film Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, MIX Brazil, Indie Memphis, REDCAT, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, MOCA Los Angeles, The New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and The Hammer Museum. 

_3_Tobaron Waxman

Tobaron Waxman is another Canadian visual artist, who compose performances for photograph, video and site-specific installation, and is also a trained vocalist in Jewish liturgical music. In their works, they consider flesh as a working material of mutable meanings. The important works are linked with the voice and traditional Jewish texts. 

“Beyond fixed notions of body, gender, and ‘home’, my practice contextualizes gender, embodiment, and the physical experience of time as systems of inscription. My work includes elements of Diaspora experience and traditional Jewish texts, music, and philosophy, as well as politics and desire.” TW

Education: - 2003–2007 Immersive study of Jewish law, sacred texts, liturgy, music and vocal technique, various Yeshivas, NY - 2003 M.F.A., Performance, School of The Art Institute of Chicago - 1998 B.A. Hons., Humanities, University of Toronto, Canada

Tobaron has been exhibited at Palais de Tokio, Videotage Hong Kong, Kunsthalle Vienna, CEPA Buffalo, New Museum NYC, Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New Museum NYC and Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. 

https://soundcloud.com/tobaron/shechechyanu

_f_Cyber Duo

Cyber Duo is a Russian body-artist who works with body, installations and Internet-based platforms to represent the new kind of human beyond the gender or biological existence. They transform their body real-time implanting new virtual or real parts into it (sometimes in D.Cronenberg’s manner). 

Education:

- 2013 M.F.A., The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College) of St.Petersburg State University

-  20011 B.F.A., Ural State University of Architecture and Art

Cyber Duo has performed in different Russian art galleries and festivals in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. They also was a member of several virtual festivals held in 2014 and 2016 and played an episodical role in the AUJIK film.

[art-fog]

Biography

Artur Konstantinov is an architect and an art curator based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

 He holds a Diploma of Specialist (MA-equivalent) in Art History (Russian State University for Humanities, 2002) and Diploma of Specialist (MA-equivalent) in Architecture (Moscow Architectural Institute, 2008). Artur has worked as an architect in Moscow and St. Petersburg for years and now he studies curatorial research at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College) of St. Petersburg State University.

 Artur focuses on the architectural component of exhibitions, the interplay between contemporary art and architectural spaces (both interiors and exteriors, including the urban environment as an exhibition). Artur analyzes symbolic, psychological, visual, philosophical meanings that emerges in the visitor’s or artist’s experience of an exhibition.

[virtualbiennale2017-artfog]

Interview by Maria Kolotovkina

This is the first tumblr-based curatorial project presented by the first-year student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College) of St. Petersburg State University - Artur Konstantinov. The theme of the virtual exhibition is quite provocative and we asked Artur to answer some questions about it.

Maria Kolotovkina – the interviewer

Artur Konstantinov – the author of the blog

MK: Why did you choose this topic for your blog? Is not the non-binarity in art discussed as often as feminism, for instance?

AK: Well, actually I’m not engaged in feminism theory and I think it is more about XX century. I’m not saying feminism is not actual anymore, but as you mention, it is something common now, everybody knows about feminism. And feminism is a part of gender studies but it is not about non-binarity because that discourse totally inside the “masculine-feminine” problematics. I think non-binary art as it realised in last maybe 5 years is something about the human future and it is a thrilling question.

MK: In the first paragraph, you say that today the topic of identification has become even more important than ever, for all people. Why?

AK: Today the paradigm is shifting. Some contemporary philosophers tell about “Metamodernism” as a new state of the world after postmodernism. And what is important is oscillation, new sensuality and authenticity. After postmodern games and flirting with everything there comes a time for new seriousness. Postmodernism was a powerful shaking for human and it was very important. Today people have to re-answer old fundamental questions and the most significant are about identities.

MK: Why do you refer only to Freud, because non-binary has both a physiological origin and a psychological one?

AK: I mention Freud because I think he was the person who actualised the human sexuality, made it visible and openly discussed. Gender is not about a sexual orientation but it is about sexuality in broad context, more about social sexuality. There were other researchers who explored social gender since Freud for sure. I think it’s a good idea to mention their works in my project, thanks.  As for the physiological origin of gender identity I don’t think it really needs to be restated. Biological sex and social gender do not always coincide.

MK: How do you think it's right that artists explore this topic, after all in some cases it is pathology?

AK: Well, it’s another binary opposition “normal - pathology” and if you look back in history you will see how the meaning of the “normal” and the “pathology” has changed. I would like to remind you Michel Foucault’s “Madness and Insanity: History of Madness in the Classical Age” and anti-psychiatry movement (Jacques Lacan, Thomas Szasz, Giorgio Antonucci, R. D. Laing, Franco Basaglia, Theodore Lidz, Silvano Arieti, and David Cooper ) who carried out great research about it. Besides, I think there is no sense to use such definitions in exploring art. If we do so we can stigmatize almost all the XX-century art as a pathology. What would common people say about Wiener Aktionismus or Francis Bacon’s paintings? Pathology, for sure! 

MK: Or so they shock the public?

AK: Well, art has always shocked the public, hasn’t it? At least throughout the 20th century. I am sure it is not an aim anyway. When an artist do his/her/their research (and contemporary art is a research) it’s just because they need to analyse themselves, they can’t stop asking questions.

MK: What is the main objective of your blog?

AK: The main objective is to study this phenomenon of the contemporary world – non-binarity of gender – and introspections of contemporary artists who looking for new answers to old questions.

MK: In my opinion, it would be necessary to add historiography. What do you think about it?

AK:  Yes, maybe I will add more theoretical information about the history of gender studies, thanks for your suggestion.

MK: What artists did you choose to continue?

AK: I am at my start now. I’ve found Cassils – an outstanding Canadian artist, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2016), who interprets their body as a social sculpture and addresses their issues to the history (“Thiresias”). At Whitney Biennial 2014 there was a section curated by Stuart Comer where the gender oscillations were discussed. And first of all, I am going to study it more thoroughly. There are a lot of other artists who work with non-binarity in different ways. So maybe I’ll add to my blog musician-singer because the voice is a very gender-coloured thing.

MK: What can you say about the future society? Will it be actual amoung people?

AK: For sure it will be actual, it’s just a question of time. It is getting more and more actual right now, I can see it! I don’t think it will be important in the faraway future but it’s definitely the near future question.

MK: Thank you for asking my questions.

[art-fog]

CV

Artur Konstantinov

St. Petersburg Art Curator, Senior Architect fog.art4@gmail.com • https://art-fog.tumblr.com/ https://www.facebook.com/art.fog.9  https://www.instagram.com/fog.art4/ 

Fields of Interest

architecture, bio-art, art&science, psychoanalysis, cinema, visual arts, astrophysics, postmodern theories, metamodern oscillations, gender theories, contemporary philosophy, hybrid art

 Education

June 2019

MA in Curatorial Studies at Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia. St.Petersburg State University/Bard College

1. “Micro-, meso-, and macro-body in hybrid arts“

2. Exhibition: Oratorium 2. Petri Dish / Resilient Ec(h)osytem (bio-art) Artist: Laura Elidedt Rodríguez (Mex) Place: the catacombs of the Lutheran church (Petrikirche) in Saint- Petersburg fb: https://www.facebook.com/oratorium2019/

 June 2008

Specialist in Architecture, Moscow Architectural Institute, Moscow, Russia.

The public info-cultural centre (media-centre) in Soymonovsky proezd, Moscow.

 June 2006

BA in Architecture, Moscow Architectural Institute, Moscow, Russia.

Multifunctional residential building.

 June 2002

Specialist in art history, Russian State University for Humanities, Moscow, Russia.

Ideas and projects of reconstruction historical centres of European cities in the last third of the XX century: the strategies of postmodernism, deconstructivism and high-tech.

Employment

01 September 2011 – Present

Senior Architect at LLC “NPF RETRO”, St. Petersburg, Russia.

 02 March 2009 – 01 March 2011

Senior Architect at LLC “INTARS”, Moscow, Russia.

 15 December 2008 – 27 February 2009

Architect at  JSC Moscow Scientific-Research and Design Institute of Typology and Experimental Design, Moscow, Russia.

 09 November 2008 – 28 November 2008

Architect at LLC “Architectural Studio Concept-Design”

 15 March 2004 – 14 August 2008

Technical Architect/Architect at LLC “INTARS”, Moscow, Russia.

 Experience

Cover design for the book series With A Wind From Afar. Presentday Foreign Poetry, ARGO-RISK publishing house, Moscow, Russia (since 2013)

Tarot cards. Creation of a Tarot deck (78 pieces). May 2016 - April 2017.10 x 6,5 sm. Mixed technique, cardboard.

track-to-track exhibition, navigation system (colored threads) 

1.0.1 exhibition, spatial design 

Conference Papers, Talks and Presentations

Contemporary megapolises: terminological problems.  Architectural Science and Education: Materials of a Scientific Conference of the Faculty Members and Young Scientists of MarchI, 23-27 April 2007, Moscow. 

Public Buildings: Meaning and Responsibility in a Contemporary City. Architectural Science and Education: Materials of a Scientific Conference of the Faculty Members and Young Scientists of MarchI, 23-27 April 2007, Moscow.

 Les Halles in Paris as the Example of the Open International Architectural Competition. Architectural Science and Education: Materials of a Scientific Conference of the Faculty Members and Young Scientists of MarchI, 23-27 April 2007, Moscow.

[thebardcce]

Debate Goes Global

The Bard Debate Union has been working diligently with faculty and students from Bard’s partners to create lasting debate programs throughout the Bard International Network and linkages amongst those programs. Co-Directors Ruth Zisman and David Register have not only promoted competitive debate, but have emphasized the importance of public debates and debate outreach to local communities as important elements of civic engagement.

Most of the workshops and trainings have happened over Skype, culminating in the first intra-network online debate last year, which included students from Bard Annandale, Bard College Berlin (BCB), Smolny, and Al-Quds Bard (AQB), debating the topic of nuclear armament. This was followed by several additional online network debates, including a debate during a joint course on global citizenship between Bard Annandale and Bard College Berlin.

The highlight of last year was the first Bard International Network Debate Conference held in March 2016 at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. The conference included students, faculty, and staff members from th American University of Central Asia (AUCA), European Humanities University (EHU), AQB, Bard Annandale, BCB, and Smolny. Throughout the conference, students engaged in guided discussions about the histories and goals of each campus’ debate program, workshops on program curricula, public debates, debate outreach projects, teaching debate in the classroom, competitive debating, five full adjudicated practice debates (including one hosted by the CEU debate society), and multiple days of collaborative preparation for a public debate. On the final day of the conference, participants held a public debate on the CEU campus on the topic "Resolved: the production of fake news should be criminalized,"

The public debate featured one student from each of the six campuses and had an audience of over 40 people. Conference debater Zeina Melhem from AQB commented that the conference was “so much more than competition, as debate has a unique ability to get people thinking and talking about what really matters in the world.”

This summer, AQB held a week long training session (run by a faculty member from Smolny and students from BCB) and a tournament with 16 debate teams participating, including from Al-Quds and An-Najah universities and high school students from the town of Ebiat, where Bard has run summer programs for several years through the Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative. The week culminated with a public debate, which was timed for the beginning of classes at Al-Quds Bard, and an affirmation of the importance of analysis and contestation.

Through these efforts and events, debate as a whole has grown within the Bard International Network. Each institution is now sponsoring public debates and in most cases, competitive debate teams are participating in tournaments. Outreach is taking place at AUCA, AQB and EHU and the Bard Debate Union in Annandale has organized an online space for network teams to share resources and discuss debate topics and ideas. The next intra-network online debate will take place in November 2017 and there are already plans in the works for a second Bard International Network Debate Conference and tournament at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at St. Petersburg State University (“Smolny College��) in March 2018. 

[art-fog]

exploring Smolny: stage 1

I had lived in St. Petersburg for 6 years before I entered the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Smolny College) of St.Petersburg State University, and only then I began to discover the city.

The decision to move from Moscow to St. Petersburg was spontaneous: I needed radical changes in my life so I could move to different places. Eventually, I found myself here in Saint Petersburg. This city seemed to me quite simple and clear with it’s straight streets, horizontal lines, calm skyline, lethargic movements and a flat relief. In fact, something was wrong with it. All these years something remained hidden, the city was blurred.

I knew there was something wrong, this city couldn’t be such a seamless place, it must have it's inland empire. But I could not find the input points, there were no connections between me and the city. Once I had an idea about the Underground. I thought about the escalator. In St. Petersburg escalator is a very long, slow, meditative flow. You can think about thousand things while you are travelling by it.  I had travelled by many escalators but I couldn’t enter the city’s depth again.

I thought maybe there could be enters through the waters of St. Petersburg? I walked along the rivers and canals out to the Gulf, threw my secret messages into the water, sailed by the ships - but all in vain. Shiny surfaces reflected any attempts of penetration into the city’s depths. I suppose there is an enter but probably you should be more decisive and be ready to dive in and be on the verge of life and death, to swallow the water, to sacrifice yourself.

And then one day I came to SPbSU. And here I could finally jump into the rabbit hole. This project expresses my feelings after a week of communication with the faculty and with the Bobrinskiy Palace. It looks like this place is my crosslink point that connects me with the deeper city.

1. 

When you see the Bobrinskiy Palace from the street level you can recognise a typical St. Petersburg building in the classicism style. Then you get inside the palace and there you can find a system of courtyards. First, you find yourself in the main courtyard and it seems quite logical, clear and representative. There are many entrances to different parts of the building from the courtyard – and it still looks quite logical and clear. 

2. 

But since you are in, the adventure begins. The rooms were numbered with an unusual logic and it looks quite random. There are a lot of different Signs inside the building. Sometimes there are these strange “empty” signs, but you should relax and open your mind to not get lost. 

3. 

Following the signs, I discovered soon the system of large and small courtyards and passages connecting different parts of the building. Sooner or later you will find yourself in the inner garden which is one of the most magical places of the palace. There are circular tracks, and if you walk there in a certain rhythm, you can see many interesting things including new entrances, which hardly could be seen under other conditions.

4. 

Look at this hole in the tree for example. It looks like just a hollow covered with the mesh.  But be careful: above the hollow there is a mushroom, and this is a direct allusion to "Alice in Wonderland". Remember what the caterpillar told about mushrooms? I'm sure this is a strange mushroom that can bring you to a strange place...

5.

If you follow the stairs (and they're very different and worth another research) sooner or later you will fall into a hypnotic state. I think these stairs can lead to many different places not shown on the palace plans.

6. 

It is very important what kind of thoughts are in your head while you are walking the stairs. Because it really has an influence on what you will see and where you will come.

7. 

Once I found this amazing angle. Being impressed with it I felt myself a bit in David Lynch's atmosphere and when I entered the building the atmosphere inside changed and became more mysterious and mystical.

8.

And in the end I found myself in a very strange place. There were two chairs – the black one and the white one – standing opposite the Elevator doors. They looked empty and inhabited at the same time.  Who sat on those chairs? What or whom have they been waiting in front of the Elevator? Why were the chairs monochrome? What creatures held their conversation there? Who have I scared off?

[thebardcce]

Bard College #ISTANDWITHCEU

The faculty of Bard College has issued a statement in support of Central European University. "Bard has been a close partner of CEU almost since its inception, and CEU plays an important role in Bard’s network of partner institutions, including: the American University of Central Asia, Al-Quds Bard College of Arts and Sciences, Bard College Berlin, European Humanities University, and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at St. Petersburg State University (“Smolny College”). CEU is a beacon of free inquiry, openness, and international understanding. It has been a destination for numerous Bard graduates and study abroad students, a source of faculty throughout our undergraduate network, and a gracious host for several conferences and workshops in which our faculty, staff and students have participated.  We express our solidarity with the faculty, staff and students of CEU and our strongest support for the university's continued functioning. We call upon the Hungarian government to remove the undue administrative and regulatory obstacles that would cripple CEU's operation in Budapest and to negotiate with CEU to find a satisfactory path that will allow it to operate and uphold academic freedom.  Approved by unanimous vote at the meeting of the faculty of Bard College held on April 12, 2017. 

[thebardcce]

Get Engaged 2017: Student Action and Youth Leadership Conference

The Fourth Annual Get Engaged: Student Action and Youth Leadership Conference was held March 19-25, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary.  The conference brought together 41 students from across Bard College’s international network of partner institutions, including Al-Quds Bard College of Arts and Sciences (Palestine), the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), Bard College Berlin (Germany), European Humanities University (Lithuania), the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (“Smolny College”) of St. Petersburg State University (Russia), Bard College at Simon’s Rock (USA) and Bard College in Annandale, New York. Organized in partnership with the Central European University, and hosted on their Budapest campus, the conference strengthened the global network of student social entrepreneurs who are finding creative ways to use the liberal arts as a tool to address challenging social issues in their communities. The conference exposed students to a wide range of ideas, skills and experiences to help them more effectively lead community-based projects. The Get Engaged Conference provides a venue for students to share experiences and exchange best practices, hone leadership styles and network with international partners. The conference is an inspirational and practical space that encourages young people to grow into their role as agents for change. Watch the group in action here. Student projects ranged in size and focus and were organized into four categories that included: Publications and Making Meaning (student newspapers, radio and cross cultural media), Social Justice (student-led grassroots organizing, environmental initiatives and arts based awareness campaigns), Engagement through Language and Culture (public speaking academies, English and Arabic Language instruction and arts clubs) and Youth Engagement (science outreach, peach building initiatives and creative social programs).

Learn more about the Bard International Network here.