AES+F (Russian artist collective: Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky, and Vladimir Fridkes)
Last Riot 

February 3 – April 3
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 3, 7–9 pm

In collaboration with the Vancouver Biennale, the Richmond Art Gallery will present a video installation by the Russian artist collective, AES+F, Last Riot and a series of video stills.  Last Riot, the most celebrated presentation at the 2007 Venice Biennale, is a three-channel video work based on the aesthetic of computer gaming, where violence is stylized and glamorized, presented in a digital landscape.  Formed in 1987, AES+F work collectively in media ranging from photography, sculpture and drawing to video, performance and computer-based media.  Exploring the aesthetics of technology, cinema, advertising and fashion, AES+F expose the surreal, fantasy visualizations of pop culture, “constructing a futuristic mythological metaphor for the present through their glamorous, seductive yet alarming, artificially hyper-realistic imageries… The heroes of the new epoch have only one identity, that of participants in the last riot. Each fights both self and the other, there’s no longer any difference between victim and aggressor, male and female. This world celebrates the end of ideology, history and ethics.”

www.vancouverbiennale.com

IN COLLABORATION WITH





RELATED PROGRAMMING

AES+F Public Talk + Tour
Saturday, February 26, 2–3pm
Artists Tatiana Arzamazova and Lev Evzovitch to give an introduction to the video Last Riot. Richmond Art Gallery. Free admission.

AES+F Public Talk
Thursday March 3, 7pm
Artists to talk about their art work, the current state of contemporary art in Russia and their future plans. Langara College Lecture Room A122a, 100 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver BC. Free to the public.
Download pdf flyer

Young People’s Image World: Media Literacy for the Digital Age
A discussion with Dr. Stuart R. Poyntz, Ph.D.
Saturday March 5, 1–2pm

This discussion looks at the impact of digital media on youth culture. How does imagery from television, film, video games, and fashion magazines impact our youth? How do we navigate our children and ourselves through the bombardment of violent and sexualized images that we are exposed to on a daily basis? Richmond Art Gallery. Free admission.
Download pdf flyer


LINKS

Media Education Working Group
Features media education resources, organizations and lesson plans

Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures
Includes The Participation Paradox, or Agency and Sociality in Contemporary Youth Cultures, an article by Dr. Stuart R. Poyntz, Ph.D. Download pdf essay


Left:
AES+F, Last Riot (detail), video still, 2005-07.
© AES+F Courtesy Triumph Gallery (Moscow) and Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow).