Previous Blog postings will give you a background to this project and the two visiting Russian artists Gluklya and Tsaplya. It also provides a biography of the New Zealand collaborators.
What follows is a description of their New Zealand project the Greatest Idiot in New Zealand.
This project is part of the Auckland festival 2009 and will be exhibited at MIC Toi Rerehikoi from 6 March. The project occurs on the occasion of the residency at Unitec School of Design of two internationally reknowned St Petersburg based Russian 'situationist' artists Tsaplya and Gluklya of the 'Factory of Found Clothing'. A full description of the Factory with their manifesto and illustrations of art works are earlier in this Blog. This project has received support from CNZ, Unitec, Auckland Festival and MIC Toi Rerehikoi.
While on their residency they are running a special public project 'The greatest Idiot in New Zealand' which involves searching for New Zealand's greatest idiot; an idiot not in the sense we might think, but instead based on Dostoyevsky's enigmatic character Prince Myshkin. In Dostoyevsky's damning critique of Russia's 19th Century ruling class; Prince Myshkin is a guileless character that arrives onto an incestuously entangled aristocratic scene, penniless and without object. His belief in truth and beauty, his direct language soon land him the title of 'idiot'. Yet as he is ridiculed, he is privately respected for his inner wisdom and some even seek solace and advise in his company. Although a complex and ambiguous character he stands for compassion, tolerance, love and friendship amidst a bitter contest for wealth and status.
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