AES+F

AES+F

AES+F is an artist collective of four Russian artists: Tatiana Arzamasova (1955), Lev Evzovich (1958), Evgeny Svyatsky (1957), and Vladimir Fridkes (1956). It was first formed as AES Group in 1987 by Arzamasova, Evzovich, and Svyatsky, becoming AES+F when Fridkes joined in 1995.

The collective works in photography, video, installation, and animation, as well as more traditional media, such as painting, drawing, and sculpture. Deploying a sophisticated, poetic dialogue among these media, AES+F create grand visual narratives that explore contemporary global values, vices and conflicts.

The images of Islamic Project debuted at the Guelman Gallery in Moscow as AES – Witnesses of the Future: Islamic Project in 1996, during the breakout of Chechen War, and served as a kind of psychoanalysis – a visualization of Western fears about Islam. In 1997, the group created an interactive performance titled AES Travel Agency to the Future – a fake travel agency office with souvenirs from an “Islamified” future, where visitors were asked to fill out a provocative questionnaire. The Islamic Project has been shown in Russia, the United States, South Korea, as well as in many European countries, and was met with an active and controversial reaction in the international press.

After the attacks of September 11, the Islamic project was treated as prophetic, bringing it to wider popularity – images began to appear on the Internet, on posters of protesters in England, as anonymous cards in tourist kiosks of Mexico. The Islamic Project became widely known outside the art world. Nowadays, when ISIS is declaring its ambition to create a fundamentalist Muslim state (caliphate) across the globe – the Islamic Project has become a classic among anti-utopian visions.

Part of The Islamic Project and presented at Art Riot, the interactive installation titled Oasis (2000-2003) is a place of meditation and daydreaming, reminiscent of a Bedouin tent. It is made of traditional hand-sewn carpets with the artists’ images printed on silk, and complete with hookah and Arabic music.