The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Sasha Rudensky: Acts and Illusions’ opens Sept. 13
MIDDLETOWN » Wesleyan University’s Davison Art Center presents the exhibition Sasha Rudensky: Acts and Illusions from Wednesday, Sept. 13 through Sunday, Dec. 10.
For more than a decade, Rudensky, assistant professor of art, has traveled back to Russia and the post-Soviet territories with her camera, shooting the aftermath of the Cold War and its ongoing reverberations. Her photographs present the world as experienced by a generation that has come of age since Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in 1999 — a time of political upheaval, ideological uncertainty, and unchecked materiality. The exhibition presents 24 photographs together with a video installation, revealing an unsettling view into contemporary life in the New East. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday from Noon to 4pm. Gallery admission is free.
The public is invited to attend the Opening Reception and Gallery Talk on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 5-7 p.m. at the Davison Art Center, located at 301 High Street on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown. There will be a gallery talk at 5:30 p.m. by Rudensky. The opening reception is free.
The exhibition will be closed from Friday, Oct. 20 through Wednesday, Oct. 25; and Monday, Nov. 20 Sasha Rudensky, “Bus Station, Sevastopol, Ukraine,” from the series Remains, 2004, chromogenic print. (c) Sasha Rudensky. through Monday, Nov. 27.
The exhibition is accompanied by a brochure and essay written by Sophie Pinkham, author of “Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine” (W.W. Norton, 2016). Her writing about Russian and Ukrainian culture and politics has appeared in The London Review of Books, The New Republic, The Nation, n+1, and many other publications.
On Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017 at 5 p.m., a talk by Rudensky, “At the Border of Truth: Photographing the New East” will be presented in the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, 287 Washington Terrace. Admission is free. Rudensky will give an artist’s lecture focusing on her series of photographic and video projects completed in Russia, Ukraine, and the greater New East region, between 2004 and 2017. These projects examine the slow dissolution of Soviet consciousness, the ideological vacuum left in its wake, and reconstitution of new post-Soviet identities.
On Nov. 1 at 5 p.m., a panel discussion will be held in the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, with a discussion of the social and political changes in the former Soviet Union over the last two decades. Speakers will include Sophie Pinkham, author of “Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine” (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016); Sasha Rudensky, Assistant Professor of Art; Peter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, and Professor of Government, of the College of Social Studies, and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REES); Victoria Smolkin, Assistant Professor of History, the College of Social Studies, and REES. Moderated by Clare Rogan, Curator, Davison Art Center, and Susanne Fusso, Chair and Professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Sponsored by Wesleyan’s Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Program, and the Davison Art Center.
Rudensky is a Russian artist residing in the United States. Her work was featured in “reGeneration 2: Photographers of Tomorrow Today” (2010), organized by the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; and she has exhibited widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her solo show “Tinsel and Blue” was exhibited at Sasha Wolf gallery in New York City in 2016. Her work is held in public collections including the Musée de l’Elysée, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson. She received an M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Art; and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. In 2013, she was awarded the Aaron Siskind Individual Fellowship grant. Her photographs have been published in New York Times Magazine, Aperture, Art Forum, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and Photo District News. She is is represented by Sasha Wolf Projects in New York City.