This exhibition, “Le coordinate del suono” (The Coordinates of Sound), curated by Vitaly Patsyukov, focuses on the relationship between sound and image with nine works taking a meaningful look at contemporary art in Russia. The first work visitors encounter is Il viaggio della luna privata (The Journey of the Private Moon), 2003–2015, a video about Leonid Tishkov’s light installation Luna privata (Private Moon). This is followed by three videos carrying a strong emotional punch: Vladimir Tarasov’s heartrending Kyklos, 2010, documenting the life of a tree through the passage of time; Vladimir Martynov and Vladimir Smolyar’s L’aprè-midi d’un Bach (The Afternoon of Bach), 2011, wherein an image is set to the rhythm of Bach’s music; and Olga Chernysheva’s poetic Sogno festivo (Festive Dream), 2005, which presents the dreams of a homeless person set to the song “Volare.”

A surrealist vein runs through a series of three films from 2006 by Aleksandra Mitlyanskaya, all set to pieces of music by Tchaikovsky. One, Lago dei cigni. Finale. Uovo (Swan Lake. Finale. Egg), focuses on an egg in a pan; another, the flame produced by a gas burner, in Concerto n.1. Fornello (Concerto n.1. Burner); and the last depicts water coming from a shower, in Danza dei piccoli cigni. Doccia (Dance of the Small Swans. Shower). Elsewhere, noises and lights from racing cars are the protagonists of the film Codefonia. Viale dalle 19.08 alle 20.00. 05-10-2010[please confirm hyphens OK instead of en dashes] (Codephony. Avenue from 7:08 pm to 8 pm. 05-10-2010), 2011. The exhibition concludes in perfect fashion with Andrey Klimenko and Pavel Karmanov’s Forellenquintett (Trout Quintet), 1998–2011, a film addressing the tragic fate of a trout, inspired by the homonymous Schubert composition, fished to be cooked and eaten.

Translated from Italian by Marguerite Shore.

— Pier Paolo Pancotto