WORLD CHAMPIONS
The 10th anniversary year of Pori Art Museum begins with the WORLD CHAMPIONS exhibition, featuring a group of four young Moscow-based artists who emerged in the mid-1980s. At that time, the Soviet Union was in a situation where the bureaucratic state made it difficult for individuals to express themselves. However, this very challenge became the foundation for a counterculture, “where one finds freedom and achieves true self-realization.”
Under the banners of perestroika and glasnost, art was also “liberated”: both the previously underground art scene and the experiments of young artists gained significant international attention. Former restrictions, norms, and benchmarks had become obsolete; one competition had ended, and a new one had begun. Suddenly, anyone could become a champion.
This new complex reality, combined with the illusion of freedom and the search for individuality, gave rise to the WORLD CHAMPIONS. “At that time, in the mid-1980s, there was still hope and illusion that we would triumph, protecting our authenticity, values, and unique freedom.” Their strategy included consciously dismantling the myth of the heroic artist and rejecting the demands of personal success. Provocation and cultural disobedience became their methods, and their work was manifested through the group’s name.
Through their cultural guerrilla tactics, the group sought to achieve “harmony between collective will and individuality.” Styles, methods, or classifications of art were of no intrinsic importance but served as effective weapons in their struggle to challenge the sacrality of Western art. This battle was fought by parodying the clichés of Soviet reality, often following solemn rituals. Life and art blended into a complex bureaucratic game of performances, programs, and acts. The refinement and reinforcement of values like morality, brotherhood, altruism, and chivalry became central objectives. Heroic deeds became the norm of their activity.
The first scientific-artistic programs were carried out under extremely secretive conditions, marked by heroic efforts. In the actions of the Aqua-Avantgarde program, the aim was to create artificial natural phenomena, such as redirecting the lower Volga toward the Atlantic or connecting five seas. The actions of the Hygiene of Art program (e.g., New Geography, Wet Cleaning, Coastal Hygiene) were directed against international egoistic and decadent artistic phenomena. Over time, the group transitioned from isolated and secretive activities to glasnost-inspired openness, engaging with the masses of marginalized artists. The program I Am Not an Artist, I Am a Friend included actions such as The Search for Anonymous Geniuses, resulting in 8,653 documented cases of ingenious or heroic acts and the establishment of contacts with 154 masters, 170 heroes, and 2,300 geniuses.
The Western boom in Soviet art continues unabated. Even the WORLD CHAMPIONS, who once declared themselves the last bastion of counterculture, have had to acknowledge how “nature reclaims its own.” Counterculture became impossible for them, as everything became possible!
Since 1989, the group’s members have shifted toward more individual pursuits. Foreign buyers, exhibition invitations, and fame have now become commonplace for them as well. Highlights of their individual work include last summer’s visual dialogue with renowned world champion Robert Rauschenberg at the Venice Biennale in the exhibition Rauschenberg for Us – Us for Rauschenberg. Today, each world champion has their own biography, constructing an image of the artist and their oeuvre—a total work of art, as is customary in the art world.
The exhibition at Pori Art Museum is the group’s final joint exhibition, featuring primarily recent works by the master individuals.
An accompanying publication, available in Finnish and English, delves into the background of the group’s rise and eventual disintegration.
Publication:
ISBN 951-9355-30-8 Maailman Mestarit / World Champions
Pori Art Museum 3.1.-3.2.1991
Editor: Jari-Pekka Vanhala
Photographer: Juri Gremov
Translations: Harald Arnkil, Karen Kimbal, Henry Pickford, Päivi Sihvonen-Hautecoeur, Virpi Vainikainen
Lay-out: Jari-Pekka Vanhala
100PRINT, Pori 1990
Pori Art Museum Publications 13