Swans Have Arrived!
‘The spell will lose its power if a young man, who has never before pledged his love to anyone, falls in love with her and remains faithful to her...’
(Modest Tchaikovsky, ‘Libretto for the ballet “Swan Lake”’) ...▷
At night, the entrance to Moscow State University’s Botanical Garden, ‘Aptekarsky Ogorod’, is closed
Swans Have Arrived!
Kinetic sculpture,
site-specific installation on water
The Botanical Gardens of Moscow State University "THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN"
Mixed materials
2018
site-specific installation on water
The Botanical Gardens of Moscow State University "THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN"
Mixed materials
2018
Concept, sculpture
Konstantin Grouss
Mixed media: metal fittings, plastic pipes, burlap, lightweight filler, classical ballet costumes (tutus and pointe shoes by Grishko); underwater bases of concrete and metal
Four figures, each approx. 250 cm high. Variation 1: one group, approx. 2.5 × 4 m on the water. Variation 2: two groups, approx. 2.5 × 2 m and 2.5 × 1.5 m.
Site: the old pond, the Apothecaries' Garden, Botanical Garden of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow
Exhibited: Ars Hortus, international festival of art, ecology and science, 2018
On view: May 2018 – April 2019 (Variation 1: May–June 2018, destroyed by a storm; Variation 2: July 2018 – April 2019)
Film: Swans Have Arrived!, 2018. Camera: Andrey Korshunkov. Music: P. I. Tchaikovsky (Variation 2)
Supported by Grishko World.
With thanks to the directorate of the garden (Alexey Reteyum, Alexander Almin, Olga Arkhipova) and to the festival curators Dmitry Nikitin and Timofey Caraffa-Corbut
Special thanks to Riccardo Murelli, Dmitry Grishko, Nikolay Gorbunov, Satyavati Arya, and Anna Arya.
Technical Assistant: Yuri Gutin.
Konstantin Grouss
Mixed media: metal fittings, plastic pipes, burlap, lightweight filler, classical ballet costumes (tutus and pointe shoes by Grishko); underwater bases of concrete and metal
Four figures, each approx. 250 cm high. Variation 1: one group, approx. 2.5 × 4 m on the water. Variation 2: two groups, approx. 2.5 × 2 m and 2.5 × 1.5 m.
Site: the old pond, the Apothecaries' Garden, Botanical Garden of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow
Exhibited: Ars Hortus, international festival of art, ecology and science, 2018
On view: May 2018 – April 2019 (Variation 1: May–June 2018, destroyed by a storm; Variation 2: July 2018 – April 2019)
Film: Swans Have Arrived!, 2018. Camera: Andrey Korshunkov. Music: P. I. Tchaikovsky (Variation 2)
Supported by Grishko World.
With thanks to the directorate of the garden (Alexey Reteyum, Alexander Almin, Olga Arkhipova) and to the festival curators Dmitry Nikitin and Timofey Caraffa-Corbut
Special thanks to Riccardo Murelli, Dmitry Grishko, Nikolay Gorbunov, Satyavati Arya, and Anna Arya.
Technical Assistant: Yuri Gutin.
Sculpture
Dance in dynamic statics
Sculpture is a logical continuation of the dance, the opportunity to give it existence in another time and dimension.
In my approach to working with static form, a kinetic element is essential, as it conveys a sense of change and a connection to the present moment
Sculpture is a logical continuation of the dance, the opportunity to give it existence in another time and dimension.
In my approach to working with static form, a kinetic element is essential, as it conveys a sense of change and a connection to the present moment
STORY and Variations
Swans Have Arrived! began with a walk through the spring garden. In April 2018, while preparing for the Ars Hortus festival, an hour before a hurricane, I was walking through the Apothecaries' Garden, the botanical garden of Moscow State University. The old pond and the name of the garden (in Russian, literally the Apothecaries’ Kitchen Garden) came together in my mind as the concept of the work.
I imagined four ballerinas on the water, in real tutus and pointe shoes from Grishko: half the swan of Swan Lake, half a garden scarecrow keeping the ravens away. The botanical garden gave me plenty of found materials, metal fittings, plastic pipes, burlap and a light filler, and all of them went into the sculpture. It stood on a concrete base with metal reinforcement, hidden under the water. Water and wind became the choreographer's assistants. The figures barely move, but they never stand still. I called this style of dance "dance in dynamic statics".
The day after the Ars Hortus festival opened in May, the sculpture was installed on the pond as a performance. I was already planning to film the work, but three weeks later a storm and a torrential downpour destroyed its base, and the figures sank under the water. The ballerinas floating beneath the surface looked like Ophelia: the tragic ending of the ballet was beginning to come true.
But I decided our fairy tale would have a happy ending. Over the next month I built a completely new composition, this time with a black swan among the white ones, and in July the swans returned. They stayed on the pond for four seasons, through the autumn rains that filled the pond again and the snow of winter. In October the poetry of late golden autumn turned the garden into a fairy tale once more. I sailed in a boat among the swaying figures while Andrey Korshunkov filmed them for a short film to Tchaikovsky's music. At the end of April 2019, after four seasons, they flew away after all.
For me this work is the place where choreography moved into matter. The road from it leads to my current series, Extended Moment.
I imagined four ballerinas on the water, in real tutus and pointe shoes from Grishko: half the swan of Swan Lake, half a garden scarecrow keeping the ravens away. The botanical garden gave me plenty of found materials, metal fittings, plastic pipes, burlap and a light filler, and all of them went into the sculpture. It stood on a concrete base with metal reinforcement, hidden under the water. Water and wind became the choreographer's assistants. The figures barely move, but they never stand still. I called this style of dance "dance in dynamic statics".
The day after the Ars Hortus festival opened in May, the sculpture was installed on the pond as a performance. I was already planning to film the work, but three weeks later a storm and a torrential downpour destroyed its base, and the figures sank under the water. The ballerinas floating beneath the surface looked like Ophelia: the tragic ending of the ballet was beginning to come true.
But I decided our fairy tale would have a happy ending. Over the next month I built a completely new composition, this time with a black swan among the white ones, and in July the swans returned. They stayed on the pond for four seasons, through the autumn rains that filled the pond again and the snow of winter. In October the poetry of late golden autumn turned the garden into a fairy tale once more. I sailed in a boat among the swaying figures while Andrey Korshunkov filmed them for a short film to Tchaikovsky's music. At the end of April 2019, after four seasons, they flew away after all.
For me this work is the place where choreography moved into matter. The road from it leads to my current series, Extended Moment.
Process
-
April 2018. The site: the old pond of the Apothecaries' Garden. -
Building the figures: metal fittings, pipes and burlap. -
Setting the underwater bases. -
The tutus and pointe shoes from Grishko. -
Installation on the pond, May 2018. -
Variation 1 on the water. -
After the storm. -
Building Variation 2, July 2018. -
Building Variation 2, Grishko tutu on a bare frame -
Black swan installation on the water, July 2018. -
Variation 2, dance, August 2018. -
Autumn: the pond fills with rain again. -
October: the boat among the swans; filming. -
Winter: the first thin ice and snow -
April 2019: the last day.
Photo
"Swans Have Arrived!"
Sculpture
Variation 1
Variation 1
Photo
"Swans Have Arrived!"
Sculpture
Variation 2
Variation 2
Video
"Swans haVE arrived!"
"Swans haVE arrived!"
Variation 1
Video documentary
Video documentary
Video
"Swans haVE arrived!"
"Swans haVE arrived!"
Variation 2
Camera: Andrey Korshunkov
Music: P. I. Tchaikovsky
Camera: Andrey Korshunkov
Music: P. I. Tchaikovsky
Konstantin Grouss
Konstantin Grouss is an artist, choreographer and curator, born in Moscow. He worked in Moscow, Europe and the USA, and has lived in Ubud, Bali, since 2023. For more than twenty years his practice has moved through choreography, performance, video, kinetic sculpture and curatorial work, shown at the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and the State Tretyakov Gallery. In 2009 he founded Art-Residence, an international cultural project in Moscow, and with its team created the Art-Ovrag festival of new culture in Vyksa. Since 2024 he has made Extended Moment, unique works on aluminium, teak and silk, by a method he calls BaliKu: grouss.art
Full biography and CV
Curiosity about life in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.
Swans Have Arrived!
The Botanical Gardens of Moscow State University "THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN"
2018
2018