Igor Samolet
"Igor Samolet is a contemporary Russian artist working with photography and new media. In 2013 he graduated from the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia with major in ""Project Photography"" and then released a photo book titled Be Happy!, which received a silver medal at the 2014 German Photobook Award and was included in the third volume of the History of Photobooks edited by the renowned British photographer Martin Parr. The artist’s other projects — Drunken Confessions and Breakfast for Artem — were included in the shortlist of the Innovation prize in 2018. In his works Igor Samolet researches the nature of human relationships examining it through the lens of social, civil and digital engagement. Complicated drama is inherent to all of the artist’s projects: from comedy to genuine drama, unpicking the subjects of marginalisation, emotional instability, and technological exploitation. Samolet’s works have a personal air to them, his practice drawing from intimate experiences which are depicted in a semi-documentary, yet non-autobiographical manner. Igor participated in the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art grant programme (2018—2019; 2019—2020) and in 2019 he became the winner of the prestigious award for young artists from Credit Suisse and Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair. Samolet showcased his work at many key international biennials, including Foto Wien (Vienna), 7th Hamburg Photographic Triennial 18, Athens Photo Festival:18, Circulation(s) 2018 Festival of Young European Photography (Paris), Manifesta 10 (Saint Petersburg), 6th Ural Industrial Biennal of Contemporary Art, steirischer herbst'20 (Graz)."
The 20:20 project by Igor Samolet represents an overlay network, which consists of the exterior part — a newsfeed — and the interior one — a set of playlists. In the centre of this digital structure two joint opposite-looking faces are positioned, revolving according to the rhythm of the collage. The layers contain visuals from our digital everyday: news feeds screenshots, Snapchat mask filters, Instagram stories, chats, and posts. This project accurately represents the artist’s method — the instrumentalisation of the processes of digital production and consumption and their subsequent utilisation as a primary shaping factor. The content of the collage is the artist’s reaction to the social, civil, historic, or personal circumstances and events, which renders a simple screenshot into a ‘decisive moment’, a new form in photography. Through the act of publishing of the response the artist places himself as an actor of global historic processes. Igor Samolet’s projects represent a contemporary human through the lens of their emotional volatility, expose their vulnerability and incapability to adapt in the eye of the vast digital space and the aggressive universe of new technologies.
