©Ksenia Peretrukhina

Total Theatre, 2018, plywood, metal

The tribune invites a viewer to climb it, take a seat, and observe the life of the city – its architecture, weather, people. It invites to feel the flow of life as a process and oneself as an important part of this process. “Total Theater” is a tool for the viewer to independently consturct his / her own city, history, environment, and to appropriate them in his / her mind.

In terms of its functions, this rostrum is similar to its “sister” occupying the Times Square in New York, as well as to many more temporary constructions installed in various landmark places of the world. The area near the People’s Friendship fountain seems to be the best spot in Moscow to host such a construction. It serves as an ultimate representation of the Stalinist architecture, the artistic peak of the certain historical period, which is associated with a whole range of concepts and attitutes, in particular, admiration, rejection, attempted restoration, trauma, human disaster, the last great mythology, national pride, interconnection of art and social issues, and many other extremely important topics longing to be reflected upon by the contemporary thought. In this sense, the platform of the “Total Theater” is a democratic proposal addressed to everyone – to think over important issues of our time and form one’s individual opinion.