Olga Kisseleva: Divers faits

The project ?FAITS DIVERS? turns around a photographic series of contemporary still lifes and consisting of a narrative text for each photograph. If the historical references of the project and the use of allegorical codes obviously come from the Dutch painting of the 17th century, Olga Kisseleva?s still life pictures can be read in multiple semiotic and emotional layers thanks to all the objects that are part of the compositions. In the 21st century, like in the 17th, the object can have different levels of meaning: through its form, material, colour and use, but also through its nature, its relation to other objects, persons or places. One can seize and interpret the references immediately. In addition to this immediate perception, the artist will refer to her illustrious predecessors, adding another layer of meaning, the level of history or tradition, using, for example, the ?dictionary of the objects? of the Northern Renaissance, the local and popular customs, the social, professional, geographical and, of course, nutritional references. The wrapping, the colours, and the absence or presence of logos are not used innocently, and so, the composition of those everyday objects will refer the viewer to a message other than just promotion(or commerce): and a story of loves, friendship, conquest or discovery. During the creative process, the artist relied on a team of art historians, a sociologist and a writer. First they compiled a contemporary dictionary of the system of symbols of food and everyday objects. Then, writer Helena Villovich was commissioned to write 49 short stories. Inspired by the everyday life of the artist, each text is based on some keywords taken from the dictionary. Finally, a still life was composed on the basis of each story. The objects selected for the still life correspond to the keywords at the heart(or root) of the story. Viewed as a sequence, the photographs present a chronological narrative, a panorama of the everyday, a semiological essay of contemporary food industry. Olga Kisseleva (1965, St.Petersburg) lives and works in St-Petersburg and Paris. She uses new technologies, photography and video to confide us with a report of a world dominated by technologies and conditioning behaviour. The artist offers an account of a complex reality, presented in multiple layers: local, contextual, globalised. Her artworks deal with territory, identity and new media, and reveal the failures of the occidental model. Focussing her attention on post-modern society, Olga Kisseleva attempts to discover the place reserved for the mind, for intellectual and artistic activity.