KOLXOZ INFO

WHAT IS KOLXOZ and WHAT WE DO

The KOLXOZ is a Tiraspol–Prague collective that works inside the cycle of the cultural life – from research and production to replication and distribution, turning every step of such process into a manifestation of perception of the surrounding reality. KOLXOZ aspiration is to prevent its own self–isolation from status and issues of human society.

KOLXOZ explores the potential of limits. Kollective research possibilities of mobile autonomous technology uset for creation and presentation of cultural fenomenas. KOLXOZ look for ways of organasing spaces for communication outside the formal zones.

What KOLXOZ thinks about, how KOLXOZ works and lives can be found in the MANIFESTOor during cooperation with KOLXOZ.

More about working methods of KOLXOZ

MASA DE KULTURA

Table - Masa De Kultura (ro. english - Table of Сulture). Is mobile Platform of Kolxoz, consisting of cheap fishing table. This table is fundament of the smallest material needed for starting social situations and integraton. It works on pragmatical but also symbolical level. All info

ALCATRAZ COFFEE BAR

Attempt to Revitalize and repurposed former Disco Bar into one night pop‒up cultural venue. Collectively cleaned, equipped and run for few days bar area as new functionality reading spot. Bar was containing instead of alcohol, publications and Coffee was offered as part of act of cultural experience. Event was including music and art producing friends and forming rather than self‒representing event, event which blends and unite on basis of cultural enthusiasm. Video documentation

MARSHRUTKA~POST~PMR~EXPEDITION

Research and integration into Post Offices system in the main Cities of the Transnistrian region. Moving between the Post offices took place using Marshrutka's (minibuses) - the main public transport in the region. Inside the Post Offices, the activation of the place was made through the bureaucratic practices and tools inherent in this space: the postcards bought there were sent to different parts of the world, symbolically connecting different realities with each other. Photos of the interiors and plants in these Post Offices formed the basis of a series of postcards.

SWIMMING LESSONS

«Kolxoz Swimming Lessons» is research of different collectivity forms. This is a pedagogical and self-educational program of Kolxoz. It began with the hypothesis that «Borders are more Liquid than we Think». Exploration were based on the following thesis:

We can perceive the «collective», even if it is temporary, as a work of art.

Such art can find its expression in the traces that the collective leaves in the smooth surface of symbolic and material places. Sometimes these traces seem ephemeral, like drawings that a swimmer leaves on the surface of the water. But this doesn't mean that such traces are irrelevant.

It can be documented and not only as an aesthetic object but also as a manifestation of the work process, without which it is impossible to exist in this deceptive substance. How to survive in the liquid conditions of cultural and artistic periphery? You are an individual, or a collective organism?

KOLXOZ doesn't have a ready-made universal answer. But KOLXOZ believes that the very process of the experiment can be an ambiguous answer to such flickering questions. What about the underwater stones? Main thing is not to drown, although It also can be the result.

The exploration results of the 3rd Space joint functioning was present during the Pop-up event «Research of Collectivity through Art»

NASLAVCEA ~ CASA PRESEI

CASA PRESEI — this impromptu Publishing House. It was arranged in the space of an abandoned rural house, in Naslavcea village, the northernmost point of Moldova, in August 2020. It was an experiment with representing collective sensation and activity. Kolxoz organized the production of a newspaper, in the creation of the content for which a group of 25 people participated. To replicate work was used Fax technology and as a working environment with communication and recreational functions was opened a temporary cafe «La Pogovorit». The result was achieved in the form of a circulation of publications «Gazetka Naslavcea» in which the process of its creation and the context in which it happened was reflected.

SBORNÍK NEKROLOGŮ

Self–published ribbon «lenta» of paper with the topic of Necrologue. This publication was created as a symbolic space for collaborative work of different people. Authors separated by closed borders, distance and circumstances. Still they formed a collective, once together inside Samizdat. No selection was done. Everyone who found motivation to participate had an equal chance to publish.

Necrolog was collected and printed in Chisinau, in autumn months of year 2020.

3RD SPACE STUDIO OPEN ENVIRONMENT

Place of work, communication and permanent exhibition. Symbiosis of Church, Cosmoport and Cafe. Was activated by Kolxoz and became the Bazochka «base station» for the collective in the fall of 2020. Located in Museum Zemstvei, Chishinau, Moldova

Place with liquid status and liquid potential. It claims work for activation or degeneration. If <<work>> is well done, it leads to the fact that in this place people and elements meet and communicate with each other. Such activity returns this space to the functions for which it was built. All info

Working with the concept of studio spaces as a temporary or permanent model, KOLXOZ came up with theses that contribute to sustainability and effectiveness. Principals were born as a result of research on the topic «Potentials of Limits» and were relevant for peripheral areas of East Europe. This principles can be organically developed and adapted for other local contexts

• Multifunctionality and transformability as ecology of space use. Involves experimenting with other functions in the studio space in addition to the work environment. For example Exhibition space, Reading Corner, Printing House and Post office.
• Recycling of technologies and methods. It means exploring outdated and forgotten tools and practices, and reimagining their purpose for a new context. For example, thermal printing with a fax machine and receipt prints for replicating text and visual products.
• Autonomy of self‒production. From research and production to replication and distribution, Kolxoz turns every step of such a process into a manifestation of perception of the surrounding reality. This prevents dependence on the mechanistic segregation nature of modern society and from addiction on automaticity of mass consumption facilities.
• Collectivity as a format of work, as a work of art, as a search for alternatives, as a practical response to challenges that cannot be dealt by a single person.