Boris Mikhailov: Структури Madness, або Why Shepherds Live в Mountains Often Go Crazy / Photomania in Crimea

The special thing about Boris Mikhailov as a "book maker" is that he thinks of and develops photography in sequences, in spaces and cuts, in the forms of its montage.

Viewed as a whole, his books and book drafts which often only exist as one original copy create a retrospective of a very unique and intimate kind. The artist's books "Krymskaja Fotomanija" (Crimean Photomania) and "Mountains", each with 128 pages, are shown here in facsimile, accompanied by 80 pages of illustrated text.

Boris Mikhailov is seen as a chronicler of his Ukrainian homeland: the everyday life of the so-called little people on the street, on the beach, at dances anywhere that the politic becomes visible in the private. Drawing on this material, Mikhailov explores both the human condition and the history and decline of the Soviet Union and the consequences of its fall.

About the Author:

Boris Mikhailov was born in Kharkov, Ukraine in 1938. He uses documentary as well as staging and studio techniques to comment on the Soviet Regime and, latterly, the downfall of the Soviet Union. His work has appeared in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Kunsthalle (Zurich), and the Sprengel Museum (Hannover). Today, Mikhailov lives and works in both Kharkov and Berlin.