Archetype: Archetypes of Memory, 2023

    The panel was created as part of the exhibition-laboratory, the experiment "Archetypes of Memory", dedicated to the space of workshops in the 'House of the Artist', where the process of the city's artistic life has been concentrated for over half a century. The project was based on the task of mastering the complex, multidimensional space of the House of the Artist, through the localization of its meanings in one place, elevating this place to the status of a temporary dominant.
    Through meetings and artistic reflection, individual and collective dialogues were formed with the content of what is inside and around each author. An opportunity arose to explore ways of coexistence in different layers of time and interpersonal connections. The panel became the result of collaborative work between artists and visitors; elements of the composition emerged intuitively at the subconscious level, as if words and phrases manifesting through the layers of new texts in the palimpsest.
    In this collective object, we address the layer of the cultural landscape that is site-specific not in relation to the territory's context, but in relation to the individual's internal space. We are currently considering artistic research into people's lives in territories linked to their ancestors and art oriented towards internal contents from the perspective of 'co-relation' with the place, thereby transitioning to the existential aspect of landscape perception.
    The exploration of the world, surrounding humans, from the perspective of the influence of artistic imagery on psychological and philosophical perceptions of life has long been associated with mythical consciousness. The animating of the landscape, the animal world and the elements constructs a certain understandable system of coordinates, while the sacralization of personal territory – 'alaas', leaves a trace in genetic memory and manifests itself across generations.

Архетип: Archetypes of Memory, 2023
"...individuality is a significant feature of heterotopia in social space. Individual space is effectively enhanced by the accumulation of personal knowledge. Personal knowledge and creativity are particularly significant in the heterotopic space, which is indefinite under modern conditions." Alexander Milykh The panel was created as part of the exhibition-laboratory, the experiment "Archetypes of Memory", dedicated to the space of workshops in the 'House of the Artist', where the process of the city's artistic life has been concentrated for over half a century. The project was based on the task of mastering the complex, multidimensional space of the House of the Artist, through the localization of its meanings in one place, elevating this place to the status of a temporary dominant. Through meetings and artistic reflection, individual and collective dialogues were formed with the content of what is inside and around each author. An opportunity arose to explore ways of coexistence in different layers of time and interpersonal connections. The panel became the result of collaborative work between artists and visitors; elements of the composition emerged intuitively at the subconscious level, as if words and phrases manifesting through the layers of new texts in the palimpsest. In this collective object, we address the layer of the cultural landscape that is site-specific not in relation to the territory's context, but in relation to the individual's internal space. We are currently considering artistic research into people's lives in territories linked to their ancestors and art oriented towards internal contents from the perspective of 'co-relation' with the place, thereby transitioning to the existential aspect of landscape perception. The exploration of the world, surrounding humans, from the perspective of the influence of artistic imagery on psychological and philosophical perceptions of life has long been associated with mythical consciousness. The animating of the landscape, the animal world and the elements constructs a certain understandable system of coordinates, while the sacralization of personal territory – 'alaas', leaves a trace in genetic memory and manifests itself across generations.

    The UMUU project consists of a personal study of the ancestral transmission of knowledge through the female line of the group members, personal reading and awareness of the source of one’s vitality, and transmission of the hidden power that every woman is endowed with. We find in the texts about the shaman cult of the Sakha evidence that every woman was considered potentially Udaganka, the bearer of the genetic code of a healer, warrior, guardian.
    Udaganka poetry – the power of the word algys (blessing) and kyryys (curse) is an important verbal part of the traditional Yakut rituals. In the ancient shamanic cult, the key figure was the figure of the celestial shaman – aiyy udagan. Researchers of the religious rites of the Sakha people note that during the Ysyakh holidays, men – the servants of the tribal cult – dressed in long women’s fur coats and women’s dabak hats, referring to the power of the feminine.
    The collective object UMUU will be a traditional archaic type of women’s ritual outerwear umuulaakh son (a fur coat with a charm), hand-sewn together by all members of the group from the details of clothing worn by our grandmother and ourselves. Recreating the process of making a ritual “dream”, as we create an anthropological and mythological model of our research, painstakingly stitching together pieces of family artefacts, we are moving from awareness of ourselves in the context of the clan, to awareness of ourselves in the context of the ethnic group.
    The bird and the nest – the symbols of the Archetype group in this project convey the idea of ancestral memory, intuitive secret knowledge transmitted by women of the genus. The bird is an important hypostasis of the figurative essence of the shaman. Udaganka often turned into birds – Siberian Cranes, loons, swans – the bird in Sakha mythology considered a mediator between the worlds, and the Udaganka woman could also move between all three worlds. The bird cult is displayed in the form of a totem bird spirit in the ritual clothes of a woman.
    The UMUU object is a fur coat sewn from large pieces of fabric. Observing the traditional original cut of the Yakut fur coat Tanalai son, the artists will reproduce it using fragments of clothing belonging to women of their family. The traditional ornament made of metal elements and beads will also be recreated. The lining of the fur coat will be equipped with a motion sensor. The principle of interaction between the viewer and the object: the object will be installed in such a way that a person can fit inside the volume created inside the fur coat, as if “trying it on”. The motion sensors respond and trigger a directional sound system recording the voices of the members of the Archetype group.

Ымыы, 2022
Группа Архетип исследует глубинные смыслы из прошлого народов, населяющих территорию Якутии, общих для глобальной памяти человека. Проекты, созданные группой за пять лет, выстраивают коммуникацию с «нутряным» знанием, воспоминаниями о тайных символах, которые живут в каждой из нас. Наитие, сакральная память женского тела, особенность женского сознания, связанного с живой природой собраны в образе удаганки. В олонхо удаганка – реликтовый мотив, архаическая черта эпоса, воспоминание об эпохе матриархата. Проект «ЫМЫЫ» состоит из личного исследования родовой передачи знания по женской линии участниц группы, личного прочтения и осознания источника своей витальности, трансляции скрытой силы, которой наделена каждая женщина. Мы находим в текстах о шаманском культе саха доказательства того, что каждая женщина считалась потенциально удаганкой, носительницей генетического кода целительницы, воительницы, хранительницы. Поэзия удаганок - сила слова алгыс (благословение) и кырыыс (проклятие) важная вербальная часть традиционных якутских обрядов. В семейной памяти женщин шепотом из уст в уста передаются слова способные уберечь, защитить, излечить. Мы собрали эти слова – обряды повседневности, ритуалы женщины, заговаривающей простуду своего ребенка, наговоры, уводящие дурные сны по ветру с облаками. В древнешаманском культе ключевой фигурой была фигура небесной шаманки - айыы удаган. Исследователи религиозных обрядов народа саха отмечают то, что во время праздников ысыах мужчины - служители родового культа облачались в длинные женские шубы и женские шапки дьабака, обращаясь к силе женского начала. Коллективный объект «ЫМЫЫ» представляет собой традиционный архаичный тип женского ритуального верхнего одеяния «ымыылаах сон» (шуба с оберегом), сшитый вручную совместно всеми участницами группы из деталей одежды, которую носили наши бабушки, мамы и мы сами, используя как деталь объекта красный бисер, лежавший в сундуке в тканевом мешочке почти 50 лет, мы создаем символ памяти крови. Воссоздавая процесс изготовления ритуального «сон» мы создаем антропологическую и мифологическую модель нашего исследования, кропотливо сшивая частички семейных артефактов, мы переходим от осознания себя в контексте рода, к осознанию себя в контексте этноса. Птица и гнездо – символы группы «Архетип» в данном проекте транслируют идею родовой памяти, интуитивного тайного знания, передаваемых женщинами рода, Птица - важная ипостась образной сути шамана. Удаганки часто превращались в птиц – стерхов, гагар, лебедей, птица в мифологии саха считалась медиатором между мирами, также и женщина-удаганка могла перемещаться между всеми тремя мирами. Птичий культ отображен в виде тотемного птичьего духа в ритуальной одежде женщины. Объект «ЫМЫЫ» представляет собой шубу, сшитую из крупных лоскутов ткани. Соблюдая традиционный оригинальный крой якутской шубы Таналай сон, художницы воспроизвели его, используя фрагменты одежды принадлежащей женщинам их рода. Также был воссоздан традиционный орнамент из металлических элементов и бисера. Объект задуман таким образом, чтобы человек мог поместиться внутри объема, созданного внутри шубы, как бы «примерить ее». Датчики движения, реагируя на присутствие человека, запускают систему направленного звука с записью старинных семейных целебных заговоров и благословений. Участницы группы Архетип воспроизводят своими голосами слова благословений и наговоров передаваемых через поколения в их семьях как дар повседневной женской магии. Куратор Александр Буренков

According to the ideas of Sakha, the bright deities of Aiyy descended from heaven on the Ysyakh holiday, it was on them that the further life of the human race depended. On Ysyakh, on the day of the summer solstice, the Sakha met heavenly deities and held a ceremony of worship to the deities of Aiyy and the spirits of nature. The horse was a central component of the entire religious and ritual system of Sakha. The life cycle of man and horse performed in harmonious unity, and it was this phenomenon that was and is the main key to understanding the ethnic tradition of Sakha.

    Conversational performance 'Sound Metaphor. Sound of Sincerity' by the creative group 'Archetype' is associated with the practice of sound meditation-concentration of a guide to sacred knowledge of the Yakut people – Olonkho-teller (narrator) and Algys-teller (White Shaman).
The sound concentration practice - 'dorgoon tahaary', a practice that helps to tune into a specific process 'turukka kiirii' – entering the right rhythm, the state necessary for the ritual of singing or blessing.
    For the Archetype group, the exploration of symbols and images of traditional culture is connected with the study of the Olonkho epic. Throughout the entire development period of the project, each author takes on the role of an Olonkho-teller, transmitting or creating their own myth, transforming their creative process into myth-making, positioning their art as a means of self-identification and reflection, operating with archetypal plots - images taken from the depths of collective memory. During the performance, a sound wave passes through all of us, created by each individual and all together. And each directs the energy of this sound first inward and then, by giving shape to the sound in words, turns it into a narrative about oneself.
    In telling our stories, each of us speaks not only about ourselves but also about the process of creating the world. In the Olonkho epic, our world began with emptiness, endured a fiery battle of all the forces of nature, and only then and only then the fire subsided and began to warm the world, filling it with life.

Ustinya:
«Emptiness
You, if you're forgotten like a dream,
Like wandering on the road,
Live in the wilderness of night,
In minds closed from love,
What only the wind knows.
You, if you are a grain of sand,
Tossed in the flow of wind,
Wandering in eternal twilight sleep.
You're not free to live,
You're dust, an empty space,
It’s flattering for you to even think,
And what a sadness and tragedy in soul.
But is there a soul?
There's no place for a soul.
When you're dust,
To you, the wave is just to drift,
And there is no flesh and there is no torment.
For you, passions are not in measure,
Human dismissals,
Among verbal confessions,
All this is indifferent.
There is no thought, no suffering, no love.
Only the Sun - eternal nothingness.»


Nadezhda:
«According to the beliefs of the Yakut people, all plants, trees and birds have souls. In the World Tree lives the ichi (spirit) of the Middle World - Aan Alakhchyn Khotun. When spring comes, Aan Alakhchyn emerges from the tree - then plants start to bloom, trees turn green, grass grows, birds fly from the south, and summer arrives. Spirits accompany human earthly life, serving as protectors of their well-being.»

Lyudmila:
«When I was a child, I loved to watch the fire in the village oven. My grandmother would warn me not to stare at the fire for too long, saying that the spirit of the fire might take me away. On the contrary, my grandfather allowed me to watch and communicate with the fire. He believed in spirits and respected the spirit of fire. He always told me that wherever a Yakut person may be, he should feed and respect the fire, because it is our guardian, protecting us from all misfortunes. Today, in my adult life and in my profession, I work with fire every day, I encounter it, and it seems to protect me. It's very alive, we talk to each other, communicate.»

Alexandra:
«I dream of having a daughter, I really want to sit like this someday and braid her hair. In old times, our ancestors believed that when a child was born, the goddess Aiyyhyt came from the heavens in the guise of a sacred white mare. She was greeted with joy, and she blessed the newborn.Then, after three days, the Aiyyhyt farewell ceremony was performed. My older sister Tuyaara told me how she participated in such a ritual during her studies; she was an actress. In this ritual, women would let down their hair and laugh together, and the one who laughed the loudest would soon have a child. It was the gift of the goddess Aiyyhyt. And so my sister laughed the loudest at that ceremony and soon gave birth to a daughter.This is a part of our culture, our reality.»

Elena:
«They say that before the appearance of our world, there was a battle of all the forces of nature for the right to be a part of it. My mother often recalls how after my birth, I fought for my life for 7 days. I think a person goes through conflicts all his life, and above all, it's a struggle with oneself. My inner struggle never stops, day or night. Sometimes I think, perhaps, the main battles are still ahead, or maybe life itself is the battle...»

Видео. Разговорный перформанс «Звуковая метафора. Звучание искренности» творческой группы «Архетип» связан с практикой звуковой медитации-концентрации проводников сакрального знания якутского народа – Олонхосута (сказителя) и Алгысчыта (Белого шамана). Звуковая практика концентрации - Дор5оон таhаары, практика помогающая настроиться на определенный процесс турукка киирии – вхождение в нужный ритм, состояние, необходимое для ритуала песнопения или благословения. Для группы Архетип исследование символов и образов традиционной культуры связано с исследованием эпоса Олонхо. На протяжении всего периода развития проекта каждый автор примеряет на себя роль олонхосута-сказителя, транслируя или создавая свой собственный миф, трансформируя свой творческий процесс в мифотворчество, позиционируя свое искусство, как способ самоидентификации и рефлексии, оперирующим архетипическими сюжетами - образами, взятыми из глубин коллективной памяти. В ходе перформанса через всех нас проходит звуковая волна, созданная каждым в отдельности и всеми вместе. И каждый направляет энергию этого звука сначала вглубь себя и затем, придав звуку форму слов, превращает его в сказание о себе. Рассказывая о себе, каждая из нас говорит и о процессе создания мира. В эпосе Олонхо наш мир начавшись с пустоты, пережил огненную битву всех сил природы и только затем огонь затих и стал согревать мир, наполнил его жизнью. Устиния Прокопьева Пустота Ты, если ты забыт как сон, Как странствие в пути, В ночной глуши живи, В умах закрытых от любви, Что только ветер знает. Ты, если ты песчинка, Что мечется в потоке ветра. Слоняясь в вечном сумеречном сне. Тебе не вольно жизнь, Ты прах, пустое место, Тебе и мыслить лестно, И какова печаль, с трагедией в душе. А есть душа? Душе нет места. Когда ты пыль, Тебе волна лишь плыть, И плоти нет и нет мучений. Тебе не в меру шуточные страсти Людские увольнения, Средь словные признания, Всё это безразлично. Нет мысли, нет страданий, нет любви. Одно лишь солнце - вечное ничто. Надежда Комиссарова По верованиям якутов, душой обладали растения, деревья, птицы. В мировом дереве живёт иччи (дух) Срединного мира - Аан Алахчын Хотун. Когда приходит весна, Аан Алахчын выходит из дерева - тогда расцветают растения, зеленеют деревья, вырастает трава, прилетают птицы с юга, наступает лето. Духи сопровождают земную жизнь человека, являясь покровителями его благополучия. Людмила Федорова Давно в детстве, я любила глядеть на огонь в печи. На что мне бабушка говорила, мол не гляди по долгу на огонь, смотри а то дух огня тебя заберёт. А дедушка наоборот разрешал мне смотреть и общаться с огнём. Он верил и приклонялся духу огня. Всегда советовал, где бы ни был человек саха, должен кормить и почитать огонь, потому как он наш хранитель, он оберегает нас от всех бед и несчастий. Сегодня уже во взрослой жизни, по своей специальности, я каждый день работаю с огнём, встречаю его. И он как будто меня оберегает, он очень живой, мы с ним разговариваем, общаемся Александра Неустроева -Я мечтаю о дочери, очень хочу когда-нибудь вот так сидеть и плести ей косы. В старину наши предки верили что когда, в доме рождался ребёнок, с небес спускалась богиня Айыыhыт, в виде священной белой кобылицы. Её встречали с радостью, она благословляла новорождённого. Потом после трёх дней проводился обряд проводов Айыыhыт. Моя старшая сестра Туйаара рассказывала, как она во время учебы участвовала в таком обряде, она была актрисой. В этом обряде женщины распускали волосы и все хором смеялись, и у кого громче всех смех был, у той скоро рождался ребёнок. Дар богини айыыhыт. И вот сестра моя на том обряде громче всех смеялась рассказывала, и в скором времени родила дочь. Это часть нашей культуры, наша реальность. Елена Васильева Говорят что появлению нашего мира, предшествовала битва всех сил природы за право быть его частью. Моя мама часто вспоминает, как после рождения я 7 дней сражалась за свою жизнь. Я думаю, человек всю жизнь проходит через конфликты и прежде всего это борьба с собой. Моя внутренняя борьба не прекращается ни днем, ни ночью. Иногда я думаю, наверно главные битвы еще впереди, а может вся жизнь и есть битва… Оператор, режиссер монтажа, звукорежиссер – Алексей Абрамов Куратор Александр Буренков

The Buor Kut project is a new conceptual project of the group, as a kind of cross-section of the creative process that is associated with the development of new research directions, semantic and symbolic images and mediums by the members of the group. Since 2017, the artists of the group have been forming their authorial and collective statements in the format of artistic research, building active communication with the scientific and museum community. The research principle and reflection as the basis for working with meanings currently unites the authors of the project around a wide variety of thematic areas from ecology to the role of gender, from traditional crafts to modern science. Building a symbolic connection between modern artistic and archaic ritual female practices, the Buor Kut project focuses the collective's attention on the theme of soil, "earthly flesh", ritual and mental "conversation of man with the earth". The artists turn to the three main mediums - video, sound and clay, as a material and semantic basis for a collective object. This research begins with an interest in the scientific works of Ekaterina Nazarovna Romanova, Doctor of Historical Sciences, ethnographer, ritualist, in particular, articles about fate in the context of the mythological tradition of the Yakuts. Another source of knowledge that became a fulcrum for the conceptual turn of the project was the work of Dmitry Stepanovich Makarov "Folk Wisdom: Knowledge and ideas". The Archetype group works in the format of artistic development of scientific knowledge and each project, being an intuitive search, in many ways becomes one of the forms of publication of research on the Yakut traditional culture, on the sacred knowledge of the Sakha people, which is not obvious from the point of view of academic optics. Myth as a reason to talk about fate, human life. An appeal to ancient craft sacred and everyday practices as an occasion for dialogue with the past through the reconstruction of experience, tactile sensations, feelings and experiences, through the "symbolism of collective action".

The project "Bihik" (Cradle) invites the observer to direct their thoughts into the depths of time and into the depths of themselves in search of the unconscious… The main idea of the object, which is part of the research project "PROTOTYPES OF OLONKHO" by the creative group "Archetype", became a movement along the spiral of time towards the original archaic images. These images, being a product of the collective unconscious, form the basis of creative thinking and artistic product as a whole, particularly those archetypes that have shaped the history of the Sakha people, the plot and the poetic fabric of the Olonkho epic. The main question we ask ourselves is about the birth of the Olonkho epic and how it was transformed by storytellers through oral tradition until the literary systematization by Platon Oyunsky. The folklore material collected, processed and put into literary form by Platon Oyunsky consisted of thousands of the most fanciful images, born out of fears and attempts of our ancestors to comprehend the surrounding world. We set ourselves the task of departing as far as possible from the classical perception of Olonkho, transmitted through the literary work "Nyurgun Bootur the Swift" and the canonical visualization of its plot through illustrations by Vladimir Karamzin, Elley Sivtsev, Timofey Stepanov, in order to create a myth project. We articulate it through archetypal symbols, attempting to find a way of psychologically immersing ourselves in the consciousness of generations of ancestors who created the epic. The authors participating in the project are interested in exploring the cultural layers that belong to periods when people, without associating themselves with a particular nation or ethnicity, were part of a common whole. Trying to explain the world and cope with fear, people of the past turned to their subconscious and collective unconscious as the only source of information. The depths of internal neural networks, dreams of ancestral memory, provided material for myth-making. Thus, myths about the birth of the Earth, the appearance of humans and animals, and the creation of the first religions - rituals of worship to animals and celestial bodies - emerged. Through time, images are born in dreams at night, which were not seen or felt by us, but by our ancestors. And the unconscious constructs our present, just as it did thousands of years ago, not relying on facts about the round Earth and black holes, but on the memory of blood - of the first bird, the first woman, the first warrior, the great river, and the cradle-nests… We have decided that the first project of the group will be devoted to the image of the cradle, as a symbol of birth, the beginning of life, an ancient belief that all souls are nurtured by spirits in nests on the branches of the sacred tree.