Total: 1,118,176 rubles and 4 kopecks to produce 10 art projects in the period 01.11.2017 to 01.11.2022, of which 6 completed, 1 in progress, 3 unknown status (2024)

Installation, mixed media

Garage Museum main collection

Photo: Mikhail Ekadomov

The installation Total: 1,118,176 rubles and 4 kopecks to produce 10 art projects in the period 01.11.2017 to 01.11.2022 (of which 6 completed, 1 in progress, 3 unknown status) was commissioned by Garage and explores economics and the financial position of the artist, a theme that until recently was rarely and unenthusiastically discussed but which today is an object of sociological research. Bogomolova arranges their financial autobiography in the form of an accountant’s office where you can find receipts, reports and other sensitive information that is usually concealed.

These types of documents are usually analyzed by descendents (as in the case of the illustrated list of purchases created by Michelangelo for his servant on March 18, 1518) or are a means of criticizing various aspects of the capitalist system (Hans Haacke’s works). But Bogomolova uses financial accounting with a different aim in mind. By revealing the “exact sum” to the viewer, they propose perceiving artistic labor as actual labor and not as an inspired impromptu event with no concrete value.

Sasha Obukhova