Installations
"Disintegration of the Black Square through Mediterranean Cosmism"
APS Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale, Mdina,
Malta
11.11.2017 - 07.01.2018
The theme of the Mdina Biennale "The Mediterranean: A Sea of Conflicting Spiritualities" has been interpretated by Genia Chef as a visual diary which consists of 105 works, mixed media on canvas.
The Mediterranean Region is a space uniting controversies and Malta is the quintessence of this condition. The island is geographically located between the European and the Oriental world, which
is the reason for its turbulent history and this mutual influence enriches its multifacetted subversive culture.
The Mediterranean Sea has always been a Sea of spiritual, political, religious, cultural and social contradictions, provoking conflicts until today.
In his installation Genia Chef visualizes the dilemma of the aesthetics of the 20th century which is symbollicaly represented by geometrical structures like the Black Square of Kasimir Malevich
which is disintegrated through the organic nature of the Mediterranean Cosmism. This multi-cultural diversity is represented by state symbols, historical figures as well as by portraits of simple
inhabitants of the coastal regions.
"Dead House", 55th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo
The installation is part of the exhibition Personal Structures, a collateral event of the Biennale.
Genia Chef´s multimedia installation „Dead House“ is an attempt to process the dramatic historical event of the murder of the Tsar`s family at Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg in 1918. Inspired by documentary images, the artist revives in miniature paintings the idyll of domestic life of the Tsar`s family and confronts the spectator with the hypothetical recreation of the place where the murders occurred. 3D-lightboxes of the exterior view of the Ipatiev House, and a 3D-animation of the gloomy interiors – stairs, rooms, passages – force the spectators to feel they have entered into this space full of tragedy.
In 2013, Russia celebrates the 400th Jubilee of the establishment of the Romanov dynasty, the royal family that ruled the country for over 300 years. Their murder was an act of lawlessness that stood at the epicenter of a larger wave of unprecedented cruelty.
Series of installations in the butterfly gardens of
Palace Sayn (D), 2007
Château de Goulaine (F), 2009
Palace Friedrichsruh (D), 2010
"Metamorphosis" means transformation, in nature as well as in art.
"Mimicry" is imitation and deception, a play of nature, approaching art. In the installation of Genia Chef, painting hides in the nature itself. This gives rise to a dialogue between aesthetics and forms of life, which could not be more artful.
II Moscow Biennale, 2007
Painted images of everyday items from the artist `s studio symbolize his working atmosphere. 31 oil miniatures on panels are presented on red sammet are like relics. The tent in which they are shown is an allusion to the Personal Temple which the artist, who is a modern wanderer, carries through the world.
Multimedia installation, Experimental Art Foundation,
Adelaide, Australia, 2005
"Gloria Novi Saeculi" is a post-historical concept, reflecting the disasters of the 2oth century, dominated by destruction, wars and
revolutions.
Destruction and Resurrection
Installation dedicated to the Berlin Palace and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, shown at the exhbition "Berlin - Berlin", Ministery of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Berlin, 2003