Alla Rumyantseva, Alexey Rumyantsev: I met a girl

On view 1 – 31 December 2018

„The video is based on the well-known (Soviet) Tajik film Я встретил девушку (I met a girl, 1957). It is a story of an ordinary girl who has a wonderful voice and dreams of performing at the local cultural centre. However, her father forbids her to perform and packs her off to the countryside. The film is about society fighting the feudal custom of patriarchy which is an unwanted legacy from the past. The film is about the time when the aspirations of the young for self-actualization were actively encouraged. The opposite is true today – the state behaves indifferently while society is beginning to re-espouse patriarchal principles in the wake of increasing Islamisation. In the film, the story is projected onto modern Tajikistan and tries to answer some important questions: can a talented but ordinary girl realise her dream? Can she marry the man she loves? Can she do that in a backward-looking society, in a society in which religious views prevail and freedom of choice is no longer a value?" (Alla Rumyantseva)

Alla Rumyantseva / Alexey Rumyantsev, *1977/75 Dushanbe, Tajikistan (Soviet Union). Alla Rumyantseva graduated in fashion design at the Technical University of Tajikistan, Alexey Rumyantsev graduated in design at the State Art School Olimov in Dushanbe. Both work as 3D designers for the company „Angor". In 2017-2018 they participated in the touring exhibition „The Border", initiated by the Goethe-Institut and curated by Inke Arns und Thibaut de Ruyter, in Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Kiev, Tbilisi, Minsk, Dortmund, Yekatarinburg, Almaty. Between 2010 and 2015 they participated in projects of „Dushanbe Art Ground". Presentations at various festivals, among others „A Parallel", „Pusto", „One Minute Film Festival", „Kurye International Video Festival", 54th Venice Biennale, „Glacier Music", „Reformat", Purgatory IV Film Exhibition & Artist Bazaar, FIFES – international festival of experimental film. The also participated in workshops and seminars: „Art and environment", „Philosophical aspects of modern art", „Spaces on the run", „Practicing civic duties through social and visual media".