Traditional spirituality translated into the present day: The Russian artist Gor Chahal transformed the tradition of Hesychasm of the Orthodox Church into a contemporary formal language in the parish church. In his video “Stages”, created in 2005, the written invocations to God unfold a spatial pull that is hard to resist.

For the presentation in the Graz City Parish Church, the video from 2005 was expanded to include a sound installation consisting of the interweaving of a vocal piece by the Russian avant-garde artist and musician Alexei Khvostenko (1940-2004) and a spoken text by the Russian Orthodox theologian John Meyendorff (1926-1992) on the theological system of Gregor Palamas. The text, performed by Khvostenko in the manner of an Orthodox church chant, is reminiscent of meditative prayer practices in the repetition of sentences and parts of sentences, but by interlacing and overlapping parts of sentences and exchanging words and abandoning a recognizable syntax, it deliberately loses itself in a web of words without a recognizable context of meaning. The sound recording made by Khvostenko’s musical partner Kamil Tchalaev represents the opposition of the avant-garde in the communist Soviet Union.

KLANGLICHT 2019

With his virtual sculptures created in the 1980s, Gor Chahal is considered one of the pioneers of multimedia art in Russia. In addition to group and solo exhibitions in many European countries, his work was shown in a solo exhibition at the renowned Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2010.

Sound installation: Kamil Tchalev(Music: Alexei Khvostenko, Text: John Meyendorff)

Curated by: Alois Kölbl (QL-Galerie), Gertraud Schaller-Pressler (Kirchen Kultur Graz)

Technical implementation: Markus Königshofer (eventmanagement/eventtechnics)

In cooperation with
Kirchen Kultur Graz