Shkolnaya Biblioteka

In a fictional small city in the Soviet Union schoolchildren have received an assignment to describe the most memorable events in their lives. The stories have been graded and exhibited in the school library. Using the language of the children Kabakov creates a world seen through the eyes of a variety of characters. Seemingly insignificant and slightly absurd experiences, fantasies, fears and hopes of the children confront the viewer that moves through the narrow passages of the installation space. In the 1990s Kabakov is preoccupied with the concept of the large scale ‘ total installations’. Through the inclusion of surrounding space he takes away the possibility to perceive the installation as an object. Instead the viewer is controlled by the installation, being obligatory placed within it. Thus a double action is being created: one is surveying and evaluating the installation as it unfolds in front of the eyes, and at the same time following one’s own associations, thoughts and recollections.