Slava Mogutin's interview for SHARE
SHARE: You’re coming to Serbia for the first time and Marina Abramovic told you not to do anything for free and to collect jokes. But you also told me you have some friends in Belgrade. What you actually know about Serbia and Balkans?
SM: I must say I’ve always been fascinated by former Yugoslavia. My expectations are very vague and mostly informed by old movies of Dushan Makaveyev, Kusturica, the photos of my friend Boogie, a few anecdotes that Marina told me during our interview for Whitewall Magazine, and a recently watched documentary on Vice TV. I think of the Balkans as the last European frontier on the way of the EU-imposed globalization. I’m well aware of the fact that traditionally Russia and Serbia have been very close in terms of culture, language and religion, and I’m about to find out for myself how close we are!
SHARE: Now that your Pinko Commie Fag Blog is over are you giving up on that description and that role? That blog was for five years a precious source of queer and radical art for many people all over the world. Your new web diary seems more introspective – more oriented toward your own work.
SM: Honestly, when I started Pinko Commie Fag Blog, I couldn’t imagine it would last over 5 years! Time flies when you’re having fun, as they say. It was a lot of hard work but it was a labor of love. It served as my virtual curatorial project, where I featured works of young radical transgressive artists who had very little or no presence in the institutionalized art world. I drew inspiration from their work and gave them a certain platform and exposure that they didn’t have. And I’m happy to say that some of the artists I featured are now big art stars with bright future and international following. I felt like I accomplished my mission, and I also got tired of the rigid Blogspot, so I decided it’s time to try something new, something entirely different. My new Tumblr diary is less about art and more about artists – people who are my friends, people I meet and work with. By any means I wouldn’t call it introspective, it’s actually quite the opposite.
SHARE: For many of us your blog was like some kind of gallery of radical modern queer art and culture. Not sure if that was your intention. More and more of us are more and more consuming art on web, not on galleries. Do you think about it when you work? Do you think of a photo as it would look on screen or you still think of a print on the wall or of a book?
SM: I belong to the last innocent generation that grew up without internet, computers or video games. My family saved money on food in order to buy books, so I read a lot as a kid and then I spent years typing my poetry and journalism on the old typewriter. I still think of text and art first as an idea and then as an object, an artifact – something that cannot be erased, deleted with a click of a button. No matter how much of good and bad art can be found on the internet, I still want to experience “the real thing” and see my work published in books and magazines and displayed on gallery and museum walls. I’m just very old school this way.
SHARE: We’re in the very dangerous time regarding freedom on the internet. Most of the treaties and laws threatening freedom are justified by copyright protection. You were both subject of censorship and intellectual property theft. What’s your position on the intellectual property protection in art and on internet and the price we need to pay for it?
SM: As an artist whose art has been copied, reproduced and plagiarized endlessly without a proper credit or payment, I can testify how annoying it can be to see your work used as a free image bank! They say that imitation is the best flattery, but I like how John Waters responded to that: “A check in the mail would be a good flattery!” That said, I don’t support censorship in any shape or form. I think internet is the greatest communication tool ever invented by the humankind and it should be free and open for all.
SHARE: You often speak of yourself, your heroes and guys you portray as outcasts. Do you think we’re losing internet as the last wilderness offering resort and asylum to all of them?
SM: I think you have a very idealistic view of the internet. I feel like, on one hand, it gave a perfect platform and exposure to a whole new generation of rebellious kids who don’t yet have a place in the institutionalized culture—published books or a gallery representation. These are the kids who will shape the art of the 21st century, not the old corrupt art mafia who controls the art market and thinks of art only in terms of numbers and commercial success. But on the other hand, the internet became a giant black hole that swallowed some of the most radical and transgressive writers and artists who lost their cultural relevance in the “real” world and now blog instead of making art and writing books… oops, am I taking about myself?
SHARE: You had such rich and diverse experience with censorship, it seems like you were studying it: authorities of Yeltsin Russia, myspace, blogspot… Can you speak of trends and give some predictions?
SM: I’m bad at predictions. I find it depressing that Internet is turning from the most open and accessible media outlet to the most controlled and censored one. Just look at the new Google policies and what Facebook is doing with their personal user data – they’re in bed with Big Brother and they’re loving it!
SHARE: One of your most bizarre experiences with censorship is with the porn industry. Who would think that Cazzo found something inappropriate? Can you compare working environments in porn, fashion and the art world regarding the freedom to do things your own way? Not many people have that perspective.
SM: Porn is actually a very conservative and predictable genre that hasn’t changed much since it’s golden days. In fact, many underground filmmakers and artists working in porn in the 60’s and 70’s were far more experimental and inventive than the modern day pornographers. Food Chain, the movie project that I was commissioned to do with Cazzo, turned out to be very different from their expectations. They didn’t appreciate the artistic value of what I was doing, they didn’t care that they could show my movie at film festivals around the world, they only worried that the project would be impossible to sell to their regular clientele. But everything happens for a reason and it was a good experience for me. I have no desire of ever working in porn again, but I like the idea of mixing porn, art and fashion. You’ll be surprised how much those 3 have in common!
SHARE: It wasn’t my intention to ask you about the political situation in Russia, but after I saw Kusturica calling Russians to vote for Putin I need to do it. Do you know about it? I know he’s one of your favored movie directors. He said the Russian people should vote for Putin because he’s a real leader. He also said if he was Russian he would vote for Putin and if he was American he would fight against him. You’re both Russian and American – what you think about it?
SM: There’s no doubt that Putin is a dictator who rigged the elections. And there’s no doubt that Medvedev was just his Kremlin housekeeper. But at least he didn’t openly bend the law like the arrogant billionaire mayor of New York Bloomberg did in order to stay in power. Putin’s regime is the reason why I don’t even have any desire of going back to Russia. And I was happy to see that there is a growing opposition to his corrupt rule and personality cult. The recent mass protests all over Russia demonstrated that not all is lost, there are still some brave people who dare to think differently and speak out against corruption and injustice – people like Alexey Navalny, Eduard Limonov, Voina Group and the recently emerged feminist group Pussy Riot… They are the real heroes of our time, not the weak power hungry monsters like Putin and Bloomberg!
SHARE: You lost your language once you escaped to US years ago and you switched to visual arts. Recently you got US citizenship. You have been living in New York for 16 years. You’re in a stable and creative relationship with your American boyfriend artist Brian Kenny. You’re internationally recognized and back home in Russia you’re respected. You used to be persecuted and now you’re being published in Vogue and we might organize you an interview for Serbian Playboy! You seem settled. Is it time to get back to writing?
SM: I haven’t lost my language, I just felt like I’ve said enough in Russian and wanted to try a whole new language, genre and medium. Back in my old country I’m still mostly known as a poet and writer and I still get plenty of fan mail and hate mail from Russia. To me it’s like hearing voices from the past. I do enjoy my new American life with my American boyfriend but I’m far from being settled or satisfied. Otherwise I wouldn’t be going to Serbia or doing interviews for the Serbian press.
SHARE: Any particular wishes for your free time in Serbia?
SM: Well, I have to collect jokes for Marina and if I’m lucky maybe I’ll get to meet and photograph some lost boys of Serbia!
