project 19/

MY BOOK OF PROJECTS

I. Kabakov, Graphic Artist, Moscow

It is now the end of the century, and there aren't many who main- tain the illusion that invented projects, even the most noble of them, can bring some benefit to a large number of people, virtu- ally to all of humanity, that they can actually be realized and embodied in reality. It is most likely just the opposite; pre- cisely those projects which "have been embodied in life" with such enthusiasm have rendered innumerable misfortunes and the more grandiose a project appeared to be, the more victims corre- sponded to its size. Knowing and having lived through this sad, and for many people, tragic experience, the end of the century represents a mirror image of its beginning, but with the opposite sign. This time, beginning with the illusion of a radical change in life, with small and large utopias, is ending wtlh disillu- sionment in their results and skepticism toward any utopia or utopian creation in general. But, the elimination of "utopianism" - alas, is also yet another form of utopianism. The creation of projects, project thinking, the formulation of all kinds of utopias is immanently inherent in us, our consciousness, and fur- thermore, it rests as a stimulus and as a basis or any of our actions as long as we remain human beings. In other words, we can exist only in the mode of the creation and realizations of utopias no matter what they might turn out to be "in actual fact." Creating this paradox, thinking through it, isn't it pos- sible to find a place for some project, remaining project- oriented in essence, that would insist with its obstinacy on being realized, and hence would avoid the inevitable catastrophe and damage inflicted on the environment? Of course there is such a form - it is the project which remains, which is fixed in the form of the project itself, in the form of its description, an outline, a summary or its conception and goal ... Such a project or a multitude of such projects existing in the form of a book, having fulfilled their creative function, would freeze forever in their glass sarcophagus. remaining an object, and they could be used and "unfrozen" only with the greatest caution.

MY BOOK OF PROJECTS

1. Make a case out of hard plastic (plexiglass) which will cover the "book" from above (120 x 60 x 25 cm).

2. Make a special table for the "book" (150 x 75 x 72).