THE ANGLE OF VIEW

2002, 2024, object, ready-made

THE ANGLE OF VIEW or Fence becomes stairs

Readymade object, 120×70, wood, metal.
2002

A fence stops you. A stair invites you to move. One denies passage, the other makes it possible.
But if you rotate the fence 90 degrees, it becomes a staircase.
The opposites turn into each other if you change your point of view.

Exhibited at:
– Festival of contemporary art «Crossing borders» 2024. Beka 9, Hrpelje-Kozina, Slovenia
– International exhibition “Eurasian syndrome” 2002, Museum of Fine Arts, Yekaterinburg, Russia

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Author note: “The Angle of View” is a story about how meaning changes when you simply turn an object. It’s the same object, but the way we look at it changes everything. Sometimes we see only obstacles. But what if we looked differently?
I made this object in 2002 and then came back to it in 2024. The world around has changed, but this idea is still relevant. It’s about how our boundaries are not always what they seem.

Catalogue page from *“Eurasian Syndrome”*
Museum of Fine Arts, Yekaterinburg, 2002

Critical response:

“The work by Yekaterinburg artist Marina Razheva titled ‘The Angle of View or Fence Becomes Stairs’ comes closest to the idea of transformative vision. Her comment on the piece was: ‘Opposites transform into each other if you shift your angle of view.’
Indeed, what could be simpler than turning a solid fence into a convenient staircase? All it takes is a little goodwill and inventiveness. But do we all have that?”
— Yulia Filippova, Ural Worker Newspaper, August 24, 2002

The Invisible Fir

2006, object, Performance

Object, performance 45 minutes
December 22, 2006
Museum of Fine Arts, Yekaterinburg, Russia
Group exhibition: Christmas Inside Me

On the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, sixteen artists were invited to create New Year trees in real time during a live performance.

From the author: For 45 minutes, I decorated a fir tree that wasn’t there.
From a stepladder, I carefully hung invisible ornaments on invisible branches.
The audience watched, whispered, laughed, and filmed.

The work played with belief, absence, ritual, and suggestion.
It was later described by the jury as a “conceptual miracle” and sold at a festive auction charity.

Press mention:
“Some of the trees — like Marina Razheva’s weightless fir — were even sold. For almost an hour, the artist moved up and down a stepladder, hanging non-existent ornaments on a non-existent tree.”
—IA Apelsin

Lullaby for the River

2003, Environmental Performance, Performance

Performance, 2003
Embankment of the Iset River, Yekaterinburg, Russia
As part of the ON/OFF contemporary art magazine launch

Performer: Vladimir Razhev

The Penguin plays the wooden flute on the river bank. The fish were arranged in a semicircle around him.
In a transparent crystal vase at the feet of the flutist there are granules of fish oil.

This performance became part of the video “Penguins, You Say?” and was included in a larger project marking the 160th anniversary of Anatole France.

Artist’s Note:

This performance is a quiet ritual of care and absurdity.
A lullaby—not for a child, but for the city’s river — burdened, ignored, polluted, yet still flowing.
The Penguin, a creature from a distant world played by a child, becomes a gentle mediator:
he sings not with words, but with breath through wood, a lullaby for something that cannot sleep.

Fish, once swimming in the depths, lie arranged on land : a gesture of remembrance and paradox.
The fish oil glimmers like relics or offerings — both nourishing and useless at once.

This is a moment of stillness amid noise.
A small act of poetic compassion to honor the river as a living being, reminding the city that even the absurd can be an act of tenderness and deeply necessary empathy.

It doesn’t solve problems, but it changes the tone.
It is a lullaby for a world that can no longer respond — and still deserves to be sung to.

“Lullaby for the River” is a poetic performance about care, loss, and quiet attention to a vulnerable world.