The work, along with Pigeonhouse, is actually part of a broader project named Zoophrenia and concerning the theme of 'Animal as human being's alter-ego', or, 'Animal as the anthropomorphic Alien'. The project is devoted to contacts of man-of-culture with other natural species treated as equal-rank beings.

 Art Center 'Ark', Riga, 4 November 1998, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 17 May 2001
Kulik-the-artist and Kulik-the-animal fight using the means available to both of them. The first is drawing his self-portrait with his 'beak', remembering that he is a bird, while the second is always displeased with the conventionality of the result. In Riga the conflict reached its climax when one of the Kuliks (which one?) broke the glass self-portrait with his hand, and had to be rushed to hospital for surgery."
Live Art Development Agency

 
Gallery Kapelica, Ljubljana, 7 October 1998
Kulik was trying to establish close relations with a black dog in complete darkness, split intermittently by camera flashes made by two photographers documenting the action. This process revealed a surprising effect when temporal imprints appeared on the retina of the spectators' eyes. Such ephemeral 'documentation' is the only true, 'absolutely real' art.

Oleg Kulik. 1997 "I Bite America, America Bites me" (joint with Mila Bredikhina). New York


For two weeks, Kulik never left his cage or his canine character. He was taken nude in a minivan to the airport, and finally donned clothes before boarding a flight to Moscow.
CNN Interactive.
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Suspended. Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 23 May 1996
The artist was hung high over the ground, balanced with a cage full of books. Spectators had to pull a rope to get the artist closer to themselves. The books went up and became unavailable. Kulik explained: 'To be suspended is to inquire for sense. Culture has repressed the nature of human beings. A man is an animal first of all. And then he is a Social animal, a Political animal and so on. I am an Art animal, that's why, spectator, I need your physical and psychological efforts to make sense

Dog House. Fargfabriken, Stockholm, 2 March 1996



It was suggested that Kulik produce his Dog House project within Interpol , an exhibition devoted to the problem of communication. The artist was invited as a sort of ready-made to stay in a specially built house. The audience was warned that any communication with the artist, who denounced the language of culture, was dangerous and that no one should cross the borders of his territory. Following the logic of this action Kulik bit a Mr. Lindquist who had neglected the warning. Kulik was arrested by the Swedish police. This performance and the exhibition as a whole aroused scandalous response from the media. Interpol was called an event that divided the art world into East and West. Kulik published an explanation of his action in response to demands made by the exhibition's curators. (See his letter entitled Why I Have Bitten a Man)

Oleg Kulik. I Can Not Keep Silence Any More, Strasbourg. September 20

Kunstlerhaus Betanien, Berlin, Germany

1996. Pan European Art Manifestation "Manifesta" Rotterdam, Holland Museum Van Hedendaagste Kunst, Gent, Belgium

 
 

Guelman gallery,
"Brener Alexander, Kulik Oleg, Osmolovskii Anatolii, Dmitrii Petrov, Vladimir Salnikov
Marat Guelman, a gallery-owner whose artistic projects are as sharp as newspapers headlines, couldn't fail to respond to the currently fashionable theme of the forthcoming elections. A show-competition that he organized at the Polytechnic Museum was entitled "A Turn-Key Party". A vacant package of registration documents was offered to the attention of the audience. A competitor who would have won after his appearance in public, subsequent debates and a ballot, winding-up the show, would have become an owner of the package. It could have been a leader of a Movement or a Party. A prize package was real. This was not the case, however, with the majority of the competitors who showed off exclusively themselves, their mania and phobia (it has become appropriate to demonstrate those peccadilloes not only at closed in-patient departments), as well as artistic projects."

"Alter Aegis". Centre of Contemporary Art, Moscow. 20 June 1995

Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland. 30 March 1995
30 March 1995



This action took place on the opening day of Signs and Wonder, a large international exhibition including famous artists (eg. Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Ilya Kabakov). It also featured expressive animalistic paintings by Nico Pirosmani, a naive artist and tragic figure, hardly known in the West. Kulik was howling at the entrance of the exhibition scaring away spectators. This unexpected appearance of another 'naive artist', the dog artist at the entrance of the 'Swiss Bank of Art', was his protest against the transformation of an artist's life into material value, against art as commodity. Kulik was arrested and spent a night in prison.

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http://www.artspace.org.au/2005/05/kulik_invite.jpg

Rosentol night club, Moscow

Oleg Kulik. 1995 "A Man with Political Identity". Tverskaya St., Moscow

Oleg Kulik. 1995. "A Missionary". Peschanaya St., Moscow

1995. Rizhina gallery

1995 (???) M.Guelman Gallery, Moscow

15 September 1994, 1994. Danilovsky food market


Jamey Gambrell. Art in America: The post-bulldozer generations - the artistic presence in the former Soviet Union - Report From Russia
Рerformance called "Christ-Animal: The New Testament" that he did in mid-September at Danilov Market, one of the larger indoor markets in Moscow. Accompanied by photographers and a TV camera crew, Kulik arrived at the market dressed in short white robes, a red cloth around his shoulders and a crown of thorns on his head. Standing on a counter in the meat section--surrounded by butchers, bewildered market-goers and raw meat--he held a suckling pig in his arms; he had attached animal hooves to his own hands, so that he seemed half human, half animal himself. The artists and critics who had gathered expected a speech, but Kulik instead brayed to the crowd for a few minutes before being whisked away in a waiting car. Much of Kulik's work plays off the brutal, bestial spirit he sees as motivating social processes in contemporary Russia. One of his current projects involves a campaign for the 1996 presidential elections by the "Animal Party," complete with posters of that artist-candidate with horns and hooves; campaign rallies are planned, and eventually, if sponsors and willing broadcasters can be found, TV talk shows and ads."
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n5_v83/ai_16878537/print

M.Guelman’s Gallery, Moscow ?/?/94 jpg2, jpg3, jpg4 ?

 

Oleg Kulik. 1992 "Art at First Hands, or Apology of Shyness". Regina Gallery, Moscow

Oleg Kulik. 1992 (???) "Animalist Projects". Installations Festival. Regina Gallery, Moscow

 

Oleg Kulik:
The action “Piglet gives presents” provoked a big scandal, made a strong shock. Blaming in some circles of Moscow society and among my colleagues. Its action consisted of public killing a pig and giving out instead of catalogues bits of the meat in special bags of the “Regina” gallery for the guests. We wanted to make a human voice heard in the area of art, a human voice as a voice of individuality. For a living voice, keen cry, true pain, groan were heard in the arts ‘s area, for real blood was flooding there. Although the nature of it was quite different.