← back Cradle of Humankind Arseny Zhilyaev ↓ ↓ ↓ 08.10. 20h opening 13.10. 20h Tischgespräch Avantgarde Museology with Arseny Zhilyaev (in English) LECTURE 15.10. 20h by Dr. Michael Hagemeister: Sterbliche aller Länder, vereinigt Euch! Nikolaj Fedorov und der russische Kosmismus (in German) 30.10. 20h FILM SCREENINGS Soviet Avantgarde and Cosmism ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Curated by Kristina Semenova Arseny Zhilyaev depicts an unsettling image of a far off future in which humans have abandoned Earth, turning it into a museum-reservation called The Cradle of Humankind, dedicated to the origins of life and civilization. The reservation is part of a network of local museums commemorating historic figures and key events in the history of civilization on Earth, presenting artefacts from the past and merging the utopian aesthetics of the Soviet space programme with the ultimate idealism of Russian Cosmism. And, it is within the framework of this Utopia and Idealism that the museum also offers unique services, resurrecting client’s ancestors, therefore achieving the highest metaphysical aim. In contemplating the museum as an institution from a future perspective, Zhilyaev investigates its ambivalent role in the formation and conservation of our ideas about the world and life within contemporary political and economical conditions, as well as its growing corporate prominence within the global system of interminable cycles of production and consumption. Supported by V-A-C Foundation Moscow, Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen, Kulturamt Leipzig