The print edition EastEast On Water was presented on September 11th as part of the Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair. This is an independent project, with its own stories, memories, and views that make up the polyphony of our time. The format of the artifact publication will make it possible to maintain accessibility to a wide range of readers, lay the foundations for tactile perception, and form a certain ethic of interaction with text and images.
Elena Yushina, Editor-in-Chief of EastEast On Water, gave her comments on the central idea of the first issue: "To be 'on the water' means to swim, swaying on an Arab dhow or standing on the shore of White Cape; to get to Turkestan of the 1920s together with Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin or to travel along the shores of the shallow Aral Sea, taking the contemporary artist Alexander Ugai as a guide; to pour water from the Black Sea into the Red Sea with Francis Alice, or to walk around the dry bottom of the ancient ocean with Andrey Fomenko. As we reflect on the turbulence of 2020 and how the virus became a cultural ideal, we are in a stream, which means we are also on the water."
EastEast On Water is distributed free of charge and is published in two main languages: Russian and English. Several chapters are also written in Arabic. The first copy can be found at the Cosmoscow Contemporary Art Fair, as well as at other cultural venues in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
