The performativity of fear.
Andrei Bakhurin’s scary dolls

Vlad Strukov

Origin: Static Issue 01
Content: PDF & Flash animation

Andrei Bakhurin represents the human body as prone to pathological and abnormal transformation, as a sort of a haunted house. He offers not merely transcendence of the body but transcendence through the body, and provides a direct exposure to his characters’ inner deformity. The films present supernature as coexistent rather than invasive, employing the imagery of the organic machine or entomanthropy. Arousing the extreme and opposite reactions of horror and enthralment, monsters are at the core of Bakhurin’s flash animation films. They are highly stylised characters, whose power, malevolence, suffering and anger are greater than what is permissible in their more normal companions.

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Contributor:

Vlad Strukov is currently working on a project that deals with the issues of digital and web-induced arts, space and authorship, pertaining to the West and cultures of the ‘alternative modernity’. He has written on the British and Russian literature and film, flash animation, mass media and on the subject of national identity. His most recent publication is a book entitled Cul’tura “Post”, a bilingual collection of essays that explores the legacy of the postmodern discourse and the mutability of the contemporary culture. He has worked in academic institutions in Russia, the UK and USA.

Associated Links:

http://www.scary.ru