AES+F

AES+F
AES+F at opening of Inverso Mundus, Venice Biennale 2015. Left to Right: Evgeny Svyatsky, Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Vladimir Fridkes
Nationality	Russian
Known for	Photography, Video Art, Installation
Notable work	Islamic Project, The Liminal Space Trilogy, Inverso Mundus
Awards	Kandinsky Prize
Website	http://aesf.art

AES+F is an artist collective formed as AES in 1987, by three Russian artists: Tatiana Arzamasova (1955), Lev Evzovich (1958), Evgeny Svyatsky (1957), and joined in 1995 by Vladimir Fridkes (1956), at which point the group was renamed to AES+F. The collective works in photography, video, and animation, as well as more traditional media, such as painting, drawing, and sculpture. AES+F's early work included performance, installation, painting, and illustration. Well known for their monumental video-art installations that Gareth Harris describes as "monumental painting set in motion", AES+F create grand visual narratives that explore contemporary global values, vices and conflicts.

Tatiana was born in 1955 in Moscow, where she graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute (MARCHI) – State Academy in 1978. Prior to founding AES Group, Tatiana was a conceptual architect. She participated in conceptual architecture exhibitions in London, Paris, and Venice, .

Lev was born in 1958 in Moscow, where he graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute (MARCHI) – State Academy in 1982. Prior to founding AES Group, Lev also worked in conceptual architecture. He participated in conceptual architecture exhibitions in Milan, Frankfurt-on-Main, and Paris. Lev also worked as an art director in film.

Evgeny was born in 1957 in Moscow, where he graduated from Moscow University of Print Design in 1980. Prior to founding AES Group, Evgeny worked in book illustration, advertising, and graphic design. Evgeny also worked as the creative director for publishing houses in Moscow.

Vladimir was born in Moscow in 1956, where he worked as a fashion photographer prior to joining the collective. His work was published in many leading fashion magazines: VOGUE, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Sunday Times Style and others.

AES+F began their career as AES Group, with Arzamasova, Evzovich, and Svyatsky forming a collective in 1987, and exhibiting internationally for the first time in 1989 with a solo show at Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, and a performance at the Carpenter Center at Harvard University in Cambridge. The group expanded with the addition of the photographer Vladimir Fridkes in 1995 and subsequently changed its name to AES+F. The collective achieved worldwide recognition and acclaim in the Russian Pavilion at the 52nd Biennale di Venezia in 2007 with Last Riot (2007), the first in a trilogy of large-scale, multi-channel video installations that have come to define the AES+F aesthetic. The second of the series, The Feast of Trimalchio (2009), appeared in Venice in 2009, and the third, Allegoria Sacra (2011), debuted at the 4th Moscow Biennale in 2011. Together, all three projects premiered as The Liminal Space Trilogy in September 2012 at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, and the Moscow Manege, the central exhibition hall of the artists’ home city. The Trilogy was shown in the Museum of Fine Arts in La Chaux-De-Fonds, Switzerland (June–September 2014). Most recently all three videos were shown at Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (June–September 2015).