Celestial Artefacts

The exhibition by Francisco and Platon Infante for GES-2: Prospekt programme marks Francisco Infante-Arana’s first engagement with architecture.

Francisco Infante-Arana (b. 1943) typically confronts the universe head-on: he places his “artefacts” between the Earth and the sky, photographs them, and quickly disassembles them. Celestial Artefacts is an exception to this rule: it is erected on the Prospekt and Square of GES-2 House of Culture.

The Celestial Artefacts project uses light and sound effects. Visitors sensitive to loud noises can borrow noise-cancelling headphones at the information desk.

The GES-2: Prospekt programme includes eight works: five three-dimensional objects and three photo artefacts. Seven of them were devised over the years by Francisco Infante, intended for points on Earth ranging from the Moscow Region (Lighter Spaces, 2017/2024) to the dunes of Qatar (Arch. Entrance—Exit, 1990/2024). One kinetic sculpture (Two Times, 2024), commissioned by GES-2, was created by the artist’s son, Platon Infante. Concept author Polina Lobachevskaya had seven classic artefacts recreated from original drawings provided by the artist, blown up to a scale befitting the GES-2 building.

On the Square and the Prospekt, Infante’s objects don’t just sprawl out—they stretch out to eternity, as though hurtling down a runway, just moments away from breaking free of the confines of the building. Each work simultaneously reflects life within the House of Culture: Infante’s constructions are always mirrored, yet they reflect more than the mere eternity toward which they were originally pointed. Here they capture exhibits, theatre productions, the bustle and buzz of life in the cafe and the bookstore.

The idea of movement is no less important for the installation, embedded within the rhythm of the modules from which Francisco Infante’s works are assembled. Even if the work itself is static, the visitor lends dynamism and multidimensionality to the construction as they walk around it. For each three-dimensional artefact, Platon Infante created a unique sonic accompaniment in the form of electronic trills, varying their tempos and modulations based on mathematical calculations.

Within the context of the House of Culture, it becomes clear that Francisco Infante uses his work to stress not the breaks around us, but the bonds. They reflect a world with space for harmony and light, and serve as a synthesis of and metaphor for the entire universe. You can read more about the artist’s ideas in a special issue of GES-2: Prospekt, a limited edition publication devoted to Celestial Artefacts.

Francisco Infante has a keen sense of time, but he can just as easily soar above it. This can be clearly felt in photo artefacts from the series Lighter Spaces (2017/2024) and Thresholds of Curved Space (1979/2024), created in collaboration with Nonna Goryunova (b. 1944), Francisco’s wife and Platon’s mother. These enlarged photo panels, suspended in mid-air, seem like windows into another, more harmonious and orderly world, inviting visitors to believe in their existence and imagine themselves there.

All photos: Daniel Annenkov

Time surprisingly permeates the entirety of human existence, steeped in endless self-reflection, yet it remains an empirical concept that is not fully understood. This concept is closely related to the notion of a work of art, which cannot be predetermined or predicted based on its actual form; we can never know what it will become in the present moment.

Physics explains the complexity of time through the interactions of massive cosmic bodies. In contrast, the understanding of time in art is often retrospective. There is a saying: ‘Art is eternal, but life is short.’ If the metaphor within a work of art resonates—because we know that artistic metaphors often provide a more accurate and profound reflection of life than life itself—then the usual confines of empirical time can yield to eternity.

— Francisco Infante-Arana

Artists

Francisco Infante-Arana — Platon Infante

Concept author
Polina Lobachevskaya

Programming curator
Alisa Prudnikova

With the participation of
Nonna Goryunova, Elizaveta Plavinskaya, Gennady Sinyov

Sound
Platon Infante

Producers
Alisa Kekelidze, Ksenia Makshantseva, Angelina Vorona

Technical production
Alexander Dolmatov, Artem Kanifatov, Ksenia Kosaya, Nikita Tolkachev

Accessibility and inclusion curators
Aleksandra Kharchenko, Vlad Kolesnikov, Victoria Kuzmina, Varya Merenkova, Vera Zamyslova

Production and installation
SLOVO

Media specialist
Irina Popovich

Special thanks to
Petr Kataev, Artyom Kerpek, Vladimir Pokrass, Vladimir Popilin, Darya Strizhkova, Andrey Vovchenko, Kamil Zhurakulov

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