Photo reportage from the exhibition ‘Game’ by Viktor Timofeev at MX Gallery, New York

Viktor Timofeev
Game
MX Gallery, New York
October 11^th – November 11^th, 2020

Photography : all images copyright and courtesy of MX Gallery.

Please read these few lines carefully before you begin your immediate duties. We use the term duties, acknowledging that this language may be forward thinking. We think you will agree that before you approach anything, you should understand what the word duty means to you. Duties are not something you do depending on whether you want to do it, or not. Duty means that you will perform the task at hand regardless of what you might wish to do instead. However, we think you will agree with us that in order to be successful, you must not only understand why you are doing something, but you must also want to do it, at least in part. To want, that is, to feel the desire to do something. In your case, it will be a desire to complete your duties. It turns out that the duty should become at least somewhat desirable for the performer of said duties. We, on our part, are making every available effort to ensure it is so.

You will probably also agree that there are several types, or levels, of duties. Namely, there are: a) duties that require a one-time execution

1. b) duties that require repeated performance
2. c) duties that slightly change from one execution to another
3. d) duties that do not change from one execution to another
4. e) duties that only you know about
5. f) duties of which others are aware, besides you

Regardless of its type, or level, each duty should be performed professionally, with all of the responsibility and patience possible. This is important, and not an easy skillset to acquire. To be a professional means to solve a task as much as it can be solved. To be a professional means to treat an excellent performance of any task as your duty, and perceive the duty as desired.

Now, prepare yourself to take a small test. It will consist of only one question. It will help you, and us, to understand how prepared you will be to get to work today.

Which of the sentences below best describes your condition this morning?

1. a) I was awake and as light as an angel
2. b) I knew that today would be a difficult and dutiful day for me
3. c) I treat labor like a game
4. d) I know my strengths and think about them every day
5. e) My desires help me in my games and labor, in the office and at home, and with my colleagues and friends
6. f) I find it hard to produce an answer, hopefully you will understand

It is no coincidence that we mention games here. A game is a duty that you have a very strong desire to fulfil. Desire is a transformative force; it transforms a duty into a game. To work well, you must play well. To do this, you must be well aware of your desires. So that you can better understand your desires, we can provide you with more to fill out. If you wish to take them, please ask any one of us. We wish you the best of luck!

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MX Gallery is pleased to present ‘Game’, an exhibition of recent works by Viktor Timofeev at 49 Elizabeth Street, a new MX location.

The exhibition comprises a series of paintings, drawings, and furniture, arranged to suggest a fictitious institutional space left suspended and vacant. The viewer is encouraged to move around the space and consider the entire room useful. The exhibition is accompanied by a commissioned text from writer Natalya Serkova.

Viktor Timofeev (born Riga, Latvia) is based in New York. Recent solo exhibitions include God Objects at Karlin Studios / Futura, Prague (2020), God Room at Alyssa Davis Gallery, New York (2018), Stairway to Melon, kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga (2017). Recent group exhibitions include Unexpected Encounters at the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga (2019), Portable Landscapes at James Gallery at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York (2019), Digital Gothic at CAC – Synagogue de Delme, Delme (2019), Orient: The New East at Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow (2018), Somewhere in Between, Bozar, Brussels (2018).