On July 18, 2017, Ulyana Podkorytova presented a solo project in the center of Baku’s Old City. Podkorytova, a Russian artist, was the inaugural participant in the Gogova Foundation Artist Residency, a new initiative from the Gogova Foundation for the Support of Contemporary Art and Culture.

A reference to one of the five canons of rhetoric, the project’s title, INVENTIO, captures its polyphonic texture. Over the course of her two months in residence, the artist has collected sounds that struck her as particularly characteristic of the city of Baku. As Podkorytova sees it, in an era of globalization, when people have began to interact less and less with their physical and sensory fields, the only possible way for an artist to discover new ideas is through the experience of the world around us, which means conducting live conversations with real people. After spending a little time in her new surroundings, the artist has slipped into the fabric of a city still so unfamiliar. As she starts to pick up on the issues underlying the city, she serves as both an explorer and an integral component of the local society.

In addition to these sound pieces, the exhibition includes a painting revealing the structure of the etudes, as well as video recordings in which Podkorytova sings the resulting score, thus mimicking the urban environment.