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      (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov: Leningrad 80s >> ART>>

Reconstructing E-E KOZLOV's photo archive from the 1980s

Research and documentation: Hannelore Fobo, March / April 2021

Chapter 10. Not lost, just found: pictures of a Pop Mekhanika performance

previous page: Chapter 9. Numbering the films
next page: Chapter 11. Paper archive and digital archive

Table of contents: see bottom of page >>




Chapter 10. Not lost, just found: pictures of a Pop Mekhanika performance.

The AO film (9 CB M1 86) is an example of such missing pieces actually turning up. To be precise, they weren't lost in the proper sense of the word, but they were scattered around the places, disconnected from each other.

AO consists of three filmstrips I assembled from three different vintage prints, 17 frames in total (see below). Kozlov took these pictures at the Leningrad Youth Palace during a Pop Mekhanika performance on 20 October 1986 called Козлиный концерт или Введение в Поп-механику / The Goat Concert or Introduction in Pop Mechanics. There is also a second film documenting the performance, AT, with 5 strips 6 frames each. I assembled AO and AT from the same three vintage prints. Over time, I was able to connect pages EV, AA, IP and AU to AO. All pictures from the concert are available on a webpage with an introduction to the performance I published in 2018 more>>.

EV, AA, IP and AU are all very small pages, consisting of one to three frames. AO has descending numbers, starting with film number 53.  The seven frames from EV (1), AA (3), IP (3), Svema nos. 67-54, come before AO1 (Svema nos 53-44), and the single frame from AU (Svema no. 43/42) comes after AO15 and before AO21 (Svema no. 41/40). Besides, pages consisting of a single negative still have the negative label with a full number. The negative constituting the EV page is EV11, and the AU negative is AU11.

Kozlov used several of these now “relocated” frames for his portraits, and this is the reason why he cut them from the rest of the film. But because the strips were so short, or just single negatives, it was difficult to reconnect them to each other and to AO, respectively. EV11 carries the film imprint 9 CB M1 86, but without finding AA and IP – the missing links to AO – it wasn’t clear whether it belonged to some other 9 CB M1 86 film.  As a matter of fact, it was particularly difficult to identify the IP filmstrip, because it not only goes without an imprint, but has none of the Pop Mekhanika motifs and was placed in Book 2. Therefore, the only clue I had were the Svema numbers that filled the gap between AA and AO.




Reconnected pictures (Xerox copies) from a Pop Mekhanika performance (20 October 1986), frame nos 67-43
and derived works: painted photographs and works on paper and canvas

Left: Georgy Guryanov.  EV11, filmstrip 31134 (single frame), Svema frame number 67/66. An imprint which can be seen on the negative. The question mark after the note “9 CBEMA M1 86” refers to the last digit: 86 might also be read as 83. Right: Joanna Stingray and Viktor Tsoy AA11, filmstrip 30679, Svema frame number 65/64.

Left: Georgy Guryanov.
EV11, filmstrip 31134 (single frame), Svema frame number 67/66. An imprint which can be seen on the negative. The question mark after the note “9 CBEMA M1 86” refers to the last digit: 86 might also be read as 83.
Right: Joanna Stingray and Viktor Tsoy
AA11, filmstrip 30679, Svema frame number 65/64.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Густав № 85 / Gustav no. 85 Mixed media on paper, 63 x 49 cm, 1987 (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Портрет Джоаны Стингрей / Portrait of Joanna Stingray Wax crayon and charcoal on paper, 63.2 x 49 cm, 1989
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
Густав № 85 / Gustav no. 85
Mixed media on paper, 63 x 49 cm, 1987
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
Портрет Джоаны Стингрей / Portrait of Joanna Stingray
Wax crayon and charcoal on paper, 63.2 x 49 cm, 1989



АА21 and AA22, filmstrip 30677, Svema frame numbers 63/62 and 61/60 Left: Joanna Stingray, Viktor Tsoy and Marianna Tsoy. Right: unknown and Ágnes F. Horváth

АА21 and AA22, filmstrip 30677, Svema frame numbers 63/62 and 61/60
Left: Joanna Stingray, Viktor Tsoy and Marianna Tsoy. Right: unknown and Ágnes F. Horváth

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Untitled (Joanna Stingray, Viktor Tsoy and Marianna Tsoy) Mixed media on vintage print, collage, 14.5 x 20.4 cm, 1987 (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Untitled (unknown and Ágnes F. Horváth) Coloured vintage print, 14 x 8.9 cm, 1986/1987

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
Untitled (Joanna Stingray, Viktor Tsoy and Marianna Tsoy)
Mixed media on vintage print, collage, 14.5 x 20.4 cm, 1987
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
Untitled (unknown and Ágnes F. Horváth)
Coloured vintage print, 14 x 8.9 cm, 1986/1987



IP11, IP12, IP13, filmstrip 3194, Svema frame numbers 59 to 54 it was particularly difficult to identify the IP filmstrip, because it not only goes without an imprint, but has none of the Pop Mekhanika motifs and was placed in Book 2. Therefore, the only clue I had were the Svema numbers that filled the gap between AA and AO.

IP11, IP12, IP13, filmstrip 3194, Svema frame numbers 59 to 54
it was particularly difficult to identify the IP filmstrip, because it not only goes without an imprint, but has none of the Pop Mekhanika motifs and was placed in Book 2. Therefore, the only clue I had were the Svema numbers that filled the gap between AA and AO.




Filmstrip AO1 with five frames, Svema numbers 53 to 44. Scans of vintage prints and negatives are availabe on a webpage dedicated to this Pop Mekhanika performance

Filmstrip AO1 with five frames, Svema numbers 53 to 44. Scans of vintage prints and negatives are availabe on a webpage dedicated to this Pop Mekhanika performance more >>.



EU11 constitutes another page with a single frame, Svema no 43/42. From left to right: Andrey Krisanov, Joanna Stingray, and Sergei Bugaev. (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Д.А.С. / D. A.S. [Джоана, Андрей, Сергей / Joanna, Andrey, Sergei] Mixed media (nitro enamel?) on canvas?, approx. 130 x 110 cm, approx. 1986

EU11 constitutes another page with a single frame, Svema no 43/42.
From left to right: Andrey Krisanov, Joanna Stingray, and Sergei Bugaev.
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov
Д.А.С. / D. A.S. [Джоана, Андрей, Сергей / Joanna, Andrey, Sergei]
Mixed media (nitro enamel?) on canvas?, approx. 130 x 110 cm, approx. 1986




I could have renamed those eight reconnected negatives, adding a zero number to the AO page: AO01, AO02, AO03, AO04, AO05, AO06, and AO07. EV11 would have become AO01, AA11 would be AO02 and so forth. Accordingly, AU11 would have become AO16.  Although I did add a zero line to other pages, I didn’t do so in this specific case, because I had used the “old” numbers in texts and as names for vintage prints and other derived works – for instance for a painted photo-collage with Joanna Stingray, Viktor Tsoy and Marianna Tsoy, which has inv. no E-E-pho-AA21-opc (“opc” standing for original print coloured). Changing one of the eight names means changing them all, and, consequently, changing all documents and webpages related to any of the eight pictures. When you work with the material a lot, this is just impossible. I therefore opted for a system of cross-references – notes on the pages and tables. It isn’t entirely satisfactory, but it helps.

Xerox copies of new contact prints with filmstrips reconnected and numbered by Hannelore Fobo. AO page with three fimstrips from three contact prints. Numerous notes demonstrate a research in progress: I corrected the place of the event, added the date, and included a reference to a UB40 concert. Most importantly, I listed the reconnected pages in their original sequence.

Xerox copies of new contact prints with filmstrips reconnected and numbered by Hannelore Fobo.
AO page with three fimstrips from three contact prints. Numerous notes demonstrate a research in progress: I corrected the place of the event, added the date, and included a reference to a UB40 concert. Most importantly, I listed the reconnected pages in their original sequence.