The connection between art and church is evident since the institution of the church came into existence. Art functioned as the primary means of communication for the sacred content to be conveyed. Over the centuries, art has emancipated itself from this role and a more critical approach to the church and its respective attitudes to various topics has been established.

 

In her work “The Feeder”, Vera Klimentyeva deals with the Russian Orthodox Church as a socially formative institution. The parallel between a church as the place of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by a dove, and a bird house is the first level of interpretation. The Church as a charitable organization that provides shelter and nourishment in winter is the second. The third level is that to which the title of the work refers.

 

In Russian slang, a "feeder" is an organization or a system that generates profit without the operator investing time or money. In relation to the church system, this situation is the opposite of the creed preached in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament that “giving is more blessed than receiving”.

 

Jan Gustav Fiedler

Vienna, September 2020