WASHINGTON, DC.- Controversial Russian-born artist Andrei Molodkin collaborates with D.C.-based multimedia artist Robin Bell to present Molodkin’s latest work, “White House Filled with the Blood of U.S. Citizens.” For the original artwork, real blood donated by American citizens pours through a clear acrylic sculpture of the White House. In Washington, D.C. a video representation was projected onto the exterior of the Trump Hotel in the week between the insurrection at the Capitol and the 2021 Presidential Inauguration.
Bell and Molodkin have identified the Trump Hotel as a pseudo-White House for the current administration – exemplifying the inextricable link between politics, money, personal power and ego.
Events over the past few weeks, specifically the attempted coup on January 6th and record death toll from COVID-19, have driven home the fact that people are both willing to die for their government, and are unwittingly sacrificed due to their government’s inactions. The artwork was produced in October 2019 as a forewarning of events to come and has lived up to its intentions in the current context. The American Democratic experiment requires informed participation and collective respect from both its civilians and elected officials, or we run the risk of devolving into senseless violence.
“The use of human blood is required to interrogate the existing political system,” said artist Andrei Molodkin. “The White House is the symbolic heart of ‘Western’ democracy, and here we see it as it is, fueled by the blood of its citizens.”
Molodkin is an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist, representing his country at the Venice Biennale in 2009. He has been working with the materials of blood and oil since leaving the army in Soviet Russia, treating these liquid materials as currency to make visible the physical cost of war and genocide.
“In the wake of insurrection, we’ve heard sentiments expressing that these actions don’t reflect America,” said artist Robin Bell. “Yet, our country has systematically upheld white supremacy. This artwork demands that folks challenge the inherent inequality and collectively work towards a just future.”
Robin Bell, founder of Bell Visuals, is an award-winning editor, video journalist, and multimedia artist based in Washington DC. He is well known for his guerilla-style projections of videos featuring political and social messages. Robin’s commitment to social change through the dissemination of information via video, sound and image is present throughout his artistic career.
Andrei Molodkin (1966) born in Boui, North Russia, 1966. Graduated from the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design at Stroganov Institute, Moscow in 1992. Whilst studying he served in the Soviet Army, convoying missiles through Siberia. In 2009 Andrei Molodkin represented his country in the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. His large-scale installation ‘Liquid Modernity’, 2009 entered the Tate Collection, UK in 2012. Since 2014, Molodkin has been reconstructing The Foundry, a 4500 m2 production site in the industrial town of Maubourguet. Lives between Paris and Maubourguet, France. Recent exhibitions include Bloodline, Rua Red, Ireland (2020); Black Horizon, BPS22 Museum, Belgium (2019); Fallout Pattern, Rua Red, Ireland (2017), Transformer No.M208, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa (2014); Catholic Blood, VOID, Derry, Northern Ireland (2013); CRUDE, Katzen Art Center, American University Museum, Washington D.C. (2013) Liquid Black, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2012); CRUDE, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston Texas (2011/12), Absolute Return, Museum of Modern Art, Saint Etienne (2011/12).
Building upon his formal training as a classical printmaker, Robin developed a unique style of live video collage which he has performed at well-known venues, including The Kennedy Center, 9:30 Club, The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Central Park Summer Stage in NYC, and The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles California. Robin was the lead video editor for PBS television show Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria. Also he taught video classes at the Corcoran College of Art and Design.
In 2005, Robin co-produced Operation Ceasefire, a seminal anti-war concert on the national mall. His feature length documentary, Positive Force: More Than a Witness: 30 Years of Punk Politics In Action, premiered in 2014. His incisive 2017 projection, Emoluments Welcome, on the face of the Trump Hotel in Washington DC garnered media attention from the BBC, CNN, New York Times, L.A. Times, Huffington Post and Hyperallergic, among others.
