The system made me do it
73 rue de Seine
75006 Paris
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2023-2024 Paris IAS writing residency fellow Alena Ledeneva's offsite exhibit.
Free admission at la Galerie de Buci, 73 Rue de Seine, Paris 6.
Presentation
The first solo exhibition of British artist Alena Ledeneva, which will welcome the public on June 23 2024, Galerie de Buci, 73 rue de Seine, 75006, Paris.
Her project "The system made me do it" is a statement that captures both the pressure faced by individuals subjected to the increasing complexity of the contemporary world and their excuse for 'gaming the system,' an informal act of protest against such pressure. Systemic pressure and control often go hand-in-hand with cooptation: a solid basis of perks and privileges endowed upon the conforming insiders. The ambivalence of the system - controlling but enabling, sticks and carrots - is at the core of this exhibition. Each piece captures this ambivalence, associated with the doublethink, double motivation, double-deed, and double standards that support the functioning of the system and its reproduction.
Through her conceptual artistic practice, based on years of academic research, Alena Ledeneva invites viewers to explore the invisible and immeasurable dimensions of informal power. These very elements can compel us to feel powerless against 'the system'.
Alena Ledeneva is a Professor of Politics and Sociology at University College London and founder of the Global Informality Project (in-formality.com). She is currently a writing fellow at the Paris Institute for Advanced study. A graduate of the Novosibirsk State University and University of Cambridge (Newnham), she is the author of the trilogy: Russia’s Economy of Favours (1998), How Russia Really Works (2006), and Can Russia Modernize? (2013).
Alongside her research, she engages in mixed-media artistic activities that shed light on phenomena of society, informality, and power, referencing conceptual art and ready-mades. In 2019, she participated in the parallel program of the 58th Venice Biennale, at Palazzo Donà, San Polo. In 2020, her works were exhibited as part of the UCL Fringe Centre PiraMMMida project.
This first solo exhibition of Ledeneva's work offers a thought-provoking examination of the deep structures of power - its open secrets, unwritten rules and hidden practices, assembled from around the world and published in three volumes of The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality (UCL Press, 2018, 2024).
Practical information
Free admission at la Galerie de Buci, 73 Rue de Seine, Paris 6.
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