Browsing through the now dormant Russian art information net agency arteria.ru, i came across the suggestive.ru site.

The website has not been updated for a while, but i think that there is still some content worth taking a look. Conceptualized as an information-analytical resource for researching suggestive media technologies in the field of art, PR, political technologies and propaganda, in its short life time the site managed to gather a number of interesting contemporary view points (in Articles) and a small but well chosen propaganda banners collection of old political campaigns. For example the covers of the Soviet “Znanie-Sila”(Knowledge is Power) magazine covers from 1926-1940 juxtaposed to the American Sixties trash novel covers, suggesting to the viewer those symbols which alas seemed to be more viable in human history according to the suggestive- authors.

Questions and parallels come up naturally when browsing through the Soviet WWII poster collection and finding in the next issue old Indian film posters or the hellboy comic strips. The current belief in the malleability of humans is exemplified through the illustrations of the children’s Nazi-propaganda book “Der Giftpilz” (1938) which stands in stark contrast to the Soviet Children story by Nikolai Oleinikov: The Amazing Adventures Of Makar The Furious (in Russian) while not denying its purpose. (The Soviet children story is a true gem of the site, and i hope to be able to get hold of an English version soon, as the humour and peculiar world-views of the characters are too good to be missed. Otherwise this would be a good starting point to brush up some Russian.)

The Art production part offers among others an overview of an exhibition by Anna Kossovala showing contemporary Russian artists advertising or propagating contemporary art’s “usefulness” to every single man. Some suggestive content!

It’s a pleasure to invite you to the brand-new Russian FORMALISTA site offering the “world without text “ presented by Russian visual aesthetes. The contributors “chose images as the most emotional way of communicating information” announces the site. The site is a frequently updated image roll where one can also browse by date, by contributors or by “taste” suggestion. In many ways FORMALISTA is the little Russian brother of weheartit.com (the social bookmarking tool for images and videos by Fabio Giolito) with the difference that contributions are so far made by a selected few. Joining the formalistas is by invitation only. Have a look and enjoy the Russian view of the visual internet.

Privet! I invite you to take a look at this stunning result of the graduate work from British Higher School of Art and Design student Elena Marus from Moscow. This web project portrays and explains with fresh style and humour Russia’s flagship symbols and emblems ranging from samovar and cheburashka to astronauts. It also includes a short survival dictionary, explaining for example how to attract as well as detract attention or lower the price on Russian souvenirs, which are as comic as they are useful.

Although the site is directed at the foreign visitor of modern day Russia, some of humour of Elena’s comments might get lost to the completely Russia-uninitiated English reader: many of the puns depend on some knowledge of the so-called Russian mentality and current issues. But this is why both Russians and non-Russian speakers will enjoy this refreshing piece of inter-cultural dialogue.

Designed as a cross-media information and entertainment channel for post-ideological, non-partisan thinkers, the Spacecollective creators emphasize idea exchange and interaction among the members by providing an unusual set of communication tools e.g. create synapse. Own project proposals and participation are greatly promoted.

Where forward thinking terrestrial exchange ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the life of science fiction today.

As a result an extraordinary amount of great content has been generated here since the opening of the think-tank three months ago, dealing with Language, Consciousness, Space, the Singularity, the juxtaposition of Artifice and Nature, the intersection between Art and Science, the worlds future Archives, etc. The original community structure ensures deep absorption into any of the highly topical subjects. Warning: The enthusiasm of the creators and members may lead to hours of lost in space.

We give away invitations to join the Spacecollective to our first readers.