30 years ago, in the times of rock clubs and active growth of civil initiatives, a group of classmates and good friends from Pushkin began their creative practices under the name of Informal Youth Association. At the end of the 80s and 90s NOM actively mastered what it is today called contemporary art, guided by the principle of the synthesis of the arts: there were performances, interventions in urban environment, feature films, and even a rock opera. NOM has released a dozen of conceptual records, several feature films and a series of interesting creative activities inspired by modern urban folklore, and myths, generated by the media. The exhibition at Erarta will feature music, films, costumes, and paintings by the artist Nikolay Kopeikin who joined the band in the 90.

30 Years of Carnival in a Barnyard

Here they are – the informal kings of St. Petersburg: grunting, mooing, mocking, dressing up, dancing like demons, playing uplifting music, jumping into space, rooting the earth, proclaiming decay of reality, inspiring hope and elsehow entertaining the audience. Akin to Andy Warhol's Factory, Slovenian NSK/Laibach, and partly the unforgettable St. Petersburg Pop Mechanics, NOM is an inter-industry multi-artistic organism that, along with singing and dancing, has a place for painting, fashion/design, theatricalization and cinematography. The cartoon realism of the “Sorcery Artists” and the retro-futurism of NOMFILM expand and complement the amazing concept of the mighty and touching pathology of everyday life that originated 30 years ago in the musical band. You can consider this humor. I would call the performances by the incomparable NOM a “ritual of driving the devil out by means of tickling”.

Artemy Troitsky