KOLXOZ INFO

WHAT IS KOLXOZ and WHAT WE DO

Kolxoz is a collective based in Moldova / Pridnestrovie (Tiraspol / Chisinau), Czech Republic (Prague) and Serbia (Belgrade). Kolxoz works inside the cycle of cultural production – from research, creation and replication to distribution, theoretical formulation and presentation. Turning every step of this process into partisan fight for autonomy of perceptions. At the core of Kolxoz’s practice is a belief in the radical potentiality of printed matter to create a platform for socio-political self–reflection and conversation. As well as self–publishing, Kolxoz works with creating situations and activating places: temporary publishing houses and distribution centers, open studios and social spaces such as coffee bars or libraries. Their current research focuses on methodologies for facilitating collaboration and they often make use of readily available or defunct technologies.

The following quote from «Turbo Manifesto 2021» provides an outline of collective fascinations: 

KOLXOZ = КОЛЛЕКТИВНОЕ ХОЗЯЙСТВО = COLLECTIVE ECONOMY

KOLXOZ IS UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA

FULL CYCLE OF CULTURAL PRODUCTION – AUTONOMY FOR CULTURAL WORKERS

POTENCIAL OF LIMITS 

SAMIZDAT IS SELF–PUBLISHING MATTER AND HOW TO DO IT

SAMIZDAT – THE WEAPON OF INTELLECTUAL PROLETARIAT AND GRAPHOMANIACS

CASA PRESEI IS IMPROVISED MOBILE PUBLISHING HOUSE 

KOLLEKTIVE WORKS AS KOMBINAT 

RE–CYCLING OF TECHNOLOGY, METHODOLOGY, IDEOLOGY 

MELTING ALL INTO THE BOOKS

YOU READ NOW SUCH A BOOK

Through what points of intersection the КОЛХОЗ was formed can be found in the MANIFESTO 2020 or during cooperation with KOLXOZ.

More about working methods of KOLXOZ:

MASA DE KULTURA

Table - Masa De Kultura (ro. english - Table of Сulture). Is mobile Platform of Kolxoz, consisting of cheap fishing table. This table is fundament of the smallest material needed for starting social situations and integraton. It works on pragmatical but also symbolical level. All info

ALCATRAZ COFFEE BAR

Attempt to Revitalize and repurposed former Disco Bar into one night pop‒up cultural venue. Collectively cleaned, equipped and run for few days bar area as new functionality reading spot. Bar was containing instead of alcohol, publications and Coffee was offered as part of act of cultural experience. Event was including music and art producing friends and forming rather than self‒representing event, event which blends and unite on basis of cultural enthusiasm. Video documentation

MARSHRUTKA~POST~PMR~EXPEDITION

Research and integration into Post Offices system in the main Cities of the Transnistrian region. Moving between the Post offices took place using Marshrutka's (minibuses) - the main public transport in the region. Inside the Post Offices, the activation of the place was made through the bureaucratic practices and tools inherent in this space: the postcards bought there were sent to different parts of the world, symbolically connecting different realities with each other. Photos of the interiors and plants in these Post Offices formed the basis of a series of postcards.

SWIMMING LESSONS

«Kolxoz Swimming Lessons»  is research of different collectivity forms. This is a pedagogical and self-educational program of Kolxoz. It began with the hypothesis that «Borders are more Liquid than we Think». Exploration were based on the following thesis:

We can perceive the «collective», even if it is temporary, as a work of art.

Such art can find its expression in the traces that the collective leaves in the smooth surface of symbolic and material places. Sometimes these traces seem ephemeral, like drawings that a swimmer leaves on the surface of the water. But this doesn't mean that such traces are irrelevant.

It can be documented and not only as an aesthetic object but also as a manifestation of the work process, without which it is impossible to exist in this deceptive substance. How to survive in the liquid conditions of cultural and artistic periphery? You are an individual, or a collective organism?

KOLXOZ doesn't have a ready-made universal answer. But KOLXOZ believes that the very process of the experiment can be an ambiguous answer to such flickering questions. What about the underwater stones? Main thing is not to drown, although It also can be the result.

The exploration results of the 3rd Space joint functioning was present during the Pop-up event «Research of Collectivity through Art» 

NASLAVCEA ~ CASA PRESEI

CASA PRESEI — this impromptu Publishing House. It was arranged in the space of an abandoned rural house, in Naslavcea village, the northernmost point of Moldova, in August 2020. It was an experiment with representing collective sensation and activity. Kolxoz organized the production of a newspaper, in the creation of the content for which a group of 25 people participated. To replicate work was used Fax technology and as a working environment with communication and recreational functions was opened a temporary cafe «La Pogovorit». The result was achieved in the form of a circulation of publications «Gazetka Naslavcea» in which the process of its creation and the context in which it happened was reflected.

SBORNÍK NEKROLOGŮ

Self–published ribbon «lenta» of paper with the topic of Necrologue. This publication was created as a symbolic space for collaborative work of different people. Authors separated by closed borders, distance and circumstances. Still they formed a collective, once together inside Samizdat. No selection was done. Everyone who found motivation to participate had an equal chance to publish.

Necrolog was collected and printed in Chisinau, in autumn months of year 2020.

3RD SPACE STUDIO OPEN ENVIRONMENT

Place of work, communication and permanent exhibition. Symbiosis of Church, Cosmoport and Cafe. Was activated by Kolxoz and became the Bazochka «base station» for the collective in the fall of 2020. Located in Museum Zemstvei, Chishinau, Moldova

Place with liquid status and liquid potential. It claims work for activation or degeneration. If <<work>> is well done, it leads to the fact that in this place people and elements meet and communicate with each other. Such activity returns this space to the functions for which it was built. All info

Working with the concept of studio spaces as a temporary or permanent model, KOLXOZ came up with theses that contribute to sustainability and effectiveness. Principals were born as a result of research on the topic «Potentials of Limits» and were relevant for peripheral areas of East Europe. This principles can be organically developed and adapted for other local contexts

• Multifunctionality and transformability as ecology of space use. Involves experimenting with other functions in the studio space in addition to the work environment. For example Exhibition space, Reading Corner, Printing House and Post office.
• Recycling of technologies and methods. It means exploring outdated and forgotten tools and practices, and reimagining their purpose for a new context. For example, thermal printing with a fax machine and receipt prints for replicating text and visual products.
• Autonomy of self‒production. From research and production to replication and distribution, Kolxoz turns every step of such a process into a civil defence from segregation and social alianation, from addiction on automaticity of mass consumption.
• Collectivity as a format of work, as a work of art, as a search for alternatives, as a practical response to challenges that cannot be dealt by a single person.

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SLOVAR ░ СЛОВАРЬ

Словарь is dictionary. This collection of words forms Kolxoz lexicon. Slovar includes terms and phenomenons that are encountered, which are formulated and developed by Kolxoz. This is the definition of important points in the existence of collective. It gives an idea about situations that Kolxoz creates or situations in which Kolxoz finds itselves. These words describe aspects relevant to the regions in which members of the collective meet, work and live.

Like any vocabulary, Slovar is a form of communication between «you» and «others». It is an opportunity to make platform for explanation, grounding and interaction. Slovar is a manifestation of an alternative to repressive logic of ready–made systems. Such systems which reduce us to the comfortable automatism of language consumers. Resistance through DIY–lexicon open space between the autonomous perception of the surrounding reality and the utopian way of thinking.

You can start reading Slovar on any page. If you find a underlined word, you can see an explanatory section for such word in the Slovar. For easier orientation between terms, you can look in index section at end of this lexicon. Slovar is accompanied by Kolxoz photographs, illustrations and diagrams.

Словарь Slovar
48 pages
145 × 95 mm
31 g
spring, 2021
Kolxoz

Иether Earth Library, Chișinău, Muzeum Zemstv, 2021

First time Иether Earth Library was created as self-organized temporary service and as an open communication space for book enthusiasts, experimental publishing and DIY-printed matter - «samizdat». The library functioned and transformed during September-October 2021. It was both an infrastructure facility and a social sculpture. Collective work based on the cooperation of Maxim Polyakov [MD/PMR], Viktor Vejvoda [CZ], Kalmia Strong [US] and the participation of colleagues and friends who were part of events, production, exchange of knowledge and books. It was an intersection and meeting place not only for people, but also for books and prints made by various publishers and collectives from Europe, America and other locations.

Discussions around the topic of books and non-formal education of each other were supplemented by self-organized cafe-buffet "Orbita", parties, exhibitions and experimental point for production and distribution of fast-cooking short-run low-cost publications - «Sawarma from Kolxoz». During the process was development of prototypes and methods of cultural work in places like Muzeum Zemstv - historical buildings with lost function, uncertain status, crisis conditions related to the period of transition and the periphery of public attention.

https://locals.md/2021/iether-earth-reading-table/

KATOLOG OF HOPE AND UNHOPE, Belgrade, 2023

The 'Katalog of Hope and Unhope' is a samizdat (DIY publication) that combines descriptions of cultural work based on the recycling of institutional and human practices from the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, adapted to the needs and possibilities of a small collective, and examples of using these methods in various contexts. Content publishing is itself an experiment with linguistic and semantic constructs in the name of exploring the autonomy of self-expression, self-reflection and producing. Katalog of Hope and Unhope was created in Belgrade in winter 2023 in form of paper Ice Cream hallucinations.