Project of Andrey Cherkasenko. ‘Association. Haiku&Hokku and Japanese Photography of the 1880s from the collection of MAMM’

In the framework of the 11th International Month of Photography in Moscow «Photobiennale-2016», Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents an exhibition of Orientalist scholar and translator from Japanese Andrey Cherkasenko «Associations. Haiku & Hokku and Japanese Photography of the 1880s from MAMM Collection».

Haiku (Hokku) is an unrhymed tercet of 17 syllables (5+7+5), which in the Japanese language forms only one column of hieroglyphs. In Russian or other languages of the Indo-European language family, haiku are usually written in three short lines. According to one of the definitions, haiku is thinking «here and now» of the feelings and sensations, captured in a brief verbal picture. This rapid cognitive image ingenious in the simplicity of its shape, well-honed during the previous centuries, became a symbol of the Japanese poetry and culture.

Poetic minimalism of haiku smoothly fits into modernity. A distinctive feature of our time is speed. A pace of our life constantly increases; a need for a quick exchange of information grows. Communication between people is reduced to extremely concentrated SMS-messages, tweets, etc. It turned out that a tough, definitive form of haiku, chosen by Andrey Cherkasenko, is perfect for expressing feelings of a modern man living in a dynamic megacity.

Japanese colored pictures of the 1880s, combined in the exposition with haiku by Cherkasenko, is another striking example of how traditional forms come into synthesis with modernity. Artists of the 19th century referred to the latest technology of that time — pictures and their hand-coloring, based on the traditional Japanese expression.

You may find modern haiku by Andrey Cherkasenko in his book «Haiku & Hokku», published in 2013. The book has gained popularity not only in the narrow group of fans of the Japanese poetry, but also among a wider audience, as evidenced by its republishing in 2014.