Vladimir Sorokin is one of the key contemporary intellectuals, known for his deep and precise understanding of life, whose books have been translated into dozens of languages. His literary work is famous for its stylistic diversity, the deconstruction of linguistic and social codes, attention to power mechanisms, and social transformations. Sorokin is slightly less known as an artist who engages with visual art. The exhibition "Dostoevsky-Trip" represents this facet of his talent.

For Vladimir Sorokin, graphics are important and meaningful. As an artist, he has designed about fifty publications and has expanded this practice well beyond book design. In the past ten years alone, three of his series, inspired by Russian literary tradition, have been presented in Berlin, Tallinn, and Cannes. Such a consistent and thoughtful engagement with graphics shows that for Sorokin, it is not just a field of formal experimentation but a unique tool for artistic exploration—a way to capture and reflect on what does not always find adequate expression in other forms. The exhibition in Belgrade marks the next step in this journey.

The phenomenon of a writer professionally engaging in visual art is not rare. One can recall the drawings of Victor Hugo, engravings by William Blake, watercolors by Hermann Hesse, or the graphics and sculptures of Günter Grass. The connection between literary and artistic practices manifests itself differently for such authors: for some, visual art is a parallel form of self-expression, for others, a direct continuation of literary themes. Vladimir Sorokin's case is unique in that understanding his intent completely may be impossible, and perhaps it is unnecessary. It is best to simply trust the author and immerse oneself in the visible, following him wherever it leads.

The title of the exhibition refers to the play of the same name from 1997, in which the characters experience a psychedelic trip under the influence of the drug "Dostoevsky." The exhibition also offers not an academic study or homage, but an intense, possibly disorienting experience of encountering a world under Dostoevsky's influence. The works represent a fixation on the powerful, almost toxic impact of literature and, more broadly, art, on individuals. Art cannot describe a trip; it can only be a trip itself. Sorokin does not illustrate Dostoevsky; he uses his texts and the myths surrounding him as material for his own visual journey. He extracts obsessive ideas, existential questions, cultural archetypes, and encapsulates them in a concise yet rich visual form.

Vladimir Sorokin's artistic practice is largely shaped by his involvement in the Moscow conceptualism circle during the 1970s and 80s. Its participants viewed the language itself—as either the language of ideology or everyday life—and its correlation with reality as a significant subject of interest. A similar interest defines the context for understanding all of Sorokin's visual works, including those presented in the exhibition.

The new works consist of lines, texts, and collaged elements. The line is mobile: vibrating, it outlines the contours of vases and grows thorny stems, conveying a sense of instability and tension. Handwritten fragments from Dostoevsky's books (“Should I fall into despair, or shall I refrain from tea?”, “A broad man, I would narrow him down,” etc.) become independent visual elements that set the tone and mood. The text functions both as a carrier of meaning and as a plastic sign woven into the composition, establishing rhythm and texture. This graphic foundation is sometimes complemented by collage—the artist incorporates images literally cut out from another context, such as the recognizable image of Vasilisa the Beautiful created by Ivan Bilibin. By placing the heroine of Russian fairy tales alongside a zombie-like Dostoevsky, surrounded by texts, and showing how they grow from numbered vases, Sorokin creates a complex palimpsest, juxtaposing different cultural layers: the great novel, folklore, the aesthetics of modernism, and conceptualism.

Vladimir Sorokin's approach to visual art—working with quotations, appropriation, collage thinking, conceptual use of text, and the creation of hybrid, paradoxical images—aligns with contemporary artistic strategies that explore the mechanisms of culture, memory, and language.

Ilya Shipilovskih