Flower Power. Archive, 2017

Agency of Singular Investigations

Flower Power. Archive, 2017

Agency of Singular Investigations

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The “Flower Power. Archive” project continues the series of projects by the Agency. In 2017, the group discovered an archive of a museum belonging to a secret society that existed during the late Soviet era and focused on pacifist and dissident activities. According to the documents found, members of the Leningrad branch of “Flower Power” used their extrasensory abilities to hinder the Soviet government, for instance, during the invasion of Czechoslovakia or the 25th Congress of the Communist Party. The ASI group presented a timeline starting from 1780 when French botanists discovered the inexplicable ability of plants to influence political events. They conceived a secret society in Paris that aimed to reduce violence and military threats in society. This movement lasted over two centuries and attracted a considerable number of renowned writers, scientists, and politicians to its peace-building activities.

Adherents of “FP” influenced Spéranský to draft a Constitutional project, Baudelaire wrote “Les Fleurs du Mal” as a malicious parody of the movement’s ideas, William Morris encoded political slogans in decorative ornaments, and in Zurich, occult anti-war gatherings were held at the “Cabaret Voltaire,” disguised as Dadaist parties. Accompanying the timeline, collages reconstruct the visions of the group’s members, who were meant to create disruptions to unfavorable events and thereby alter the course of history. Showcased in the display cases are books – botanical-political dictionaries where flower silhouettes are juxtaposed with political concepts: aloe vera corresponds to “state, command-administrative system,” while purple cyclamen represents “critique, critical discourse, opposition.” In a corner of one of the halls, a pile of archive boxes labeled “Political Alchemy,” “Hidden Connections of Things,” “Creative Destruction,” “Secret Doctrine,” and “Coincidences” is displayed.

The central hall of the second floor is occupied by the installation “Dark Slumber of the Earth” mimicking the style of an archaeological museum: white-painted work tools are laid out in the shape of a prehistoric reptile skeleton. In the video room, a synthesized voice narrates the universal structure of Flower Power. As we can see, based on the stated objectives, this project can also be classified as revisionist. However, more significantly, on the level of discourse, it visually demonstrates the paranoid mechanism and structure of any conspiratorial project of reality.