Photographer Anton Kozlov Mayr allows visitors to have a peek inside the United Nations, and you may or may not like what you see with his exhibition at the Photographer.ru gallery.
The exhibition, called «The United Nations is Decadent and Depraved,» came about because of a collaborative project between Kozlov Mayr and U.S. filmmaker Mark Boswell.
Inspired by Hunter S. Thompson’s short story «The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved,» a seminal sports story which focused more on the depravity that surrounded the race rather than the race itself, the pair accredited themselves to the 2008 session of the United Nations in New York.
The two gained access to General Assembly speeches, the press room and the run of the building, taking more than 2,000 photos, which are on display at the Winzavod Center of Contemporary Arts until July 28.
«Anton is a great and talented photographer whom we always wanted to exhibit in Moscow,» said Larisa Grinberg, director of the Photographer.Ru Gallery.
Kozlov Mayr was born in Russia but now lives in Paris, traveling often between New York and Moscow. He studied film and philosophy at New York University and Harvard.
«The project is not a criticism of the UN at all,» Kozlov Mayr, who has previously called the United Nations the last utopia of the modern age, said in an interview. «We are supporting the UN. We are actually calling for more executive power to be passed to the organization.»
How the United Nations sees it is unknown, but they may not be happy at what Kozlov Mayr says is an attempt to take an «aesthetic approach» to look at the decadence of the international body.
Russian parliamentarian Mikhail Margelov has a touch of the brooding Mafiosi in his portrait. Most other politicians at the exhibition don’t look too statesmanlike, either.
Looking at his photo of two German secret agents wearing dark black suits, Kozlov Mayr says, «There was something sinister about those people.»