188. NON-FINDING

In the forest, adjacent to a site of extensive earthworks, a listening session was held for John Cage’s 1978 composition, "TRAIN".

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May 19, 2026

A. Monastyrski, S. Sitar, D. Novgorodova, V. Georgieva, Yu. Ovchinnikova (video),
O. Sarkisyan, S. Hänschen (in absentia), MishMash (in absentia).

Details:

The action consisted of five parts:

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1 – In the clearing of the "KD Library," a cardboard box was affixed to a tree (see photo); it bore QR codes linking to four videos (the audio play "The Inspector" based on Gogol; an exhibition hosted by Kornei Zubarzuk and Revizorov; and two KD actions previously held at that site—"Lieblich 2.0" and "Picnic with Stickers"). At this same location, we held a drawing—based on the "I Ching"—for a small figurine of a pink Napoleon at his coronation. Hexagram No. 11, "Peace" (or "The Bloom"), was drawn, and the winner was D. Novgorodova, who held the number 5 ("The Necessity of Waiting"). Also distributed at this site were laminated cards featuring a photograph of the empty Kiova Field from the 1979 action "Place of Action", overlaid with a drawing of a circle in the sky—taken from the Zen series "The Ox", position No. 8.

 

2 – At the edge (or "on the shore of the EZP"—the "Existential Sign Field") of a newly renovated forest clearing, Hagen AM presented each participant with an envelope bearing the inscription: "These envelopes—part of "The Inspector" action and containing factual documentation—are existential, in contrast to the non-existential fiftieth anniversary of KD." Inside the envelopes were double-sided laminated prints of two photographs from 2024—taken when, in that very same small grove, we discovered a wooden stake bearing the inscription "MG Axis." It was there that we ultimately laid out this new "MG"—a gas pipeline corridor cut through the forest—situated to the east of the "Library" clearing and running parallel to the "Hagen" clearing from south to northwest.

 

3 – Afterward, we proceeded eastward through the new "MG Axis" clearing into the woods, searching the surviving trees for laminated prints from previous actions (portraits of the Buddhist teachers Norbu and Garchen, along with various micro-slogans), but we found none. Upon returning to the "KD Library" clearing, we held a non-alcoholic picnic atop a log situated near the clearing and the portable speaker playing Cage’s "Trains". During the picnic, the audio component of the Cage-themed action came to an end—not because the musical piece itself had finished, but rather because the speaker’s battery had run out of power. It had played for just over an hour, whereas the piece itself runs for 3 hours, 32 minutes, and 48 seconds

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z309B1N8PO0).

 

4 – S. Sitar’s project-action, "In Memory of Rubinstein", held at the center of the Kiovo Field:

Forming a small circle at the center of the Kiovogorsky Field, the group of participants-as-spectators performed a simultaneous act of self-documentation based on a "chain principle": each person used their smartphone’s built-in camera to photograph the participant standing immediately to their right. The result was a set of five images, captured simultaneously from five distinct vantage points. To synchronize the act of photography, one of the participants (S. Sitar) read aloud Lev Rubinstein’s work "Event Without a Name" (1980). Following a prior agreement, the participants pressed their camera shutters at the precise point in the text where it reached the exclamation "There!" (signifying the onset of the event). This moment occurred at 16:20 Moscow time.

(A separate component of the action’s documentation was video footage recorded by Yulia Ovchinnikova, who was positioned at some distance from the group.)

V. Georgieva

A. Monastyrski

D. Novgorodova

Yu. Ovchinnikova (video)

O. Sarkisyan

S. Sitar

5 – A.M. reads Koan No. 56, "Lu-tzu Before the Wall", from "The Iron Flute", at the same location in the center of the field ("In Memory of All").

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Note: During the action itself, everything unfolded harmoniously; however, the journey to the site of the action was rather harrowing. First, there was the exceptionally long escalator at the Okruzhnaya station—singing with a piercing whistle, a rumble, and trills—followed, while waiting for the commuter train, by a stepladder falling from the platform onto the tracks (a gust of wind had blown it off!). A workman immediately jumped down onto the tracks and hoisted the ladder back up onto the platform from below; meanwhile, the train was already approaching along those very tracks, though it managed to brake some 30 meters short of the workman. V. Georgieva instantly rushed to the edge of the platform, extended her hand to the man who had jumped down, and helped him climb back up. Everyone crowded on the platform escaped with nothing more than a blast of extremely loud profanity hurled from the cab window of the departing train—serving, as it were, as a prelude to the John Cage piece that was later performed during the "Inspector General" action.