KEEPS FALLING ON MY HEAD
solo exibition, Projektraum Viktor Bucher, Vienna 2021

The title of the exhibition refers first and foremost to the fact that, despite all enlightened knowledge, we continue to be constantly thrown back on the everyday, banal things of life ...Again and again there are situations that fall unnoticed on our heads and have an impact on our state of mind - in everyday life as well as in a globalized world. In a subtle way, Michailov now seduces us into a kind of mindfulness training while immersing ourselves in his exhibition, which can not only proverbially knock the viewer on the head. Alongside performative photographic and video works, the exhibition brings together meticulously accurate, naturalistic drawings of "tension cracks" in the plafond and "wall stains."
Michailov's drawings are based on a close observation of the visible world, except that he deliberately places his focus on the mostly unconscious.  The incidental, the overlooked, the unwanted, partly repulsive becomes the "object of desire", is reinterpreted through graphic transformation and can thus perhaps be seen as "beautiful" and experience an increase in value. The "heaven panels" of the new series weak points (colored pencil drawings) function like a simulation configurator, in that one can assemble individual ceiling panels in different constellations virtually "by click".
As in the series "dust to dust," Michailov deals with the situational conditions of his respective studios.This time, however, he does not take a closer look at the studio floor, but at its ceiling. The specific peculiarities of a microcosm that have developed over the years are to be depicted. In particular, the artist is now on the lookout for architectural weak points such as wall cracks, water stains or chipped wall edges.The artistic depiction of such weak points is intended to make the viewer think and, if necessary, lead to self-reflection in search of their own "weak points."
"At the moment, weak points in houses and apartments are for me a metaphor for the weak points in the human mind and actions - also in relation to global, man-made phenomena such as global warming.
The connection between desolate housing and environmental damage came to me once when I was watching a ceiling dripping and the damage it caused - with the difference that a defective roof can be repaired far more easily than a no longer intact earth atmosphere". (Michailov)  

Text: Hannes Anderle