MADE IN CYLAND

Nowadays, the expression "beating baklushas" (which translates into English as "frittering away time") means idleness or doing nothing, though originally it referred to work — the making of rough blocks (baklushas) for wooden spoons. This work was neither difficult nor glamorous, and it was carried out by apprentices and even children, but it was work nevertheless. In the installation of Anna Frants, the baklushas themselves do the work: they beat out a rhythm, following a lead of the invisible orchestra that plays Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms under the baton of the holographic conductor. They continue to beat out the rhythm even after the music stops. This could be interpreted as the applause or as the continuation of creative process. One should not forget that doing nothingness could be sweet (dolce far niente), that those who beat baklushas are keeping company to Lotus Eaters from the Odyssey, Oblomov from Goncharov's novel of the same name and other idle dreamers and that idleness, unlike physical labor, includes the proclivity for reflection and contemplation.