This Leads to Fire: Russian Art from Non-Conformism to Global Capitalism exhibition featuring works by CYLAND MediaArtLab co-founders Anna Frants and Marina Koldobskaya as well as frequent CYLAND collaborators Alexandra Dementieva, Elena Gubanova and Ivan Govorkov opened at Neuberger Museum of Art on September 14, 2014.
Anton S. Kandinsky, Post-Soviet-Ism, 2012, From the exhibition, On loan from the Kolodzei Art Foundation
The exhibition included works ranging from the 1950s through the period of Glasnost and contemporary art from the Kolodzei Art Foundation, one of the most extensive collections of nonconformist and contemporary Russian art in the world. It has been organized into five parts that explore the origins of Nonconformist art, the developments of Moscow Conceptualism, Sots Art, the influence of the Russian avant-garde in geometric abstraction, and the coercive legacy of Socialist Realism. This Leads to Fire will familiarize viewers with an important and underappreciated body of work, but also demonstrate the challenges these artists still pose to both mainstream Russian culture and the globalized art world. The exhibition is curated by Sarah Warren, Assistant Professor of Art History at Purchase College, the State University of New York.
While CYLAND MediaArtLab is an international initiative and its community of artists, critics, curators and media activities, its long-term cooperation with many Russian artists cannot be denied. Our renowned international media art festival CYBERFEST before happening at five cities around the world was first held in St. Petersburg in 2007. CYLAND community has played a significant part in the formation of nonconformist and contemporary Russian art scene.
This Leads to Fire: Russian Art from Non-Conformism to Global Capitalism on display at Neuberger Museum of Art from September 14, 2014 through January 11, 2015.