Nikola-Lenivets art park managing partner, Archstoyanie Festival and Archstoyanie for Kids festival producer.
Public art is a most important and efficient instrument of creating comfortable urban environments all around the world. Moscow, one of the largest and most beautiful megapolises in the world, is just embarking on the path of engaging with public art.
Possessing 15 years of experience in running the largest European art park in Nikola-Lenivets and having worked with public art in many Russian cities, we realize our responsibility to this city, to our audience, and to the artists. Holding the first public art exhibition in the center of Moscow, on Red Square, right next to GUM is, of course, a creative challenge for us and, we hope, a significant step in launching discussions and decision-making procedures for all parties interested in systematically introducing artworks to Russian streets. Thanks to the assistance of the young and bold GUM-Red-Line Gallery, we were able to establish a cultural precedent in the heart of the Russian capital.
We, as producers and curators of the project, wish not just to present quality artworks but also establish an administrative chain for promoting public art in Moscow: commissioner – environment – audience – curator – artist. Each element of this chain is important and adds to the stability and longevity of the entire process. Thanks to the cooperation with INTECO, a company that pays great attention to the symbolic capital of its architectural sites, we created the first-ever corporate collection of public art, made purposefully for the company’s projects. I am certain that we are witnessing the beginning of a new epoch in the development of the cultural market and artistic environment of Russia.