Russian contemporary art
After the fall of the Soviet Union the borders opened and a new art scene emerged, with provocative performance art, private museums and biennials. Since the 2010s the space for it has shrunk, and many artists now work outside Russia.
In the chaos of the 1990s art often became physical and provocative. Moscow Actionism, with artists such as Oleg Kulik, Anatoly Osmolovsky and Alexander Brener, used the artist’s own body in public actions to mirror a society in shock. At the same time the older conceptual artists, such as Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, achieved international fame.
In the 2000s an art infrastructure was built up with private money. The Moscow Biennale began in 2005, the Garage centre opened in 2008 and in 2015 moved into a building by Rem Koolhaas in Gorky Park, and Manifesta was held at the Hermitage in 2014. The group AES+F attracted attention with large video works at the Venice Biennale.
At the same time pressure on critical art increased. The exhibition Caution, Religion! was vandalised in 2003 and its organisers were convicted. Pussy Riot’s punk prayer in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 2012 led to prison sentences, and Pyotr Pavlensky’s actions to trials. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 many artists left the country, and those who were to represent Russia in Venice withdrew.