VISART RUSSIA

For more than ten years, VisArt Russia has been bringing American artists, arts managers, curators and performers to St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities in Russia to present small exhibitions, conduct workshops and master classes and give lectures and performances. Responding to local, immediate needs and interests, these projects attract large audiences and media attention. In recent years, projects have focused on contemporary music, the development of alternative art spaces, cultural journalism, and public art.

Each year, projects are developed through informal discussions with CEC’s partners in Russia. We strive to present projects that bring new ideas and energy to developing arts communities and facilitate new dialogue amongst both artists and audiences. Among our current partners are the Pro Arte Foundation (St. Petersburg), the National Centers for Contemporary Art in Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad, Art Politika (Yekaterinburg), Apositsia Music Forum (St. Petersburg), DOM Cultural Center (Moscow) and the Krasnoyarsk Museum Center. 

VisArt projects in Russia currently focus on three fields: public art, contemporary music and contemporary arts education. Recent projects have brought the artist Luisa Caldwell and curator Kendal Henry to Krasnoyarsk to conduct a public art workshop for young artists, Bang on a Can All-Star bass player Robert Black to four cities to perform and conduct master classes, and the artist Michael Rakowitz and curator Mark Coetzee to St. Petersburg to teach at a new summer program for contemporary artists at the Smolny College of Liberal Arts.