+ Resident Report
Alexis Zimberg
Государственный Центр Соверменного Искусства
National Centre for Contemporary Art
December 2013, Moscow
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I fly into Moscow on a Thursday. At Sheremetyevo, I recognize my name written in permanent marker on Ivan’s sign.
He brings me to hotel Antik in the
Petrovka neighborhood of Moscow.
After a short rest, I journey to the
NCCA offices at 13, Zoologicheskaya.
The building currently consists of an
office area for about 15 workers, a
mediatheque (where I primarily do my
work), a large exhibition hall, a smaller
exhibition hall, a gallery, a bookstore,
and a nice cafe. The mediatheque is
floor-to-ceiling-filled with art
catalogues, magazines, and textbooks
from around the globe, all of which is
available for resident perusal. After
12pm when the centre opens each day,
the entire space is bustling with life
until about 11pm or later.
The office is lively and young. The staff
is friendly and can arrange everything
that I need, from contact information
to private films. They were absolutely
wonderful to work with.
As a resident in Moscow I focus on the
preparation of my forthcoming book,
titled "Post-Soviet Graffiti: Free
Speech in the Streets." I spend my days
conducting interviews, photographing
new works of street art, visiting art
centers around town, and writing. I
speak with many great figures in
Moscow’s contemporary art
community like Andrei Erofeev,
Tatiana Kroll, Misha Most, Anton
Litvin, Elena Petrovskaya, Tassya
Krougovykh, and the Partizaning team.
I receive private tours of the Narkomfin
House, the Masterkova House of
Artists, the Jewish Museum and
Tolerance Center, and the Gulag art
collection at Memorial. At night, I
accompany Moscow’s greatest street
artists as they consider, prepare, and
conduct their work.
As a resident at the NCCA, I received
an unmatched opportunity to
collaborate and communicate with
some of the greatest figures in 20th
and 21st century Russian
contemporary art. I am endlessly
appreciative of the NCCA team. Zina,
Irina, and Nica worked tirelessly to
ensure that my residency was smooth
and meaningful.
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Lecture // 26.12.13 My work primarily investigates how
individuals and groups circumvent
oppression and censorship. Seeing
pitfalls with traditional methods of
protest like internet activism, street
actions, and rock music, I investigate
graffiti as an anonymous and
untraceable artform.
In my public lecture on political street
art, I offer two hypotheses, based on
my original fieldwork:
(1) Стрит-арт - еффективный
медиум политических
дискуссий, особенно в закрытых
странах.
(2) В политизировнном регионе
паблик-арт не может
функционировать как
«искусстрво для искусства.»
I discuss the history of my project; the
philosophical underpinnings of street
art and the public sphere; graffiti as a
mobilizing agent; the ability of street
art to criticize or reinforce historical
figures and collective identity; and
graffiti as a mirror of a street narrative.
This lecture outlines the content of my
published thesis, titled “The Spray Can
is Mightier Than the Sword: Street Art
as a Medium for Political Discourse in
the Post-Soviet Region.” By combining
historical, anthropological, and
journalistic work, this work offers an
inter-disciplinary, thorough, and cross-
referenced account of graffiti and
street art culture from 1985 to the
present-day. Much of the content of
my second book will be supported by
the theories outlined in this first text.
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