Since 2013 I have been a part of the Partizaning movement, which was founded by me and a few artists/activists: Make, Sonya Polskaya, Shriya Malhotra and Dmitro Zayetc. We made a lot of street actions focused on improving Moscow by participation in frame of art interventions. Our actions were represented in many festivals and exhibitions around the world but for us it was more important to react and criticise government initiatives, which quite often were not human oriented. Since 2014 I’m mostly working as an urban artist and researcher focused on art and activism. I made many site-specific performances and installations in Russia, Germany, France, Poland, Norway, Czech Republic and Estonia. As researcher, writer, editor and publisher I made more than 10 books focused on Urban art and Activism.
This short film dedicated to Partizaning movement which I founded with few other artists and activists, actions were happened mostly in Russia in 2012-2016 years.
Art and the City monograph, Russian, 2 editions
The book describes the main directions and trends in the development of socially engaged urban art from the early twentieth century to the present day. In Russian this book published in 2016 was the first research, claiming to be a complete analysis of the global phenomenon of urban art and graffiti, which includes a global context of the situation in Russia.
The second edition is supplemented by coverage of events after 2016. The book also includes several monologues from the pioneers of the graffiti and street art scene, based on interviews with the author. In addition, the publication significantly expanded the part about the New York graffiti subculture, adding a description of borderline multidisciplinary street practices.
Russia, Moscow
2016, 2021
Cutting the Walls, photo by Mila Tobolenko
With my artistic appropriation of banners within the framework of “Cutting the Walls” I address stigmatization and urban poverty in Moscow. Tarpaulin printed with depictions of facades that hide the construction work taking place in the background shape the character of this city in flux. “Cutting the Walls” takes on and re-interprets the concealing function of these tarpaulin banners.
Russia, Moscow
2015
Partizaning, photo by Fedor Lavrentiev Art interventions focused on improving Moscow’s urban environment: illegally we tried to make bike lines and crosswalks, before by yellow mailboxes we asked citizens what exactly they needed in the city and how they could be part of it. Russia, Moscow 2012
Behind the Fence Window grille in the form of Curtain as the boundary between private and public space. The object was installed on the window of an apartment house as the usual grille which citizens install in different cities in Russia. Yekaterinburg, Russia 2019