Presentation of the exhibition project
Dmitry Prigov: Dmitry Prigov

On 29 April 2011 a press conference timed to the exhibition of works of Dmitry Prigov, to be presented by the State Hermitage on 1 June 2011 within the framework of the simultaneous program of the 54th Venetian Biennale, was held.

The exhibition will be held at Ca Foscari University, Venice, Italy. The exhibition of works of the contemporary artist is timed to holding the program Year of Russia in Italy and Year of Italy in Russia - 2011 which continues the tradition of partnership and cooperation in culture and art between the two countries.

The exhibition of works of an outstanding Russian conceptual artist will be an important cultural event and the first precedent for the participation of the largest Russian museum in the program of Venetian Biennale. The project is based on the donation to the State Hermitage of the main body of Prigov’s works transferred to the permanent collection of contemporary art of the State Hermitage by the Dmitry Prigov Foundation.

On 6 March 2011 the Center for Russian Culture Studies CSAR was opened in Ca Foscari University, Venice, which has become an essential part of the extensive program of events related to the Year of the Russian language and culture in Italy. The Center will include the Laboratory for Studies of D. Prigov’s works.

On 31 May 2011, before the official opening of Venetian Biennale, an exhibition of works of D. Prigov from the collection of the State Hermitage will be held. Ca Foscari Palace was built in the 15th century gothic style in the center of Venice on the shore of Canal Grande. The total area of the exhibition space will be about 1,000 sq. m. The exhibition project is extremely important for the presentation of Russian culture and art on the international art arena.

Artist, sculptor and poet Dmitry Prigov (1940-2007) is a key figure on the Moscow art arena of 1970s-1990s, one of the founders of Russian conceptual art. He is the author of numerous poetic works (more than thirty-five thousand), graphic works, collages, installations, and performances. He starred in films and participated in musical projects. He is the laureate of the Pushkin Prize (1993); Fellow of the Academy of Art in Germany.

The Dmitry Prigov Foundation was officially founded in Berlin in 2010. The main purpose of the Foundation is to advance and promote the artistic, literary and intellectual heritage of Dmitry Prigov, preserve his works and creations, maintain and support research works and publications dedicated to Prigov and his work. In addition, the Foundation promotes and supports innovative art, literature, humanities and philosophy inspired by Dmitry Prigov.

In 2010, the Dmitry Prigov Foundation announced its willingness to donate to the State Hermitage the core part of D. Prigov’s legacy, numbering about 380 works. The majority of these works, many of which have not been published yet, will be put on display, which will complemented with video performances of the artist and installations made of wood, rope and glass constructed according to his designs. The collection of works will allow to explore the unique world of Dmitry Prigov consisting of objects, images, sound and light.

The curator of the exhibition of works by D. Prigov at Venetian Biennale is D. Ozerkov, Head of the Sector for Contemporary Art of the State Hermitage, Ph.D in philosophy.

The exposition of works of D. Prigov in Venice is a remarkable paraphrase for holding the exhibition of works of Andrey Monastyrsky presented at Biennale in the Russia pavilion.

A scientific illustrated catalog was prepared for the exhibition. It has an introduction by M. Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage. The authors of the articles are Mikhail Yampolsky, theorist; Sylvia Burini, Professor at Ca Foscari University and Director of the Center for Russian Culture Studies CSAR; Dmitry Ozerkov; Vladimir Martynov, composer.

Work on the exhibition is conducted within the framework of the Hermitage 20/21 project, with the active participation of Ca Foscari University, Venice, and the Prigov Foundation. As stated by M. Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, ‘Objectives of the Hermitage 20/21 project are to collect, exhibit, and study art of the 20th - 21st centuries. We want to create a collection of works that will become history tomorrow. Actual art can be called a mirror of contemporary culture where all of us are reflected. That is why the Hermitage 20/21 project is addressed to those people who want to keep pace with the times, amateurs and professionals, experienced experts and very young visitors’.

The Hermitage 20/21 project was launched in 2007. Exhibitions of the project, including America Today (2007), Chuck Close. Seven Portraits (2008), The Space of Timur: St Petersburg - New York (2008), Boris Smelov. Retrospective, Wim Delvoye. D11 (2009), Newspeak. British Art Now (2009), and the Pompidou Center in the Hermitage (2010) were attended by around one million people. In the summer of 2010 the State Hermitage exhibited works by contemporary British artists Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley. The exhibition Printer’s Error (2010) demonstrated the works of Ilya and Emilia Kabakovs donated by the authors to the museum’s collection.

The Hermitage collection of new and contemporary art is based on the paintings of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Kasimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. Due to historical circumstances, the State Hermitage Museum does not have a representative collection of Western art of the second half of the 20th-21st century. The Hermitage 20/21 project is aimed at filling this lacuna.

Financing of the museum exhibition project is based on own funds and sponsorship with the assistance of the Hermitage Foundation, United Kingdom, the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation, and with the personal support of Alexander and Natalya Bulgakovs, Mikhail and Irina Maltsevs.

The exhibition is supported by OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) under the long-term partnership between OMA and the State Hermitage.

Press conference at the Hermitage Theatre

M. Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and A. Prigov

A. Prigov, son of the artist

D. Ozerkov, curator of the exhibition of works by D. Prigov at Venetian Biennale

Prigov’s works at the press conference