Russia all around : Nizhny Novgorod
ArtyGeneration opens its scope to more Russian cities, with the ambition to highlight the country's creative scene, its arts, crafts and innovations.
First stop : Nizhny Novgorod !
Nizhny Novgorod is located at the confluence of two rivers - Oka and Volga, just a 3 hour train ride from Moscow. After Moscow and St. Petersburg, it can now be considered a hot spot for Russian contemporary art. A new dynamic arose in 2010 with a younger generation of street artists using the city as an open air exhibition space, where buildings became canvas'. In just 10 years, many of these artists became well known, are now actively collaborating with Moscow galleries and museums, and using more and more traditional techniques as medium. In 2012, the State Contemporary Art Center "Arsenal" opened on the territory of the city Kremlin, at the very heart of the city. Following the move, two independent art galleries - FUTURO and "TOLK" - were also established nearby. Since 2019, one of the main national art events - Innovation Prize and its nominees exhibition - has moved to the city as well. The same year, the book “A Brief History of Nizhny Novgorod Street Art” was published with the support of the Garage Museum. And it would appear that it is only the beginning ! “…We will experiment in everything. In art, in sports, in politics. ”, said Gleb Nikitin, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, last year at the Innovation Award ceremony in 2019 (See him on ArtPatrol). Because local authorities and urban planners started to understand the importance of culture to foster the dynamism of the city, they gave the opportunity for Contemporary art to develop in the city center.
We asked chief curator of the NCCA Arsenal - Alisa Savitskaya - and the co-owner of the TOLK gallery - Natalia Korenchenko - to look back upon those years and share their experience.
Meet Alisa Savitskaya, chief curator of the NCCA Arsenal
Do you feel part of the national or international art scene?
There is a sense of involvement in the global artistic process. Indeed, our projects are not inferior in quality to Western ones, as for the talent of local artists with whom we work. The system of our institution is democratic and open to new ideas and proposals. Unfortunately, we are separated from the international art community by borders. The arrival of foreign artists and curators or the transport of artworks entail high financial costs as well as bureaucratic issues.
What kind of support do they think is missing ? From whom?
We lack a sustainable funding system. A financial crises can happen everywhere, but in most Russian institutions this is a permanent condition. We need help from the state - direct funding and legislative support for sponsorship and patronage. We need support from business corporations. We also need support from the society by legitimizing cultural activities in the eyes of the state and business partners.
The second issue is education. The Russian system is far behind with regards to universal standards, and a lot has to be learned in practice. In addition, schools are based in the larger cities, and once they've finished studying, people do not seem to return to their native regions. Strong centralization and colossal differences in living standards leave no room for migration to small cities, which is terribly necessary for culture.
Do they feel a social responsibility?
We feel socially responsible. It applies to all our audience, whose quality of life we support to grow. We create conditions for the arts to meet a wide range of people from a variety of ages and social realities, we also try to respond to their cultural requests, which may be related to leisure, intellectual development or emotional experiences.
What is the role of artists in our contemporary world ?
Artists make the world more complicated: art does not provide simple answers to questions, but reveals the complexity and diversity of life. Artists make the world more human: art is one of the few areas of our life where individualism, subjectivity, the value of personal experience, chances and mistakes are preserved.
Meet Natalia Korenchenko, co-owner of the TOLK gallery
Do feel part of the national International scene ?
In general, yes. But in practice, it's not as we would like it to be. Unfortunately, we do not have enough resources and experience to participate in large international projects and fairs.
Which kind of support do they think is missing ?
Currently, we don’t have an exhibition space (it was closed at the beginning of 2016), so we cooperate with other galleries and venues, also giving artists the opportunity to participate in various projects and exhibitions. We try to comprehensively support artists from Nizhny Novgorod, whilst also acting as agent and selling their works. In the near future, as we finish reconstruction, we will finally have our exhibition space - a place that will allow us to hold exhibitions, communicate with our guests and organize an educational program. I cannot say that we expect support from anyone. Building friendly and mutually beneficial ties with the city and region administrations is essential to us.
Do they feel a social responsibility ?
First of all we feel responsible towards our artists. Our mission, on the one hand, is to motivate artists to create new works by organizing exhibitions, selling works, and, on the other hand, to engage and develop the viewer, providing the opportunity to understand what contemporary art is.
Who are the collectors of your gallery?
If we talk about our buyers, we notice a trend with the arrival of younger collectors. Even though they mostly buy graphics and smaller works, you can see how consistently they do it. Most of the collectors are from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Some of those people own major businesses and collect works of contemporary Russian art from renowned artists.
What are the projects you're most proud about?
The first project is always the most memorable. Perhaps it was not the best in terms of the quality of performance, nevertheless it remains the first and most beloved : "Windows" by Andrey Olenev. We are proud of our international project "Sunken Links", that we started in the summer of 2019 in Nizhny Novgorod and made a small tour which finished in February 2020 in Melbourne.
For our current project, we decided to experiment and organise an exhibition in an apartment under construction, with just concrete walls. Artists - Yakov Khorev, Egor TOY and other artist friends from different cities - suggested to gallery owners to use these unfinished apartments as settings. Some of the works were created on site by the artists themselves, whilst others were based on artists' sketches and instructions. Art therefore appeared in the space before its renovation, demonstrating the professional interests and friendships of its owners.
You are a collector yourself. What are you collecting? Who are the main artists in your collection?
The core of our collection is made up by Nizhny Novgorod street artists: TOY Team, Andrey Olenev, Yakov Khorev, Vladimir Chernyshev, Vanya Seryi and others. A separate place is occupied by paintings and video installations by Pavel Otdelnov. We also buy works by young and promising artists from other cities of Russia: Anna and Vitaly Cherepanovs (Nizhny Tagil), ZIP Group (Krasnodar), Ivan Gorshkov (Voronezh). Our collection also includes works by beloved Damir Muratov from Omsk, Vladimir Seleznev from Yekaterinburg, Rostan Tavasiev from Moscow and Ivan Dubyaga from Krasnodar. In the future, we plan to make the collection available to the general public, so that residents of Nizhny Novgorod and guests of the city have the opportunity to see a section of contemporary Russian art.
To follow all of them, head to Instagram : @Tolk_collection @tolknn @velskaya (Natalia Korenchenko) @redalisa (Alisa Savitskaya), @ncca_arsenal
