The Art Newspaper Russia, one of the main publications about culture and art in Russia, announced applicants for its annual prize for achieving in the field of Russian culture. If you judge the short sheet, then the year does not look empty or in vain. Despite the sad and limiting circumstances of the pandemic, including the abolition of exhibitions and suspension of the work of museums and galleries, the organizers did not remove any nomination. There are no passing names and names in the list, although some of the canceled exhibitions could strengthen competition and add intrigue premiums.
This year the ART Newspaper RUSSIA premium is awarded at the ninth time. Rules remain unchanged. Nominations meet the basic newspaper headings:
- "Museum of the Year";
- "Exhibition of Year";
- "Book of the Year";
- "Restoration of the Year";
- "Personal contribution."
The winners are chosen by the editorial decision. The criteria for the selection of nominees and winners are a public resonance and a high professional level of their achievements. As the Global Edition (The Art Newspaper Russia comes out in different countries), the award is important to note the events and phenomena that make the Russian art part of the global artistic process, clarify the editorial board of The Art Newspaper RUSSIA.
Top Exhibitions
The most important nomination is the "exhibition of the year". Competition here is always as high as possible, rarely when the winner is obvious to the ceremony. This year, "we store our white dreams" are nominated at the Garage Museum, Hermitagon "Zhang Huan. In the aspect of history, "and" inappropriate. 1968-1985 ", conducted by the new Tretyakov. Probably due to the fact that one of the criteria and awards in general and this nomination - the success of the audience, in the number of nominees did not hit the actually canceled exhibition "Vhutemas 100. School of Avangard" - the undoubted luck of the Moscow Museum, which has worked only three days before the second Museum Lokdauna.All three nominee exhibitions can be considered conceptual. Although "in the ashes of history" - an exhibition of one artist, it goes beyond the idea of acquaintance of the viewer with the work of Zhang Huan and puts much more complex questions. Last year's nominees (5th Ural industrial biennale of contemporary art, "Avangard. List number 1.. To the 100th anniversary of the Museum of Picturesque Culture" (Tretyakovskaya Gallery) and "Fabric of Moscow" (Moscow Museum) also belonged to this category, which confirms interest and Communities, and public to complex thematic expositions, and not just a retrospective blockbuster.
Main Museums
The nomination "Museum of the Year" is usually one of the most predictable: annually in the short- and longist, the awards appear almost alone and the same names - the metropolitan grants. The same year looks almost a sensation: among the applicants there are neither the Hermitage nor the Tretyakov Gallery, nor Pushkin (although the first two were in the Long List of the Prize). Moreover, only regional (although in St. Petersburg and the Moscow region, this definition can be applied to St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region, but still) Institutions - "New Jerusalem" Moscow Region, Museum Quarter in Tula and St. Petersburg "Manege". Given the fact that last year the "exhibition of the year" was recognized as the 5th Ural Biennale, the decision of the editorial office confirms an important trend once again: in the regions it is not easy "there is a life", and it is absolutely competitive about the metropolitan.
Restoration, books, patterns
Award "Personal Contribution" - one year one of the most difficult for the organizers. How to measure whose contribution is more, more important and more important? The list of applicants for this year also looks a challenge. Marat Gelman is nominated - one of the pioneers of the Russian gallery business, whose fame came out far beyond the world of modern art. In 2020, Gelman handed over to the State Tretyakov Gallery about 50 works from his collection, and this is one of the largest gifts in the modern Russian museum history. The founder of the Fair of Contemporary Art Cosmoscow Margarita Pushkin is noted for carrying out its event in a pandemic and closed borders. Global fairs, Art Basel or Freeze, were transferred, and Cosmoscow - took place. Galerist Maxim Boxer deserved a nomination thanks to the organization of the virtual platform "Ball and Cross", where artists can meet with collectors. The nomination Marianna Sardarova (not the first, of course) is another confirmation of its contribution to the development of the domestic market of contemporary art. The favorites look Anatoly and Irina Sedykh, who managed to organize a world-class event - in the framework of the festival of modern urban culture "Art-Orag" in the city of Vyksa Nizhny Novgorod region to open the fresco "stand - go. Abar in Normandy "- and bring her author there, Russian Classic Eric Bulatov.
The "restoration of the year" can be the House of Narkomfin (Moscow), Fedor Rokotov's cloth from the Meeting of the State Historical Museum (Moscow) and the Northern River Station (Moscow). Architectural projects seem favorites. First, due to scale. For example, the restoration of the Northern Station included not only the repair of the building, but also work on the improvement of the adjacent park, the embankment, as well as the reconstruction (more precisely, even the construction) of the berths. Secondly, because the architecture is a very painful topic and news here more about demolition and irreplaceable losses than about high-quality restoration.
The category "Book of the Year" This time turned out to be the continuation of other nominations. The best jury considered "it was forever. 68/85 ", published to the exhibition" Fairways. 1968-1985 »In the Tretyakov Gallery, the trilogy of the" Word "publishing house (free biographies of the Moscow collectors of Sergey Schukin, Ivan and Mikhail Morozov, Ilya Ostrukhov) and the collection of Boris Groys" Private cases "(19 articles about artists, from Vasily Kandinsky and Marseille Dushana to Inga Coyla Torsdottir and Shantzhuan.)