Seventh Graduate Workshop

What Is to Be Done?
Discussions in Russian Art Theory and Criticism II

The seventh graduate workshop of the Russian Art and Culture Group, took place in Bremen on September 19 and 20, 2019, and focused on the main tendencies in Russian art theory from Russian modernism to the present day.

We specifically explored responses to the question What Is to Be Done? (Что делать?) by artists, art critics, writers, and other members of the Russian intelligentsia. Furthermore, we discussed art historical concepts such as, the Russian avant-garde, neo-primitivism, constructivism, formalism, Socialist Realism, conceptualism, Sots Art, and how these were used by Russian artists. We also examined how movements and concepts from abroad, including cubism, the Bauhaus, concept art, pop art, and others, were mirrored in Russian art theory and artistic practice, and vice versa.

The keynote speaker, Jane Sharp, professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will present her research on “The Idea of Russkaia ideia: Reflections on the Parafictional Subjects of Post-Soviet Russian Art.”

See the workshop’s booklet including abstracts of all presentations for more details and enjoy some impressions.