The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Pushkin announced the creation of Russia’s first collection of media art with the support of MAIL.RU Group

The Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin with the support of Mail. Ru Group begins the formation of a unique collection of media art. The new meeting, created as part of the Pushkin XXI trend, will be the first of its kind. It will include the works of classics and artists of the latest generation in the field of media art and performative art.

The selection and preservation of future cultural heritage is one of the priority tasks of the museum. The Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin began to form over 100 years ago and was originally a collection of casts. Subsequently, it increased due to genuine works of art. Today it is time to create a collection of works of modern art and tell its story, without forgetting about the past. It is this approach that formed the basis of the direction - “Pushkin XXI”.

The collection of media art, the analogues of which do not exist in Russia, will include works created on the basis of the museum’s collection, site-specific projects and works that comprehend classical art using the latest technology. The creation of a time-based art collection will be a starting point in understanding the new human experience of perceiving the world around us, in which visual images, tactile sensations and auditory experiences are inextricably linked with the process of cognition. The main conceptual focus will be works that expand the vision and offer new formats for interacting with reality. In addition, attention will be paid to the collection of works that are significant for the development of media art, which, like the works of contemporary artists, were created at the forefront of technological progress.

Among the first planned acquisitions are video installations by Jonas Mekas (USA) and Gary Hill (USA), a video painting by Marianna Heske (Norway), as well as the trilogy of the Russian art group Provmyza (Sergey Provorov and Galina Myznikova) Despair (2008), “ Inspiration ”(2010) and“ Eternity ”(2011).

The work of the art group "Provmyza", Monography ", which was created specifically for the space of the museum. The performance refers to the classic themes of pain and compassion, to human emotions refracted by the means of modern media culture. The combination of eras and building complex relationships is to introduce the visitor to the theme of art through superemotion. The space of the museum turns into a total performative space, where among the sculptures and paintings the dramatic action of the primary self-awareness in the surrounding world takes place.

The Pushkin XXI collection will be presented at the Cosmoscow international contemporary art fair, which will be held in Gostiny Dvor on September 6 - 9, 2018. The Pushkin Museum. AS Pushkin, as the “Museum of the Year” fair, will also receive a gift of a work of Russian contemporary art with the participation of the Cosmoscow Foundation for the Support of Contemporary Art.

Director of the Pushkin Museum. A. Pushkin Marina Loshak: All leading Western institutions that understand the importance of preserving the “ephemeral” cultural heritage are engaged in the formation of collections of media art, since it is this very litmus test today that shows us the state of modern society and the main shifts that are taking place in the process of comprehending the world and its perception by modern man.

Head of the department of film and media art of the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkina Olga Shishko: In the world around us, in addition to the development of information technologies, we see the development of new artistic thinking. Artists strive to expand the usual angle of view from 120 ° to 360 ° of the bird’s view, to open the viewers the entrance to different dimensions. The main words that define the art of our time and the art of the future are interactivity, mobility, experimentalism, interdisciplinarity. It is such art that will be included in the collection of the Pushkin Museum.

Vice President of Communications MAIL. RU Group Alexander Karmaev: Now we are increasingly thinking about whether art can be created using an algorithm, can artificial intelligence be considered the creator of a work of art? In our understanding, modern science and art are two components of a single whole, a single cultural code, which gives us an incentive to develop and improve the world around us. We are especially pleased to work on this project with the Pushkin Museum, which is at the forefront of the modern outlook on creativity and carefully preserves the heritage of past centuries. We are sure that media art will soon become a classic and will be understood and accepted by the general public.