"Red Gate / Against the Current" in Saratov:
Project Manager and K.S. Petrov-Vodkin Prize Winners Awarded

The exposition of the Sixth Interregional Academic Exhibition-Competition "Red Gate / Against the Current" has finished in Saratov. The traveling exhibition was traditionally presented at two sites: in the Saratov Radishchev Museum (Pervomayskaya, 75) and the Aesthetics Art Gallery (September 3-19, 2020). The hall of the art school is still closed for quarantine exhibitions.

In Saratov, within the framework of the exhibition, the winners of the KS Petrov-Vodkin Prize, established by the Government of the Saratov Region in cooperation with the Russian Academy of Arts, were awarded. This year, 5 Saratov authors became laureates of personal prizes: artist and teacher of the Bogolyubov School Fedor Salikov, photographer Yuri Nabatov, painter Vladimir Rakcheev, artist-teacher Natalya Rogulina, Balakovo artist Valery Gavrilin, Ulyanovsk painter, People’s Artist of Russia Viktor Safronov. The laureates received a Diploma with the state symbols of the Saratov region and the Russian Academy of Arts and a monetary award.

The project manager, Konstantin Khudyakov, was awarded the high award.

"For many years of conscientious work and personal contribution to the development of fine arts, art education and culture in the Saratov region, as well as in connection with the 75th birthday anniversary" Konstantin Vasilyevich Khudyakov was awarded the Honorary Badge of the Governor of the Saratov Region.

The head of the region V. V. Radaev sent a greeting to the participants of the exhibition-competition "Red Gate / Against the Current", which noted the importance of the project for the development of culture and artistic life of the region, the great contribution of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts and its director K. V. Khudyakov to promotion and further development of a large-scale project.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition and the awarding of the winners of personal prizes was attended by: Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Saratov Region I. V. Sedova, Chairman of the Committee on Culture, Public Relations and Information Policy of the Saratov Regional Duma A. V. Losina, Minister of Culture T. A. Garanina, General Director of the Radishchevsky Museum L. L. Kalinina, People’s Artist of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts A. V. Uchaev, curators of the project: Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts E. V. Slukhaeva and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts S. A. Kuznetsova, artists project participants, a delegation of cultural workers from Balakovo.

They were noted with high awards: theatrical artist and designer Mikhail Gavryushov, who received the Silver Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts for his contribution to the development of Russian art; the Penza artist Aleksey Golovchenko, who became the laureate of the Ilya Repin Prize; Saratov participants of the "Architecture, Time and Geography" project Galiya Kushkumbaeva - diploma of the Russian Academy of Arts, Natalia Rogulina - Gratitude of the Russian Academy of Arts - for a series of works within the experimental Creative Workshops of the Volga Branch of the Russian Academy of Arts and the TSHR.

In accordance with the concept, works of artists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Stavropol, Krasnodar, Izhevsk, Penza, Cheboksary, Ufa were selected for the traveling exhibition "Red Gate / Against the Current". More than 100 Russian artists presented their work in Moscow. In Saratov, more than 30 Saratov artists and invited Ulyanovsk artists Viktor and Ruben Safronovs joined the project. The traveling exhibition, as it moves along the announced route, will be replenished with works by artists from the Volga region.

As part of the exhibition at the Radishchev Museum, a round table was held.

Presenters: Konstantin Khudyakov and Svetlana Kuznetsova offered the participants of the event a historical and cultural format, with an excursion into the history of the project. Participants of the round table: Director General of the Radishchevsky Museum L. L. Kalinina, People’s Artist of Russia, Academician A. V. Uchaev, Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts E. V. Slukhaeva, Museum researchers, artists, art critics, a delegation from Balakovo.

In 2001/2002, the first exhibition "Red Gate" was held, which was organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Saratov Region and the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts (headed by A. V. Uchaev). At the Academy of Arts, great support was provided by the President of the Russian Academy of Arts Z. K. Tsereteli and the Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Arts, President of the TSHR E.N.Drobitsky. The first exhibition was attended only by academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Arts, trainees of the Creative Workshops - about 40 people, an art album (80 pages) was published. The exhibition was conceived as a traveling one: it started in Saratov (2001), then it was shown in Kazan-Cheboksary-Samara. Volgograd, the results were summed up in Moscow (2002). The project was timed to coincide with the opening of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts and had a great public response. We talked about the revival of the idea of traveling exhibitions, the need for large-scale interregional projects.

This was followed by a long break - more than 10 years. The second exhibition "Red Gate" became possible only in 2012. The project was started by the new head of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts, K. V. Khudyakov, with his team, relying on the resource of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, with the involvement of sponsors and reliable partners. A new concept has appeared: not only an exhibition, but also a competition "Against the Current", personal awards have been established to encourage talented contemporary authors. Since 2014, 10 topics-objects related to the Comenius technique have been offered.

Currently, the interregional academic exhibition-competition "Red Gates / Against the Stream", in accordance with the new concept, is held once every two years (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020) and provides for the disclosure and reflection by means of fine art 100 fundamental and topical for the first half of the 21st century themes-objects, compiled by the project manager and a group of specialists. The project is based on the methodology of the European educator of the 17th century Jan Amos Komensky. The task of the organizers is to display the diversity of the surrounding natural world and human relations through the works of artists of the early XXI century, to explore the art process, to assess the role of art in the ongoing socio-political processes.Since 2014, a competition has been held on 10 themes from the "Comenius List" (which are played out in blocks) and an art encyclopedia has been published, which presents the works of at least 400 contemporary authors who have passed competitive selection, an analytical study of the modern artistic process.

The organizers of the project are the Creative Union of Artists of Russia and the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. TSHR in 2020 for the implementation of the project received a grant from the Russian Cultural Foundation within the framework of the federal project "Creative People" of the national project "Culture". The grant will finance the publication of the 4th volume of the art encyclopedia "Red Gate / Against the Stream".

Project partners: Moscow Union of Artists, Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts of the Russian Academy of Arts, Saratov State Art Museum named after A.N. Radishchev, Saratov Regional House of Art Workers, Art Gallery "Aesthetics", Museum of Contemporary Realism (Togliatti), Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts named after S. D. Erzya, State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, Vyatka Art Museum named after V.M. and A.M. Vasnetsov with the support of the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation: the Ministry of Culture of the Saratov Region, the Ministry of Culture, National Policy and Archival Affairs of the Republic of Mordovia, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, and the Ministry of Culture of the Kirov Region.

In 2020, the exhibition-competition was attended by representatives from 20 regions of Russia, including from Moscow, St. Petersburg, 11 regions of the Volga Federal District, invited artists from the South of Russia, Kaliningrad, Estonia. The expert council selected more than 700 works for the art encyclopedia for this project, 250 -

in a traveling exhibition (Moscow-Saratov-Togliatti-Saransk-Kazan-Kirov).

In the Round Table format, the following issues were discussed: what artists expect from the project, how much it is in demand, whether it is necessary to change the format taking into account the changing world; issues of interaction with the latest artistic practices. The discussion was attended by the project curators, museum researchers, artists, and media representatives.

After Saratov, the traveling exhibition "Red Gate / Against the Current" will be on display in the city of Togliatti at the Museum of Actual Realism.