The second edition of the Contemporary Art Fair |catalog| opens in Moscow. This year there are almost twice as many participants as at the debut fair. The expositions of more than 50 Russian galleries will be located on two floors at once.
For the spring edition of the fair, Béton Fairgrounds has united works under the concept of ‘Paper Architecture’. In Soviet times, this was the name given to projects that literally remained ‘on paper’ and were never realised due to technical complexity, cost, scale or censorship considerations. They fulfilled more artistic objectives than functional ones.
Such is the incredible, ‘impossible’ world of architecture in the works of contemporary St Petersburg photographer Andreн Chezhin. In his series ‘Escher’s Space’ – there is an image, but the architectural objects themselves no longer exist, or they did not exist at all. Using multi-exposure technology, Chezhin has captured the architecture of famous cities of the world in new fantastic forms. Hand printing and toning of the prints resulted in collectible works of high artistic value. Photographs from this series were successfully sold at a Sotheby’s auction.

At our stand we will also present another famous series by Andrei Chezhin ‘Button and Modernism’, in which the photographer presents his view on the works of great modernist artists, calling his works ‘dedications’ (Hommage). Chezhin literally pokes at modernism, challenging it to a duel-dialogue by sticking the point of his button sword into it.
The theme of ‘Paper Architecture’ will continue with Sascha Genzis’ ‘Socialist Surrealism.’ Over the course of four years, he filmed historic abandoned and active workshops at the ZIL plant, interviewing workers and collecting stories about the industrial Soviet giant. Gentzis’ project demonstrates the fate of the industrial sites of socialism in the modern world. The monumental, once grandiose ideas embodied in the architecture of factories and plants, the ideology of labour and the public good expressed in the forced building of production muscle, now appear more as ruins than as iconic legacies.
Also on our stand will be a large-scale photographic canvas by the art group GrOM ‘Generator of Unity’ from the project ‘Future dwelling’. One of the works from this series is included in the permanent exhibition of the Ludwig Museum at the Russian Museum, the only collection of contemporary art classics in Russia.
Béton Centre of Visual Culture Stand No. 1.31 (1st floor)
Sytin Printing House |Pyatnitskaya, 71/5, bldg. 1
Tickets on the fair’s website at the link.