The project The Backstein Function² will be open for viewing from 19:00.
A discussion between Sasha Obukhova and Maksim Ilyukhin in memory of curator and art theorist Joseph Backstein.
Participants will share memories of their friendship and collaboration with Backstein, reflect on different aspects of (self-)archiving, and discuss their own approaches to working with video archives in artistic and curatorial practices.
Sasha Obukhova is an art historian. She graduated from Moscow State University. In 1993 she studied at the Central European University (Prague). She has worked at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Moscow), State Tretyakov Gallery, and National Center for Contemporary Arts. In 2000, she was a member of the working group that curated the permanent exhibition Art of the Second Half of the Twentieth Century at the Tretyakov Gallery. In 2004, she was a founding member and director of Art Projects Foundation, where she established the Archive of Russian Contemporary Art.
Maksim Ilyukhin is an artist, musician, improviser and curator. He graduated from Bauman Moscow State Technical University (1997) and Joseph Backstein Institute of Contemporary Art (2000). In the early 2000s, he was part of the artist circle Leto and co-founded the group Art Business Consulting (ABC) with Natalya Struchkova and Mikhail Kosolapov. He was the founder of ABC Gallery at Art Strelka (2004–2009), founder and curator at OFIS Gallery at ARTPLAY (2011–2013), a participant of Fonema Choir, and a co-founder of the literary and sonic fire almanac (since 2002).
Elmira Minkina is an independent curator. She graduated in Law from Ulyanov-Lenin Kazan State University and completed the Master’s program Curatorial Practices in Contemporary Art run by Garage and the Higher School of Economics (2022). Exhibitions and projects include: Subtle Citizens (as part of a curatorial group), Moscow Museum of Modern Art, (2022); From and To: Fairy Tales for Growing up, New Wing of the Gogol House, Moscow (2023); Guardians of Fire (with Valentin Diaconov), PERMM Museum of Modern Art, Perm, (2023), Isvkusstvo, szena gallery, Moscow, (2024), and the series of artistic projects Supporting Structure, Narkomfin Bulding, Moscow, (2024), among others.
Free admission with advance registration.
