Yuri Avvakumov. Examples: Exhibiting Art, or the Art of Exhibiting

Yuri Avvakumov (b. 1957, Tiraspol) is an architect, artist, and curator. He graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute (MARKHI) in 1981 and has participated in architectural and art exhibitions since 1982. In 1984, Avvakumov coined the term «paper architecture» to signify a genre of conceptual architectural design in the USSR in the 1980s. He has curated numerous exhibitions about paper architecture in Russia and abroad, including in Berlin, Brussels, Cologne, Ljubljana, Milan, Moscow, Paris, and Frankfurt.

In 1996, Avvakumov represented Russia at the 6th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice with the installation Russian Utopia. A Depository. In 2008, he displayed the installation BornHouse in the Church of San Stae, also in Venice. He is currently focused on museum exhibition design. Avvakumov’s works are in the collections of Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), the German Architecture Museum (Frankfurt), and many others. He lives and works in Moscow.