MAPPING
DIASPORA
RUSSIAN ART IN EXILE
The Centre for Studies in Russian Art (CSAR) at Ca' Foscari University of Venice is launching a project that will become a rallying point and analytical space for artistic projects created by those who left Russia because of the war or their political position. The main question to be answered is:
WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING, AND WHAT ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT NOW?
The exodus of a significant number of Russian intellectuals is linked precisely to deep solidarity and compassion for the country that was
the victim of the Russian invasion.
RUSSIAN ART IN EXILE
The project "Mapping Diaspora: Art of Exiles from Russia" is intended to bring together the results of various artistic forms of reflection and experience of one of the most notable intellectual migrations of our time.
First of all, the goal of the project is to trace, literally to map, what has been experienced in recent years, created or is still in the process of comprehension.
The project consists of three blocks: "ART", "ConTexts", and "Dialogues".
In the first block, ART presents the works
and projects, realized with the help of different artistic languages.
The second block, ConTexts, presents the texts of various specialists (researchers, curators, journalists, and writers) who illuminate the current artistic phenomenon from different perspectives. In addition, this block will collect texts about the waves of artistic migration of the past century outside the Soviet Union.
In the third section, Dialogues, the participants of the project will be offered a list of thematic questions, which they will be able to answer (either explicitly or more schematically), allowing them to compare them with one another.
The project does not aim to divide those who left and those who stayed; on the contrary, it is important to emphasize the connections between the disparate parts of what was once a single cultural field. If the censorship oppression grows in Russia and the Iron Curtain is re-established, the dissenting part of Russian culture may become a blind spot for researchers.
The first phase of the project will highlight those who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The next phase will be the possibility of expanding the project
time frame - the participation of those who left the country in previous years.
Forced displacement is experienced by people from many countries around the world fleeing
from wars or unjust regimes, and we want to work with artists and researchers who have left other countries.
We have a team of international specialists working on the project to help to connect with cultural professionals.
Among other things, a number of exhibition projects are planned which will bring together some
of the works of the project participants.
MAPPING
DIASPORA
Scientific Direction
Scientific Board
Project Coordinators
Independent Researchers
Olga Alter, Anna Bouali, Maxim Boxer, Danila Bulatov,
Alexander A. Burganov, Vladimir Dudchenko, Sofia Kovaleva, Arseniy Petrov, Anna Sudakova