Projects

The exhibition May Daydreams is devoted to understanding intimate experiences. It is difficult to give a single definition to the concept of ‘intimacy’, since each person becomes aware of it through the prism of personal perception. The creation of this exhibition is an attempt by young curators to formulate such a definition by collecting the thoughts and statements of artists from different generations.

In times of instability and uncertainty, the present is often perceived through a rethinking of the past. Memories preserving the lived experiences that help to cope with difficulties become a way to find answers. They may be hazy, vague or fragmentary: the life of the city, an image of a girl, a picture from childhood… ‘The Poetics of Space’ by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard gives a new definition of ‘daydreams’, which complements our concept of the intimate. Daydreams are not a dream, but an awakening of being through individual experience. Looking into the past reveals an inexhaustible source of images of the departed. By remembering the experience we look at ourselves from the outside, we are overtaken by calm. 

There is no universal place in the world for memories – they live in consciousness, transforming over time. “The exhibition includes some works that were created long before we were born, they were someone’s personal statement. Now, with their help, we speak ourselves, and the old interpretations and meanings are perceived as phantom feelings,” the Cascade graduates reflect.

“Together with the Ruarts Foundation we have set ourselves a goal – to reveal its collection from a new angle. To do this, we have chosen 21 works from the mid-20th to early 21st century, each of which formulates the concept of intimacy at the moment of nostalgic experiences in its own way. Our story about the intimate and personal begins with ‘360’ by Marat Morik, reflecting multi-layered memories, and ends with the video art ‘Eternal Values’ by Gleb Glonti and Mikhail Myasoedov, which lifts the veil of secrecy over the foundation’s collection.”

Curators:

Sabina Baysarova, Maxim Bobkov, Rita Vaisberg, Timofey Mayko, Leonid Meshcheryakov, Viktor Pleskov, Nika Svetlova, Eva Ungureanu, Polina Khapaeva, Lisa Chernyaeva.

Artists: Semeon Agroskin, Victor Alimpiev, Sergey Anufriev, Victor Akhlomov, Sergei Borisov, Igor Vulokh, Valery Gende-Rote, Gleb Glonti (Kotä Records), Grisha, Anatoly Yerin, Andrey Krisanov, Olga Kroytor, Marat Danilyan (Morik), Mikhail Myasoedov (Kotä Records) , Ivan Ninety, Timur Novikov, Tatyana Podmarkova, Elena Popova, Alexander Slyussarev, Semyon Faibisovich, Sergey Shablavin.