Library

Tue, Sun, Sat 11:00 – 20:00
Email: library@ruarts.ru 

The library is a special collection of thematic issues focused on the Street art and graffiti, as well as on such supplementary disciplines as: The library is a special collection of thematic issues focused on the Street art and graffiti, as well as on such supplementary disciplines as: Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Studies, and Activism. 

The Library's uniqueness consists in it's archive which includes a special collection of selected books, magazines, printed issues of small circulation (zines), in order to shape the understanding of the ways Street art become a global phenomenon. We invite the reader to immerse in the history of the new city culture's becoming – from Brassai's dialogues with Picasso and the declarations of radical ideas by French situationists. This culture initially stems from the form of creative self-expression, which is independent from any institution. 

The Library's fund is divided into seven thematic sections: Theory and analysis of the main directions in Street Art; Exhibition catalogues and other editions connected with artistic events; Artist's books, and Monographs dedicated to certain artists; Zines; Other periodicals; Newspapers and Brochures; Photo-books. 

Each section contains dozens of publications, including both recent popular editions, and rare items of small circulation: newspapers, zines, periodicals. At the moment of it's launching the Library consists of 250 thematic items, and the library collection is growing on a regular basis and is systematically supplemented with both new catalogues and rare editions. 

Real treasures of the Library are first full-fledged magazines of the Russian graffiti-scene: Spray it, Code Red, Objects, and Iron Curtain. It was published by the artists themselves from 2001 to 2010. The Library also represents the first Russian graffiti-zines of the beginning of 2000s. The Library collection of the most important books worldwide includes The Subway Art, a "Bible of graffiti" by Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper, dedicated to the New York graffiti scene of the 1980s. The art's first attempts to invade urban space are reflected in a rare Soviet publication, also presented in the library and dedicated to propaganda, mass art, and the design of festivities in the USSR from 1917 to 1932. The editions of small circulation by European, American, and Russian artists will open for the reader the whole variety of experimental art practices expressed in contemporary urban space. The Library also contains catalogues of Street Art exhibitions and festivals - this section is most fully represented by the catalogues of Russian festival and exhibition projects which took place during the last 7 years.

The variety of art practices and exhibitions presented in the Library makes the project useful not only for artists and those people who are interested in this area of art, but also for researchers and curators who choose Street Art as the main field of their work.

The Library is curated by Igor Ponosov, an artist, curator, and researcher focused on Urban Art, Street Art, and Activism. Laureate of The Program for contemporary Russian artists by The "Garage" Museum of Contemporary Art (2012), and of The Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award (St. Petersburg) (2016). Nominee of The Kandinsky Award (2019).