The pre-auction exhibition of Cosmoscow Foundation charity auction will be held from April 9th to 11th at MAMM

This year, the curator of the auction and pre-auction exhibition was Simon Rees, the Art Director of Cosmoscow, who announced this year’s theme - "PHANTASMA". Selected lots are dedicated to astrology and cosmology, new worlds and the 60th anniversary of the first manned flight into space. Works for the auction were provided by Russian and foreign artists: Alexey Azarov, Anna Andrzhievskaya, Uta Bekaia, Liza Bobkova, Alexey Bogolepov, Alina Glazun, Ivan Gorshkov, Irina Drozd, Evgenia Dudnikova, art group "ZIP", Dasha Kudinova, Rostislav Lebedev, Roman Manikhin, Zhenya Mironov, Ivan Mikhailov, Slava Nesterov, Georgy Ostretsov, Aidan Salakhova, Osip Toff, Carlos Noronya Feijo, Sasha Frolova, and Cosmoscow 2021 “Artist of the Year” - Irina Korina.

For many people, the danger of coronavirus is abstract: we cannot see or touch it. This means that it is almost impossible to depict it, that’s why many artists rushed in search of inspiration to radically-internal or, conversely, radically-external topics, developing a range of themes: from transformation of the human body to futurological predictions and space flights.

The proceeds from the auction sales will traditionally be directed to Cosmoscow Foundation for Contemporary Art programs. The Fund's activities are carried out in three areas: the implementation of projects in cultural fields, education and replenishment of museum collections. The project implementation areas include such programs as: Artist of the Year, Institution of the Year, Ruinart Art Patronat grant and Audi Born-Digital Award. Education brings together Cosmoscow Talks and Cosmoscow Kids programs and an online course “How to Collect Contemporary Art”. As part of museum collection replenishment program, the Foundation annually acquires works of contemporary artists in order to donate it to one of Russian museums, the “Museum of the Year”.

By developing each direction on a systemic level, the Foundation forms a critical view of the problematic areas of the art system and contributes to it’s solution. The Foundation creates conditions for the professionalization of the environment and for Russian authors to become visible within the international community, thereby bridging the gap between Russian and foreign contexts and forming a single cultural field.