Art and Closeness: Where is the Line?

In recent years, we have seen a real surge of interest in contemporary art. Exhibitions are no longer the prerogative of the capital and megacities: biennials, art shows, and festivals are emerging in cozy regional spaces. Artists are becoming more and more recognizable, in demand, and their works are finding more and more viewers and buyers.

At first glance, this is an absolute victory. But is everything so cloudless? By being “closer to the people,” does the artist not turn into a craftsman, and his work into a commodity with a price tag in a supermarket? Isn’t uniqueness lost in favor of scaling, without which art ceases to be itself? The entire 20th century was marked by the search for an audience, from the Soviet practice of sending museum masterpieces to the most remote corners of the country, which, for example, provided the ancient town of Kozmodemyansk with Aivazovsky, to bold flirtations with mass culture, which gave birth to Warhol’s tomato soup. But what is happening today, when accessibility has reached an unprecedented level? Should we think about returning a certain distance and, perhaps, even a degree of elitism to art? Or are these false fears, and the more biennials, competitions and exhibitions – the better for everyone?

Moderator: Anna Chernikova, publisher of Kommersant-Weekend, deputy editor-in-chief of the Kommersant Publishing House

Speakers: 

• Elizaveta Likhacheva, art historian, architectural historian
• Ekaterina Popova, cultural scientist, founder of Pop-Up Gallery
• Oksana Afanasyeva, artist and resident of Sample Gallery
• Natalia Grabar, art historian, collector, and founder of the pop-up Grabar Gallery