Program

Igor Samolet’s large-scale installation "Splash" will serve as a visual landmark for the fair—a nine-meter-tall "lighthouse" amidst the swift, shifting, and colorful waves of the fair’s crowd. The work consists of three parts and offers a symbolic representation of the life cycle of an artistic idea.

At the Cosmoscow fair, the museum will present the “Common Kitchen” installation, imbued with the Samara artistic context. The installation inverts the familiar logic: everything is turned inside out, the private becomes public, and visitors find themselves fully engaged in the artistic expression and co-authors of a conversation about contemporary Russian culture.

The MIRA exhibition at Cosmoscow will offer a glimpse of the future museum in Suzdal, scheduled to open in the spring of 2027. The stand will bring together works from various eras and artistic practices, reflecting the collection’s diversity and its dialogue with theater, music, and contemporary art.

The stand will showcase the art collection of the winner of the Collector of the Year award, established by the Cosmoscow Foundation in 2025. This initiative aims to promote collecting to develop the Russian contemporary art industry, as well as to create opportunities and favorable conditions for recognizing personal contributions to the art market.

The discussion will explore different ways in which craft can evolve into authorial art, as well as pathways for craftspeople to enter the art market. Participants will discuss mentorship and curatorial strategies, the preservation of established traditions alongside radical creative experimentation, and the demands that today’s market places on artists.

In recent years, international biennials and art fairs have increasingly presented examples of translating regional cultural codes and craft traditions into the international language of contemporary art. The discussion will explore how to avoid exoticization in this process and turn working with craft into a method of in-depth research.

Contemporary galleries are increasingly becoming the first point of entry into art for a new generation of viewers and collectors. Their work goes beyond representing artists: ways of communicating, formats of engaging with audiences, and approaches to building interest in art are all changing.

In the art market, the ability to spot a promising artist, a new direction, or a shift in audience interest before they become obvious to the majority is particularly valued. But what is this skill based on—experience, visual literacy, intuition, or analysis?

Collectible design evolves alongside changing perceptions of the object, space, and ways of interacting with objects. What themes and approaches are shaping the direction today?

Why do entrepreneurs start investing in art? How does collecting become part of personal and corporate strategy?

What turns a book into a work of art and a collectible object in its own right?

The growing interest in the restoration of architectural heritage, the revival of traditional crafts and folk arts, the search for national identity, and the much-discussed cultural code of Russia’s ancient cities calls for unconventional approaches. Practitioners from different fields will discuss how to strike a balance between the authenticity of the original, stylization, and contemporary reinterpretation.

How do art and the cultural environment influence a person's quality of life? Can participation in creative practices and cultural life support psychological well-being and activity in older age?

How do you prepare for a museum visit, what do you do if a child gets bored, and where is the line between an educational conversation and imposing the "correct" reading?

How is the role of the expert changing in an environment where the speed of information dissemination is increasing, and algorithms and new tools are transforming the ways art is perceived?

The Russian art market is at a stage where the need for systematic research is becoming increasingly evident. However, unified approaches to data collection, analysis, and interpretation are only just beginning to take shape.

Continuing its series of non-commercial stands and the RBC Visionaries line, RBC will present a new project created in collaboration with the One and a Half Rooms museum and its architect, Alexander Brodsky.

At the fair, the foundation will present Zverinets (The Menagerie), a project by Vladimir Kopeikin, a young rising star of the Russian art scene. Open to the viewer's presence, the installation will combine a stained-glass exhibition with a sculptural group depicting animals.

"If This Is Not So" by Olga and Oleg Tatarentsev is the third book in Denis Khimilyayne's publishing program. Phrases by Wittgenstein, Beckett, Arendt, and Heidegger, torn from their contexts, come together in it to form a new paradoxical text.

The Museum will showcase the "pearls" of its collection: works and museum objects by G. Guryanov, V. Tsoi, T. Novikov, A. Warhol, and K. Haring.

The exhibition "Thorns, Roses, and the Best in Me" references the image of a fantastic garden and brings together artists who create mythopoetic worlds in which the tragic and the comic, pain and joy, beauty and ugliness coexist as parts of a single whole, reminding us of the dual nature of life.

This year, the unpacking will happen to the Sobo Gallery and to MARSHACK's (Dima Korolev) total installation "Bella and the Chumps".