Problems of Constructing Contemporary Russian Art Histories in the “Center-Periphery” Context

Abstract

What do we rely on when we talk about the history of Russian contemporary art? What serves as anchor points, canons, norms in the concept of this history? And does it exist at all, or are there rather the multitude of histories of Russian contemporary art? Existing publications on the history of Russian contemporary art largely depend on the "center-peripheral" relations, i.e. they function under the hierarchies of the dominant cultural narrative. It is built both within art historical research and publications and through the policy of art institutions, which now are paying increased attention to the “regional art”. The article analyzes some publications on the history of Russian contemporary art, identifies several characteristic features of such publications, with focus on the practices of writing the history of Russian contemporary art “outside the center”.