+ Resident Report

Alexis Zimberg

Государственный Центр Соверменного Искусства

National Centre for Contemporary Art

December 2013, Moscow

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I fly into Moscow on a Thursday. At Sheremetyevo, I recognize my name written in permanent marker on Ivan’s sign.

He brings me to hotel Antik in the

Petrovka neighborhood of Moscow.

After a short rest, I journey to the

NCCA offices at 13, Zoologicheskaya.

The building currently consists of an

office area for about 15 workers, a

mediatheque (where I primarily do my

work), a large exhibition hall, a smaller

exhibition hall, a gallery, a bookstore,

and a nice cafe. The mediatheque is

floor-to-ceiling-filled with art

catalogues, magazines, and textbooks

from around the globe, all of which is

available for resident perusal. After

12pm when the centre opens each day,

the entire space is bustling with life

until about 11pm or later.

The office is lively and young. The staff

is friendly and can arrange everything

that I need, from contact information

to private films. They were absolutely

wonderful to work with.

As a resident in Moscow I focus on the

preparation of my forthcoming book,

titled "Post-Soviet Graffiti: Free

Speech in the Streets." I spend my days

conducting interviews, photographing

new works of street art, visiting art

centers around town, and writing. I

speak with many great figures in

Moscow’s contemporary art

community like Andrei Erofeev,

Tatiana Kroll, Misha Most, Anton

Litvin, Elena Petrovskaya, Tassya

Krougovykh, and the Partizaning team.

I receive private tours of the Narkomfin

House, the Masterkova House of

Artists, the Jewish Museum and

Tolerance Center, and the Gulag art

collection at Memorial. At night, I

accompany Moscow’s greatest street

artists as they consider, prepare, and

conduct their work.

As a resident at the NCCA, I received

an unmatched opportunity to

collaborate and communicate with

some of the greatest figures in 20th

and 21st century Russian

contemporary art. I am endlessly

appreciative of the NCCA team. Zina,

Irina, and Nica worked tirelessly to

ensure that my residency was smooth

and meaningful.

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Lecture // 26.12.13 My work primarily investigates how

individuals and groups circumvent

oppression and censorship. Seeing

pitfalls with traditional methods of

protest like internet activism, street

actions, and rock music, I investigate

graffiti as an anonymous and

untraceable artform.

In my public lecture on political street

art, I offer two hypotheses, based on

my original fieldwork:

(1) Стрит-арт - еффективный

медиум политических

дискуссий, особенно в закрытых

странах.

(2) В политизировнном регионе

паблик-арт не может

функционировать как

«искусстрво для искусства.»

I discuss the history of my project; the

philosophical underpinnings of street

art and the public sphere; graffiti as a

mobilizing agent; the ability of street

art to criticize or reinforce historical

figures and collective identity; and

graffiti as a mirror of a street narrative.

This lecture outlines the content of my

published thesis, titled “The Spray Can

is Mightier Than the Sword: Street Art

as a Medium for Political Discourse in

the Post-Soviet Region.” By combining

historical, anthropological, and

journalistic work, this work offers an

inter-disciplinary, thorough, and cross-

referenced account of graffiti and

street art culture from 1985 to the

present-day. Much of the content of

my second book will be supported by

the theories outlined in this first text.

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