A Russian Reader

A Russian Reader is an exhibition presenting a modern view of some classic works of Russian literature.

Alexander Griboyedov’s Woe from Wit, Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls and Alexander Ostrovsky’s Wolves and Sheep were all written in the 19th century, but still retain their topical relevance, receiving new readings and interpretations, and finding reflection in this or that set of events in contemporary life. Between 2007 and 2013 it was these three works that the curator Vera Pogodina suggested in turn for exploration by artists. The exhibitions under the same titles that took place in the State Literary Museum as part of the third, fourth and fifth Moscow Biennales of Contemporary Art presented not simply explanatory illustrations of the 19th-century literature, but original perceptions of the issues raised in those works. These projects became the core of the exhibition A Russian Reader. The participants are more than 40 artists from this country representing various generations and world views, making it possible to see a whole spectrum of tendencies within contemporary Russian art. Vadim Zakharov's project A Supplement to the second volume of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's "Dead Souls" fround at 22 Gleuler Strasse (1993-1994) - featuring a black-and-white reproduction of Ilya Repin's painting The Self-Immolation of Gogol and  some thirty portraits of Gogol's characters that the artist spotted in the tiled floor of an appartment house in Cologne - was provided for the exhibition from the Gazprombank collection.

Vadim Zakharov. An album in installation "A Supplement to the second  volume of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's "Dead souls" found at 22 Gleueler-Strasse ". 1993-1994. 

Vadim Zakharov. An album in installation "A Supplement  to the second volume of Nikolai Vasylievich Gogol's "Dead souls" found at 22 Gleueler-Strasse". 1993-1994.