For Kandinsky prize, "heavyweights" of contemporary art are fighting

The organizers of the Kandinsky Prize finally announced the short list of the 2009 contest. The jury determined the most successful figures of contemporary art in three nominations: "Project of the Year", "Young artist" and "Media-art".

The hottest struggle can unfold among the finalists of the "Project of the Year", which includes real "heavyweights". Firstly, the conceptualist Vadim Zakharov with the installation of St. Sebastian, shown in the GMG gallery in November 2008. However, according to the Kommersant newspaper, he has little chance of victory - Zakharov is already a laureate of “innovation” , with which the Kandinsky Prize is customary to compare.

In the installation of Zakharov, architectural and interior elements are reproduced from the paintings of the Italian Protornsensances, and the cracks, chairs and towers are pierced with small red triangles, ascending to the masterpiece of El Lisitsky by the “red -white wedge”. Thus, "St. Sebastian" is a kind of staging of the futuristic struggle of the avant -garde and "Raphael" of old art.

In turn, other nominees: Nikolai Polis with an installation "Big Adrone Collider" and Pavel Pepperstein with the Russian City project - have approximately equal chances, the publication notes. The "collider" of Polis, made by the most traditional means-weaving-appeared in the village of Nikola-Lenivts, where the architectural and landscape exhibition "Archtage" is traditionally held.

In turn, Pepperstein's “City of Russia” is a series of picturesque works with the image of a new capital of our country, entirely invented by the artist himself.

In the nomination "Young Artist", Tuvinets Evgeny Antufiev, the unknown master of graffiti Mack and artist Alexander Frolova, claim to win. And Vadim Zakharov appears in the Media Art nomination again, this time as the creator of video works. Artists Julia Devashova and Alexander Toshchevikova with the "witty but very strange" coffee-break video "can compete with him. The absolute favorite here looks "Electroboutique" by Aristarchus Chernyshov and Alexei Shulgin. Their objects are a blurry iPod, glasses showing the viewer in the colors of the psychedelic sixties, etc.

Recall that in total, 331 applications were submitted for the Kandinsky Award this year. The winner in the category "Project of the Year" will receive 40 thousand euros, while laureates of other nominations - 10 thousand euros each.