Student Art Prom at the Artplay center

Exhibition contemporary art

Student Art Prom is a new Artplay project aimed at supporting education in the creative field

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

Keepers of traditions from Stroganovka, students of Joseph Backstein, comrades from the Institute of Contemporary Art (IPCA), as well as students of new schools united under the roof of the center

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

SAP is not only an exhibition project, but also a platform for communication, exchange of experience, discussions, presentation and application of new initiatives

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

SAP shows different forms and approaches to education, gives graduates a chance to take the first step in a creative career, to loudly declare themselves for the first time

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

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This year’s wide display of young, little-known artists looks more like a normal exhibition rather than a spontaneous fair

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

The large-scale SAP exhibition brought together several exhibitions from leading creative universities in Moscow on one site

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

Art universities show different types of professionalism at the exhibition

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

Student Art Prom is a new Artplay project aimed at supporting education in the creative field

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

Keepers of traditions from Stroganovka, students of Joseph Backstein, comrades from the Institute of Contemporary Art (IPCA), as well as students of new schools united under the roof of the center

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

SAP is not only an exhibition project, but also a platform for communication, exchange of experience, discussions, presentation and application of new initiatives

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

SAP shows different forms and approaches to education, gives graduates a chance to take the first step in a creative career, to loudly express themselves for the first time

Photo: Kommersant / Vasily Shaposhnikov / buy photo

The exhibition of students from art universities in Moscow is being held at Artplay for the second time. Last year it was something between a fair and a master class. Now we have before us a collection of more or less meaningful exhibitions. VALENTIN DYAKONOV reports.

Instead of two weeks, a month, educational institutions have arrived, exhibition meters have increased three times - in general, the student party initiated by the former art director of Artplay, and now the head of the Museum of Moscow Alina Saprykina, is growing. Under the roof of the center, keepers of traditions from Stroganovka, students of Joseph Backstein and his comrades from the Institute of Contemporary Art (IPCA), students of new schools - Evgeniy Assa's MARSH, the Strelka Institute, and the Rodchenko School - have united. In itself, an exhibition of student works is not something surprising for Moscow. Both the Rodchenko School and the “Free Workshops” at the IPSI have long been making museum events out of the exhibitions of graduates and graduates. The main advantage of Student Art Prom is its wide coverage. And the associated feeling of a boiling cauldron, which is useful, however, primarily for the students themselves: at the formative age, it is useful to encounter different types and results of teaching.

Art universities show different types of professionalism here. Stroganovka exhibits evidence of fidelity to tradition - painting, sculpture, etchings and design in the spirit of the Italians of the 1980s. IPSI students put together a homemade conceptual project “30 days of waiting,” which is logical: in this organization the value of curatorial thought is strongly emphasized. The British school of design acted demonstratively, emphasizing that the homeland of the school is, after all, an island. Firstly, all faculties are represented, not just the two-year-old contemporary art department. Secondly, the communication between the Britannia exhibition, as it is called, and the other exhibitions both inside and outside the walls is not carried out directly, but through the balcony of the main Artplay building, which plays the role of the English Channel here. Artplay employees say that the school flatly refused to open the door between their hall and the main exhibition, common to all other organizations.

It should be admitted that this shows not only the trademark snobbery of the British, but also internal logic. Of all the educational institutions presented at the Student Art Prom, the British one is the most expensive, and it does not have budget places. The school's undergraduate programs have the highest liquidity and are recognized in Europe. Like its neighbors, it’s a bit crowded here; every square meter is crammed with work. But they worked thoroughly on the dramaturgy: each stand is highlighted in its own color, tables with free printing are placed here and there, which is also an advertisement for the knowledge and skills of students. It is interesting that navigation in the main hall was done by a former student of the school, but it is almost impossible to figure out where everything is: one university is separated from another purely symbolically - by an easel with a poster.

The fundamental difference between Britannia and its neighbors is its production base. Thanks to her, the difference in quality is felt very acutely. This is generally a problem for Russian art: contrary to widespread beliefs, modern artists do not create from just anything. On the contrary, in order to turn, say, a found object into a work, they must think through the form of display down to the smallest detail. In Brittany, like in no other university, they teach you to do things in which the idea and physical embodiment do not come into insoluble conflict. Many works of other universities are suitable to illustrate the saying “a swing at a ruble is a blow at a penny.” At the same time, contemporary British art is radically different from the seemingly similar in spirit of graphic design and illustration. In the last two areas, students learn a certain international standard for working with fonts, printing and form. The art looks very local and is not fundamentally different from the work of countless young artists reviving the minimalism and conceptualism of the 1970s. These are modest objects, primitivist drawings and sculptures made from scrap materials - even now for a gallery or the Moscow Biennale. Graphic designers are more likely to work in the spirit of Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and other artists with whom English art is primarily associated. And this is logical if we remember that the main collector of the “Young British Artists” of the Hirst circle was advertising specialist Charles Saatchi. In general, the British woman knows how to sell herself, and the rest of the Student Art Prom participants should learn this skill from her.

Glimpses of future geniuses