StreetArt as a protest against the war in Ukraine
For many years, the Russian artist group yav has been criticizing Putin's politics and the encrusted social structures in Russia with its street art. Now there is a new work of hers in which she takes a stand on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The short form in her commentary is "No to War," and the accompanying graphic »Time Course of Hope and Fear« shows how the war is destroying the last hope even among Russian artists.
The graphic takes up a work by conceptual artist Ilya Kabakov (born 1933 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine), in which he traces the subjectively perceived situation of Russian artists who do not belong to the recognized establishment (»artists from the underground«) over time as a diagram: One curve shows the strength of hope for a normal artist's life, the second curve the extent of perceived fear.
Kabakov's graph ends in 1983-and yav, with the help of art critic Pavel Gerasimenko, have now continued it and placed it publicly in St. Petersburg at Zvenigorodskaya Ulitsa 9. The two lines Hope (blue) and Fear (red) impressively trace Russia's main domestic and foreign policy events of recent years - and now, after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, show a new high of fear and hopelessness.
Works of the conceptual artist Ilya Kabakov
Dive deeper into the art world
Art against state power - from the street to augmented reality
The artists' group yav from St. Petersburg take a stand against the political situation in Russia. To counter the ephemeral nature of their street art, they have developed an app that permanently preserves street art and creates new possibilities for art in the (virtual) public space.
Like a love poem: Robert Frank's experimental photo book
Robert Frank was an influential photographer of the 20th century. In Robert Frank: Mary's Book, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston presents a very personal photo book from the artist's younger years. The show opens on December 21.