Modus R can be translated as Modus Russia, Modus Reconstruction or Modus Revolution. The artists contributing to Modus R do not slavishly follow canons. They demonstrate the practice of avant-garde art, only in modern conditions. The title of the exhibition sounds like an industrial label, a work of science fiction or a DJ set.
Today, modernism is regarded as both a source of revolutionary impulses and a priceless collection of innovative aesthetic practices. The revival of avant-garde practices takes different routes. On the one hand, artists are driven by the desire to go beyond the established social contract and the diktat of the market. On the other hand, they also seek to master the devices and tactics of artistic influence on ideology and the ways and means of conquering the social space.
The contributors to the project were Victor Alimpiev, Kirill Ass, Peter Belyi, Elena Berg, Bluesoup, Sergei Bugayev-Africa, Philipp Dontsov, Alexandra Galkina, Zhanna Kadyrova, Irina Korina, Anton Litvin, Vladimir Logutov, Oksana Mas, Andrei Molodkin, Natalia Nosova, Iced-Over Architects, Anatoly Osmolovsky, Kerim Ragimov and David Ter-Oganian.
The exhibition showed around forty works created in different media.
Project Concept: Yevgenia Kikodze, Olesya Turkina
For the first time ever, Russian art was represented by a special, separate project at Art Basel.
That year, Samuel Keller, director of Art Basel, and Craig Robins, the famous collector of contemporary art, expressed their interest in the presence of contemporary Russian art in the show's official program. Craig Robins ranks the Russian project in importance alongside the exhibition of design from the Centre Pompidou. The Russian project was supported by Nic Iljine (director of corporate development in Europe and the Middle East, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation) and the Russian Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications.
Independent curators Olesya Turkina and Yevgenia Kikodze present the Modus R exhibition of works by artists from Moscow and St Petersburg. The exhibition shows art genetically linked to the world-famous school of Russian Formalism – works created over the past twenty years by contemporary Russian artists in new technologies and diverse forms, including painting, graphic art, photography, video, animation, installations and objects.
Modus R was held in the prestigious Miami Beach Design District, in a building designed in the 1970s by American architect Walter Chatham. The Newton Building is one of the top exhibition sites in Miami.
Newton Building, Miami Design District, 3901 NE 2nd Avenue
The exhibition was sponsored by:
ART MEDIA GROUP, RIGROUP, ART PR INTERNATIONAL, DACRA, ACCESS INDUSTRIES (EURASIA)
