Tuesday, Friday to Sunday 12:00 – 20:00
Wednesday to Thursday 12:00 – 21:00
Closed Mondays
Ticket office closes 30 minutes
before Museum closing time
The exhibition project timed to the Contemporary Art Festival in Ivanovo included striking works of the avant-guard movement of the 1910s–1920s, taken from the Ivanovo Art Museum collection (I. Mashkov, O. Rosanova, A. Ekster, B. Shaposhnikov, D. Sterenberg) and also artworks by unofficial artists of the 2nd half of the 20th century (A. Zverev, O.Rabin, D. Krasnopevtsev, V. Nemukhin, L. Masterkova and others). These are over 30 works of the "Soviet Renaissance" period from collections of the AZ Museum and of the CEO of the museum Natalia Opaleva.
The question mark in the title provokes a discussion: is it correct to talk about the second avant-guard of the 1960s-1970s? What are the criteria that define the artwork as avant-guard?
Taking how basic plots and main storylines resonate between each other (each exhibition space has its topical title — "Bunch", "Jack or Ace"?, "Herring", "Color-Construction" etc.), we see that the curator’s idea delves into the experience of seeing some common spiritual values of the artistic innovations of the beginning of the 20th century and searches for a new plastic language during the Thaw period.
Today all these courageous, radical experiments have turned into the worlds museum classic, and this is one more paradox of avant-guard.
Does avant-guard exist in the 21st century? This question still remains open. The artworks by media artist Platon Infante, shown for the first time in "The Game" project by the AZ Museum in 2017, could serve as an answer. The exhibition extended the borders of the declared darkness by active involvement in the exposition of agitation fabrics, futuristic poems of the 1910s-1920s and also of some excerpts of the poem titled "About Painting" by Anatoly Zverev (1960).
Within the festival "The First Avant-guard Factory" the press tour will be held, also lectures, excursions and film screenings will be available in the course of the exhibition "The Two Avant-guards?! Rhymes".
Idea and development of the project: Natalia Opaleva
Curator: Sergey Solovyov
Coordinator: Irina Golubeva
Organizers express gratitude to the "Manezh" exhibition center and personally to Irina Tolpina for providing artworks for the Ivanovo project.
Thanks to the Ivanovo State Historic and Local Museum for the right to use images of agitation cotton prints.
Event schedule of the festival: http://firstavantgarde.ru/
By metro
We recommend travelling to Mayakovskaya metro station. The walk to the AZ Museum will take around five minutes. After leaving the station, turn first to the right into the alley, then moving forward, at the first intersection, turn left to 2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya street. Walk a few meters. AZ Museum will be on your right.
By car
There are paid parking spaces on either side of 2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya street or in the nearest alleys. Parking is limited, and on weekends and public holidays, the parking lots may be full.