Artist’s Talk: Anatoly Osmolovsky

Russian artist, writer and theorist Anatoly Osmolovsky delivers a lecture examining the history of Russian Actionism and its value system. Osmolovsky began his career as a writer in the (then) Soviet Union and has been engaged in radical publishing and collective art-making throughout his career. The artist was involved with the Radek Community of the 1990s and early 2000s, collectivising Moscow Actionist-inspired artists who made a number of key public protest performances. Osmolovsky lead the younger artists in actions like Barricades (1998) and Against Everyone (1999), for which the group stormed the Lenin mausoleum, unfurling a banner with the titular words printed in large letters. Osmolovsky has since founded the independent art school Institute BAZA (2012).

Anatoly Osmolovsky (b. 1969) lives and works in Moscow. During the early 1990s, Osmolovsky led the influential E.A.T (Expropriation of Art Territories) Movement, was co-ordinator of the Nezesudik revolutionary competitive program and was editor-in-chief of Radek magazine. In the late 1990s Osmolovsky was organiser of the ‘Nongovernmental control mission’ group and led the movement ‘Vote against everyone! Now’. Osmolovsky’s work has been exhibited internationally, including: 25^th Bienial de Sao Paulo (2002); Documenta XII, Kassel (2007); Moscow Biennale III (2009); Ostalgia, New Museum, New York (2011); Parallel Convergences: Pavel Althamer / Anatoly Osmolovsky, V-A-C Foundation, Casa dei Tre Oci Giudecca, Zitell, Venice (2013); and Mike Nelson selects from the V-A-C Collection, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2014).