The exhibition "Zveroboi" by Lyuba Sautina and Rina Volnykh in MMOMA, Moscow

Dates: December 16, 2021 — February 6, 2022
Venue: GOGOLEVSKY 10.
Curated by Liusya Yangirova
Curator of the MMOMA Young Art Support Program: Darya Kamyshnikova

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the School of Contemporary Art Free Workshops introduce Zveroboi, an exhibition by Lyuba Sautina and Rina Volnykh. The project includes videos, graphic works, embroidery and knitting. The exhibition is a part of the MMOMA Young Art Support Program.

The Zveroboi project offers an alternative view of the entrenched ideological canons when it comes to girls’ upbringing. The authors attempt to hack conventional cultural codes, arguing that any myth is man-made and that the concept of «dogma» can change depending on time and socio-cultural context. Sautina and Volnykh take Sofia Mogilevskaya’s Soviet book Girls, Here’s a Book for You! as the basis of the exhibition and build a dialogue with it on the theme of women’s domestic work. The exhibition features a house with a kitchen and a garden, traditionally considered the main place for women. The artists recall female characters from Russian folk tales, who escape from domestic violence using ritual amulets such as handmade dolls and solve all problems with Zveroboi (hypericum), popularly referred to as ‘a herb for 99 ailments’. Domestic routine becomes a practice of resistance, overturning the usual ideas about the role of women. This artistic experiment in deliberately creating a myth is reflected in one of the exhibition items — an alternative Book for Girls.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Rina Volnykh (b. 1997, Moscow) is an artist working with the mythology of popular culture. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Hertfordshire. Participant of Season 4 of Vinzavod’s Open Studios (2019-2020), resident of Garage Workshops (2020-2021), winner of the Garage Museum grant program (2021).

Lyuba Sautina (b. 1985, Novosibirsk) is an artist exploring the theme of representation of the feminine and maternal in art and culture. She is a graduate of MMOMA Free Workshops School of Contemporary Art (2015-2016), a resident of Season 4 of Vinzavod’s Open Studios (20192020), a participant in the PeARL performance research laboratory of the National Research University Higher School of Economics & Goldsmiths, University of London (2020-2021), a finalist in NOVA ART 8 (2021).

THE MMOMA YOUNG ART SUPPORT PROGRAM
The MMOMA Young Art Support Program presents a cycle of small solo or group projects by young artists. It selects not only students and graduates of the Free Workshops School of Contemporary Art, but also young artists who came to prominence at large exhibitions or have been invited by the project curators. The program offers an opportunity to show their first works at the MMOMA. Over the years, dozens of young artists have passed through the project, and the names of many of them are now among the active participants of the contemporary art scene. Such artists as Ekaterina Muromtseva, Varvara Grankova, Anna Rotayenko, Anton Kuznetsov, and Roman Mokrov took part in the program.

FREE WORKSHOPS SCHOOL OF CONTEMPORARY ART
The School of Contemporary Art Free Workshops is an educational platform of the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art for young artists and curators. The School was founded in 1992 by a group of artists and art critics, including Alexander Ponomarev, Vladimir Kupriyanov, Vladimir Nasedkin, MSU professors Vera Dazhina and Valery Turchin. At the School, students have the opportunity to study with the best teachers, successful cultural figures, famous philosophers and contemporary art theorists. During their studies young artists and curators are immersed into the art world, participating in master classes, group exhibitions and festivals. Being a part of the Museum, Free Workshops offer students a unique opportunity to study theoretical and practical aspects of contemporary art, being in its epicenter. At all stages of the artist’s development, the Museum and the School provide significant support: participation in group exhibition projects (annual exhibitions of young art «Workshop», group projects of young curators), the opportunity to organize the first personal exhibition (MMOMA Young Art Support Program).