About the Biennale

The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents the first International Biennale ‘Art for the Future’. This Biennale shows art projects based on the latest Industry 4.0 technologies (neural networks, robotics, 3D animation, virtual and augmented reality), reflecting the changes that technology brings to the life of every person and society. Interactive installations allow viewers to become accomplices in the creative process.

The main venue of the 2022 Biennale was the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow. A parallel programme was showcased at the ‘Future Acceptance Laboratory’ (VDNKh, Pavilion No. 2) and in the exhibition ‘Code of Art’ at the GROUND Solyanka Gallery (curator Helena Nikonole). In November-December 2022 selected projects shown at the Biennale will go on a tour of five cities in Russia. (curator Elena Nikonole). In November-December 2022, selected projects shown at the biennale will go on a tour of five Russian cities. Also as part of the Biennale, the digital platform artforthefuture.art was launched, with a constant presentation of Russian and foreign digital art. The Biennale is accompanied by a wide-ranging offline and online educational programme in the field of art, new technologies and fundamental science.

The ‘Art for the Future’ Biennale opened in the Year of Science and Technology. Its task is to give new impetus to interdisciplinary interaction in the realms of art, science and innovative technologies. Art has always depended on the level of technological progress, appropriating the results of scientific and technical achievements and thereby expanding its own arsenal of expressive media. This is how new types of art appeared, for example, photography, cinema, video art, Internet art, etc.

The art of the 21st century is turning to rapidly developing modern technologies and undergoing radical changes before our very eyes. The methodology of creating an art object, the form of presentation, the methods and channels of communication with the viewer are fundamentally changing. The spheres to which artists are drawn for creative reflection are expanding. The changes taking place thanks to the technologies of Industry 4.0 and rapid acceleration of the rhythms of life lead to art becoming more focused on the problem of the future, and the creation of utopian models of the future linked to the challenges of our time: environmental problems, space exploration, the digitalisation of reality, widespread introduction of neural networks, and so on.

Show All Roll Up

The offline programme includes 58 projects, 13 of which are projects by foreign participants, including such stars of world contemporary art as: Israeli artist Michal Rovner, media artist and director Refik Anadol, British artists Stanza and Philip Colbert, duo Nonotak Studio, chinese artist Lu Yang, etc. Iconic figures in Russian contemporary art are taking part in the Biennale: Sergei Shutov, Pavel Pepperstein, Aristarkh Chernyshev and others. Among the Russian artists are 16 graduates from the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia who have received Russian and international acclaim: Mikhail Maximov, Anna Rotaenko, Natalia Alfutova, etc.; Dmitry Kavka, widely known for his Internet art and post-Internet art projects, artists from St. Petersburg Maxim Zmeev and YOmoYO (Maxim Svishchev), Krasnodar artist Ekaterina Popovich, the Endless Attractions Museum creative duo (Anastasia Krokhaleva and Denis Perevalov) from Ekaterinburg, artist Kira Weinstein from Veliky Novgorod, Anna Tolkacheva from Nizhny Novgorod, and Katya Pryanik from Pushkino.

Many works in the Biennale were created by creative groups that include scientists and specialists in new technologies, as well as artists, for example the project by 2010 Nobel Prize winner in physics Konstantin Novoselov made in collaboration with artist Kate Daudy and the Stain Studio, which is presented at the Biennale by the Aksenov Family Foundation, and also projects by 18apples, Workshop 15, etc.

Some of the projects on show were devised specifically for the Biennale: ‘Super Consumer’ by Aristarkh Chernyshev, ‘the Network’ by Anna Rotaenko, ‘Mushroom Fountain and Heavenly Petri Bowl’ by Paruyr Davtyan, ‘Thicket’ by Sergei Shutov, ‘Work on Iron’ by Dmitry Kavka, and the installation ‘adad’ by ::vtol:: (Dmitry Morozov).