Francisco Infante‑Arana Archive

In 2018, Garage acquired the archive of the artist Francisco Infante‑Arana, one of the pioneers and key representatives of kinetic art in the USSR and Russia. The archive is largely focused on his own early works: geometric abstraction, sketches for kinetic object, fundamental graphic and photographic projects (Reconstructions of the Starry Sky, 1965–1967), urban projects (light‑and‑sound project for the Moscow Kremlin, 1968), and industrial and book design.

The archive also contains sketches for Artefacts, the open‑air spatial compositions on which the artist focused after 1976 (in collaboration with Nonna Goriunova). Later materials in the archive include a sketch for the kinetic structure for the staging of Castle directed by Yury Lyubimov at the Taganka Theater in 2007.

Francisco Infante also wriote a number of theoretical texts for exhibition catalogues and periodicals. The manuscripts for his articles and a selection of literature and press cuttings that mention his work are now kept at Garage.

About the artist

Francisco Infante‑Arana (b. 1943, Vasilyevka, Saratov Oblast) is a Russian artist, photographer, and art theorist. From 1956 to 1962, he studied at Moscow Art School. From 1962 to 1968, he was a member of the Collective of Free Artists (since 1964, Dvizhenie [Movement] group). In 1966, Infante‑Arana graduated from in Monumental Painting from the Moscow Higher School of Industrial Art. Since 1968, he has worked together with his wife, artist Nonna Goriunova. In 1970, he launched Argo (Auteur Working Group), a collective of artists and engineers. Since 1976, he has been making an ongoing series of works known as Artefacts. He has been a member of the Moscow Union of Artists since 1973. In 1977, he took part in the Biennale of Dissent in Venice. In 1996, Infante‑Arana was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of fine arts. He lives and works in Moscow.