Saratov Contemporary Art Archive

The Saratov Contemporary Art Archive began to be formed systematically in 2022. It aims to identify and present the main stages of the development of contemporary art in Saratov from the late 1980s to the present. The collection has been built thanks to the efforts of art historians Natalya Koptel and Natalya Kurilova and to artists and curators who have donated their materials. It comprises various types of documents, from biographical information and ephemera to photographs and videos.

The heart of the archive is the section about personalities, which contains information about important figures in the city’s contemporary art world (Zholtaya gora, Misha Le Jen, Evgeny Solodky, Mikhail Gavryushov, Alexander Gnutov‑Bayun, Volga Drive, Dmitry Bogatyrev, Darya Pravda, Lucid Dream Organization, Aleksei Trubetskov, Sergei Petrov, Igor Petrov, REPA, Alina Belousova, Elena Korovyanko, Oleg Zyabkin, Evgeny Muluk, Vlad Aryanov, Andrei Golubtsov, Anastasia Zemtsova, the self‑organization Vzaimodeistvie, and others).

The archive also contains documents about events that took place in Saratov at the Pavel Kuznetsov House‑Museum and the Radishchev State Museum of Fine Arts, including the key projects Cultural Heroes of the 21st Century (1999), I Want to go to the Volga (2002), Museum Valley (2004), and Flows (2013). An important part of the collection is made up of artifacts linked to self‑organized initiatives by members of the group Zholtaya gora, the squat Detskii sad, IMHO Gallery, the project Vzaimodeistvie, and street artists.

The main aim of the archive is to make available materials that focus not only facts but also on the personalities and personal stories behind contemporary art in Saratov.