About the project

MAGDA is a curatorial project that brings together several distinct directions: exhibitions, research, and communication.

Its primary goal is to address the lack of knowledge surrounding late Soviet and post-Soviet art, which was overshadowed during the 2000s and 2010s. These are artists who began working in the late Soviet era, operating alongside—but distinctly from—the unofficial, underground avant-garde scene. Rather than making radical gestures, they embraced the subtlety of modernism, exploring the fractures of form, materiality, and the intangible. The abstract categories that underlie their artistic practices serve as the guiding principles for our work, which combines scholarly and educational initiatives in an effort to integrate underrecognized late 20th-century art into the broader context of contemporary art.

Focusing on intimate artistic experiments, the project highlights key figures and overlooked chapters in the history of Russian art from the second half of the 20th century to the early 21st century. It draws our attention to individual artistic approaches that diverge from established canons and engage with visual traditions of the past, such as antiquity, Byzantine art and the medieval period, in unconventional ways.

The threads that bind and structure the project are, above all, formal and plastic categories. The artists’ styles vary significantly in character, emphasis, and sensibility, ranging from austerity to flamboyance. Yet each is distinctly individual. Alongside collaborations with older-generation artists, we also foster dialogue with their younger peers who explore similar or related themes.

MAGDA currently operates primarily online, organizing temporary exhibitions in various art spaces. We welcome collaborations and embrace unconventional approaches and interpretations.