Artist, curator. Art-director of the Kaliningrad Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts
Evgeny Umansky (b. 1961)
Artist, curator. Range of artistic interests – investigation and critique of contemporary society and dealing with various social contexts. In his creative work the artist uses the existing aesthetic developments and artistic reflections of anonymous authors (graffiti and street art, as well as mass media and advertising technologies) and then interprets the source material in his own way. A participant in Russian and international art exhibitions and projects, including: "Davaj! Davaj!", Berlin, Germany – Vienna, Austria (2002); "The Russian Roulette", Wiesbaden, Germany (2008); "Monsters - People, Murders, Power Machines", Dresden, Germany (2008); 1-st Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg, Russia (2010); “Enclave”, Warsaw, Poland – Kaliningrad, Russia (2011); “Russia Next Door”, Olsztyn, Poland (2011), Minsk, Belarus (2013); 5th and 6th International Art Symposium “Alanica”, Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, Russia (2012, 2013);“Made in Kaliningrad”, Klaipeda, Lithuania (2013).
Education:
Leningrad Hydrometeorological Institute, Oceanology Department (1987)
Institutional practice: Director of the private gallery of modern painting, graphic art, and photo (Kaliningrad, 1992). Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, Member of the Jury of the 3d and 4th International Biennial of Easel Graphic Art “Kaliningrad - Koenigsberg”, KaliningradArtGallery (Kaliningrad, 1994, 1996).
Since 1997 - Art-director of the Kaliningrad Branch of the NationalCenter for Contemporary Art, Russia (KB NCCA).
Curator of international art projects in the field of contemporary art, including:
multikind Art Project "Sardines in oil" (Kaliningrad; International Art Fair "Art-Manege’99. Moscow. Eurasian zone", Moscow, 1999); "Territory of echo. The Siberian Ulcer", International Museum Biennial, Krasnoyarsk, 1999); Project "Gluhomania" in the frame of non-commercial section of the International Fair of Contemporary Art "Art-Moscow " (Moscow; 2000); "Museum Picnic 2000" (Tolyatti, 2000); Open Social Network Art Project “Art of tortures and executions – art against tortures and executions” (Kaliningrad, 2001); “Between the East and the West. Contemporary Art of Kaliningrad”, “Aspei” group, (Bochum, Germany) (Kaliningrad, 2003); Contemporary Art in the Technique of Varnish Painting on Metal “Camouflage of Everyday Life”, V Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennial “Fiction of History” (Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Tagil, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Moscow, 2003-2004); “Fighting Trim. Maneuvers” (Yekaterinburg, 2004); International project “Artist and Arms” (Nizhny Tagil; Kaliningrad; in the frame of the festival “Cultural Capital of the Volga region”, Izhevsk, 2004; Moscow, 2005; Gdansk, Poland,2006); Project of Yury Vassiliev “Russian Red” in the frame of the Special projects, 1 Moscow Bienniale Contemporary Art (Moscow, 2005); “The New Russian” (Yekaterinburg, 2005); The Charity Auction «Contemporary Art Supporting Folk Crafts» within the framework of the 9th International Art Fair “Art Moscow” (Moscow, 2005); Trans-Russian Art Project “9000 km” (Vladivostok, Nizhny Novgorod, Kurgan, St. Petersburg, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Russia; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2006; the 2 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Arts, Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art, Russia; Uppsala, Sweden, 2007); “Western Russia. Contemporary Art from Kaliningrad” (Utrecht, the Netherlands; Kalmar, Sweden; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2006). Nominant of the 1 annual all Russian contest of the contemporary art "Innovation" in the section "Curator's projects" (Moscow, 2006); International program "Photophobia" (2008-2009), International Exhibition project ”Red-Red. Yury Vassiliev and Carl Michael von Hausswolff” in the framework of a special programme of the 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (Moscow, Kaliningrad, 2009-2010).
Artist activity:
A participant in Russian and international art exhibitions and projects, including: “Life is a Trap” installation (with Elena Tsvetaeva), Stockholm, Sweden; international seminarpleinair “Contemporary Art: The Ecology of Art in an Industrial Landscape”, Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, Russia; International Multimedia Festival IMAF, Odzaci, Yugoslavia; “Prussian Blue”, Potsdam, Germany; “Poetic Bunker”, 49th Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, Italy (2001); exhibition of contemporary Russian Art “Davaj, Davaj”, Postfuhramt, Berlin, Germany; MAK, Vienna, Austria; international seminarpleinair “Inside and Between: Communication and Identification in Contemporary Art”, NCCA, Kaliningrad, Russia (2002); Open-Air Festival of Contemporary Art “ARTKlyasma”, Moscow, Russia (2002, 2003, 2004); “Between the East and West. Contemporary Art of Kaliningrad”, “Aspei” (Bochum, Germany), KB NCCA, Kaliningrad Art Gallery, Russia (2003); “Contemporary Art in the Technique of Varnish Painting on Metal Surface”, 5th Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale “Fiction of History”, Krasnoyarsk Museum Centre; Nizhny Tagil National Museum of Fine Art (2003); Youth Museum, Yekaterinburg; Novosibirsk House of National Cultures and Kondratyuk Centre, Izhevsk; NCCA, Moscow (2004); “The New Russian”, Yekaterinburg, Russia (2005); “Artist and Arms”, Nizhny Tagil, Russia; within the framework of the festival “Cultural Capital of the Volga Region”, Izhevsk, Russia (2004); CCA “M'ARS”, Moscow (2005); trans-Russian art project “9000 km”, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Kurgan, Yekaterinburg, Russia; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (2006); Gdansk, Poland; international plein-air “Art-Spot”, Shargorod, Ukraine; “Western Russia. Contemporary Art from Kaliningrad”, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Kalmar, Sweden; 3 Biennale of Contemporary Art, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; “European Identity: Doubts or Hope”, ImmanuelKantStateUniversity, Kaliningrad, Russia (2006). «Art Shargorod», Center for Contemporary Art, Kiev, Ukraine (2006); «Art Shargorod», 11 International Art Fair «Art Moscow» (2007); The festival of contemporary art «Art-zavod», Yekaterinburg, Russia; «The Russian Roulette», Wiesbaden, Germany; «Monsters - People, Murders, Power Machines» project, Center for Contemporary Art «Motorenhalle», Dresden, Germany; «How to Build the Mississippi River in Your Own Backyard», Uppsala Art Museum, Sweden (2008).
