At this Breakfast at Manege, we spoke with Alexander Borovsky, curator of the project “Beauty: Plus - Minus”, about the creation of the project and how contemporary Russian art shows very different interpretations of “beauty”––from conceptual, to traditional/academic, to kitsch. After the breakfast, the curator led a guided tour of the exhibition.

Alexander Borovsky is the head of the Contemporary Art Department at the State Russian Museum. He is a candidate of art history and a Merited Artist of the Russian Federation. He has written more than 400 works on the history of 20th century art, as well as critical articles and articles in contemporary art catalogues. The first meeting with Breakfast at Manege with Alexander Borovsky took place in December 2016 and was dedicated to the question of the relationship between cultural institutions and art critics, bloggers, and audiences.

“Breakfasts at Manege” are a series of professional meetings created for the communication and exchange of experiences within the artistic and cultural sphere, intended for art critics, journalists, bloggers, representatives of cultural institutes, and Friends of Manege members.

We thank the “Free Artists of St. Petersburg” project and brothers Yuri and Dmitry Saulidi for supporting this event.