A New Year’s exhibition by St Petersburg artist Darya Shkelyova —Hope— has opened on the square at the back of the Manege building. The outdoor project is an art collaboration between the BIOCAD biotech company and Manege Central Exhibition Hall.

In leaving the year 2020 behind us, we would like to sincerely thank those who inspire us with their work ethic and save us with their skills. Hope is dedicated to our city’s doctors and medical professionals. It is a tribute to the people whose heroism and care have given the residents of St Petersburg hope for the future all year long.

Decorating trees for the winter holidays is an old and very deep-seated tradition going back to the archetypical roots of human culture. In the Hope project, this symbol is used as the foundation for an art installation and an artistic study of the confluence of light, colour, shapes, and spaces connected with modernity and also with the philosophical contemplation of Time. The installation’s creator, artist and curator Darya Shkelyova, uses new effects and light design materials that have become rather popular in art of late.

The artist has created the shining ornamentation of the New Year’s tree in the tradition of using simple shapes, with an eye towards the work of master artist Lucio Fontana and the LED sculptures of light artist Leo Villareal. Using basic geometric shapes and notions (circles, squares, rays, lines), Darya creates an algorithm for the movement of Order and Chaos. Within this pattern one can see a conceptualisation of the outgoing year and expectations for the coming one. We see the main road of Hope break through the interwoven closed shapes, showing us the way to the Future.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to BIOCAD, and particularly to Dmitry Morozov, for their support of the Hope project.

Every year, as part of our Manege Outdoor public art programme, the team at Manege invites artists and curators to create a New Year’s installation, not only to offer our warmest wishes for a joyous holiday season to residents of and visitors to St Petersburg, but also to provide a look at current trends in the world of contemporary art.