On November 11, Manege will host the sixth annual International Symposium dedicated to salient issues in contemporary art. This year, the event’s theme is the work of Korean artist Lee Bul and her “dialogue” with the art of the Russian avant-garde, which she has been conducting since the early 2000s.

The symposium will immediately precede the opening of her exhibition project Utopia Saved at Manege. Utopia Saved is Lee Bul’s first solo exhibition in Russia. Her multifaceted work has done much to define the trajectory of the development of contemporary art in Asia, and has also had a considerable influence on current artistic processes all over the world. The symposium speakers will include Russian and foreign curators, cultural studies experts, museum directors, and Lee Bul herself. It will also include a presentation of the dual-language exhibition catalogue by the editors, compilers, and article authors.

The international symposium Utopia Saved. Lee Bul on the Russian Avant-Garde will be streamed online on Manege’s website and Facebook.

The online seminar will be available in three languages: Russian, English, and Korean. The list of symposium participants is as yet incomplete.



MODERATORS

• Semyon Mikhailovsky is the Rector of the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts and a member of the Presidential Council for Culture and Art

• Sunjung Kim is an art expert, professor at the Korea National University of Arts, president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and curator of the Utopia Saved exhibition

• Pavel Prigara is a director of the Central Exhibition Hall “Manege”



PROGRAMME

All times shown are in Moscow Time (UTC +3:00)

Introduction

11.00 – 11.20: Symposium’s moderator, art expert, curator of the Utopia Saved exhibition Sunjung Kim on preparing the exhibition during a pandemic



Session 1

11.30 – 12.30: Presentations by the main speakers

The speakers will be introduced by Sunjung Kim and Semyon Mikhailovsky.

Speakers:

• Mami Kataoka, director of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

• Stephanie Rosenthal, director of the Gropius-Bau exhibition centre, Berlin (online)

• Alex Taek-Gwang Lee, professor of cultural studies at Kyung Hee University, Seoul (online)



Session 2

13.00 – 14.30: Discussion and Q&A

Moderators: Semyon Mikhailovsky and Sunjung Kim

Speakers:

• Lee Bul, the artist, who lives and works in Seoul (online)

• SooJin Lee, co-curator of the Utopia Saved exhibition, art historian and assistant professor at Hongik University, South Korea (online)

• Olesya Turkina, critic and curator, senior research fellow at the State Russian Museum, associate professor at St Petersburg State University

• Elizaveta Likhacheva, director of the A.V. Shusev State Museum of Architecture

• Mami Kataoka, director of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (online)

• Alex Taek-Gwang Lee, professor of cultural studies at Kyung Hee University, Seoul (online)



Presentation of the Utopia Saved exhibition catalogue

15.00 – 16.30

Moderators: Pavel Prigara and Sunjung Kim

Speakers:

• SooJin Lee, co-curator of the Utopia Saved exhibition, art historian and writer, assistant professor at Hongik University, South Korea, co-editor of the exhibition catalogue (online)

• Anna Kirikova, advisor to the director of Manege on international initiatives, initiator and head of the Utopia Saved project, co-editor of the exhibition catalogue

• Valeriia Demkovich, Deputy Director ANO “IA”

• Olesya Turkina, critic and curator, senior researcher at the State Russian Museum, professor at St Petersburg State University

• Irina Chekmaryova, art director of the Utopia Saved catalogue

Detailed bio of moderators and speakers.