Overview

Victor Alimpiev was born in Moscow in 1973. From 1988­ to 1992, he studied at The Moscow Academic Art School and later, in 1993-1995, at the faculty of graphic art at Moscow State Pedagogical University. In 1998-1999 he took a course of New Art Strategies at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Moscow) and a course of Valand Academy of The University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His main artistic mediums are video and painting.

Alimpiev explicitly uses digital technologies both in video art and painting. Nevertheless, the artist succeeds to establish the distance from social media and the field of commercial. Philosopher and art historian Keti Chukhrov wrote: «Alimpiev rediscovers the meaning of digitality, demonstrating that media and digital are different phenomena; that technologies, usually promoting mass expansion, can become an artistic language with the crystallization of a form opposite to the media’s one”. In his videos, Alimpiev bases on the experience of theatrical production, directing every mise-en-scene from the first to the last minute. He is the author of the text, and the director, and the lighting technician; the artist also does all the post-production work.

An illusionistic space of his painting is created in the likeness of a media space: with acrylic, the author achieves almost watercolour transparency without losing colour saturation; he creates the effect of glowing canvases, imitating the screen light. Another essential discovery of Alimpiev in painting was the possibility of creating objects inside the iridescent, luminous space of a canvas using traditional drawing. To do this, the artist built a long chain from a pencil drawing to removing a thin layer of paint at the last stage, as if he created a micro-relief in etching.

Victor Alimpiev is a participant of Manifesta (2004), Berlin Biennale (2006), Venice Biennale (2003, 2013). More than 30 personal exhibitions of the artist took place. In 2005 Tate Modern (London, UK) acquired the video ‘Sweet Nightingale’; in 2007, Center Pompidou (Paris, France) included the video ‘My Breath’ in its collection. Works of the artist are present in the collections of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Moscow, Russia), the Museum of Contemporary Art M HKA (Antwerp, Belgium), the Museum of Contemporary Art Trento and Rovereto MART (Italy), as well as in numerous collections in Russia and abroad.

Works
Exhibitions
Exhibitions

Solo shows:

2022

Terrible as the moon. VLADEY Space. Moscow, Russia.

 

2020
Alimpiev/Pakhom. OVCHARENKO. Moscow, Russia.


2019
Angry Earth, part one. OVCHARENKO. Moscow, Russia.
Angry Earth, part two. Vladey space. Moscow, Russia.


2017
Сentimeter: a Сolour Сut of Вarkness, Quantifiable Algae, Also Known as Smoke. Regina Gallery. Moscow, Russia.


2015
Radiant. Regina Gallery. Moscow, Russia.


2014
Selected Works. High Line Art. New York, USA.


2013
There's Nothing Behind You. Winzavod. Moscow, Russia.

 

2011
Magic Rustle. Regina Gallery. Moscow, Russia.
Several. Regina Gallery. London, UK.
Traces. Centre d'Art Passerelle. Brest, France.
Vot. EX3 Center for Contemporary Art. Florence, Italy.

 

2010
VOT! Citykirche. Monchengladbach, Germany.
Malerei. MMIII Kunstverein. Monchengladbach, Germany.
Motor Empathy. Galerie Sollertis. Toulouse, France.
AD HOC. Regina Gallery. Moscow, Russia.


2009
To Trample Down an Arable Land. Ikon Gallery. Birmingham, UK.
To Trample Down an Arable Land. 3rd Moscow Biennale. Red October exhibition space. Moscow, Russia.
To Trample Down an Arable Land. Studio la Citta. Verona, Italy.
They Met in the Middle. Guelman Progects. Moscow, Russia.

 

2008
Encounters: Victor Alimpiev. Modern Art Oxford. Oxford, UK
Whose Is This Exhalation? Cultural Foundation EKATERINA. Moscow, Russia.
My Breath. Studio La Citta. Verona, Italy.


2007
Victor Alimpiev. S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum for Actuele Kunst. Gent, Belgium.
Two Songs. Art Laboratory Berlin. Berlin, Germany.
Screening within the cycle 'Prospectif Cinema'. Centre Pompidou. Paris, France.


2006
Helen's Shoulders (with Anatoly Osmolovsky). Stella Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia.
Wetterleuchten. Badischer Kunstverein. Karlsruhe, Germany.
Victor Alimpiev. O.K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst. Linz, Austria.
Der Wind weht nicht am Parkett! Galerie Anita Beckers. Frankfurt, Germany.


2005
Shining. Contemporary City Foundation. Moscow, Russia Sweet

Nightingale. Regina Gallery. Moscow, Russia.


2004
The far off fight. Guelman Gallery. Moscow, Russia.


2003
To Oleg. Guelman Gallery. Moscow, Russia.


2002
Ode (in collaboration with Marian Zhunin). ТV Gallery. Moscow, Russia.

 

Group Shows:

2024

WELCOME! VLADEY. Moscow, Russia.

 

2023

Temple Masterpieces, or Enjoy Your Bath! VLADEY. Moscow, Russia.

ZDRAVSTVUYTE! OVCHARENKO in cooperation with VLADEY. Moscow, Russia.

 

2022

About chimeras, hybrids, cyborgs and humans. A guide to the inevitable future. Museum of Moscow. Moscow, Russia.

Tuning-2. House of Culture GES-2. Moscow, Russia.

 

2021

Summer Exhibition. Radio House. Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Explicit Movement. Gromov Art Center. Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Spring Auction 2021. Presale exhibition. Vladey. Culture Foundation Ekaterina. Moscow, Russia.  

Unnamable. From the collection of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. NCCA Arsenal with the support of MMOMA. Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

Exhibition of nominees for the Kandinsky Prize. MMOMA. Moscow, Russia.

 

2020
Generation XXI. Donated by Vladimir Smirnov and Konstantin Sorokin. Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow, Russia
1, 2, 3, 4: Dance in Contemporary Artist's Films. The Glucksman. Cork, Ireland.
Painting minus. CCI Fabrika. Moscow, Russia.

First-hand Art. A Collector’s View: Looking Back and Forward. OVCHARENKO. Moscow, Russia.

 

2019
Moscow Solo. Kunsthalle Music IV.VAC, Moscow, Russia.
You Can Not Do It This Way. Richter, Moscow, Russia.

Piazza. IV Moscow Experimental Film Festival, Moscow, Russia.
BLUE PHANTOM. Stanislavsky Electrotheatre. Moscow, Russia.


2017
1-st Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art. Garage museum of contemporary art, Moscow, Russia.

 

2016
House of Impressions. Wandering with a Troubadour. The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia.
House of Impressions. Classic and Contemporary Media Art. The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia.
Borsh and Champagne. Selected Works from the Collection of Vladimir Ovcharenko. MMOMA. Moscow, Russia
The property. High classical. Gallery Victoria. Samara, Russia.


2014
Upward. Museum of Moscow. Moscow, Russia

 

2013
The Encyclopedic Palace. 55th Venice Biennale (Main Project). Venice, Italy.
More light. 5 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (Main Project). Manege. Moscow, Russia.
More light (For a Different Space-time). 5 Moscow Biennale Film Program. Manege/MediaArtLab. Moscow, Russia.
FILMWEEK. Curated by Catharina Gebbers. Wentrup Gallery. Berlin, Germany.
Transition Project. Yapi Kredi Kültür Merkezi. Istanbul, Turkey.


2012
The Freedom of Sound — John Cage behind the Iron Curtain. Ludwig Museum. Budapest, Hungary.
Stage Presence: Theatricality in Art and Media. MoMA. San Francisco, USA.
After the Lessons. Video Sweet Nightingale. Czech Center Gallery. Prague, Czech Republic.


2011
Ostalgia. New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, USA.
Modernikon, Contemporary Art from Russia. Casa dei Tre Oci, Venice, Italy.
Expanded Cinema. Moscow museum of modern art. Moscow, Russia.
Eyes Looking for a Head to Inhabit. Muzeum Sztuki. Lodz, Poland.


2010
Time, Forward! ICA. Moscow, Russia.
Art to Spend Time. M'ARS Center for Contemporary Arts. Moscow, Russia.
Workers and Philosophers. Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO. Skolkovo, Moscow Region, Russia.
Etats de l'Artifice. Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Paris, France.
Weak Rot Front. Impakt Festival. Utrecht, Netherlands.
67th Venice International Film Festival. Venice, Italy.
My breath. Regensburger Kurzfilmwoche. Regensburg, Germany.
Futurologia. Garage Center for Contemporary Culture - GCCC. Moscow, Russia.
Visual/Conceptual. National Center for Contemporary Art (NCCA). Moscow, Russia.
VoTH. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia.
History of Russian Video Art. Volume 3. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia.
Au présent. Centre d'Art Passerelle. Brest, Belorussia.
Modernikon, Contemporary Art from Russia. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. Turin, Italy.
More of an Activity: the Artist as Choreographer. Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art. Hiroshima, Japan.
Walking a Fine Line. Parables of the Sublime and the Subversive in Russian Video Art. Espace Croisé. Roubaix, France.
Objects in Mirror Are Closer than They Appear: About videoart in Russia. Futura. Prague, Czech Republic.
Swedbank Art Award 2009 exhibition. Contemporary Art Center Vilnius (CAC). Vilnius, Lithuania.
Visual/Conceptual. National Center For Contemporary Art (NCCA) - Moscow Branch. Moscow, Russia.


2009
Re-Imagining October. Calvert 22 Foundation. London, UK.
Swedbank Art Award 2009 exhibition. Contemporary Art Center Vilnius (CAC). Vilnius, Lithuania.
Kandinsky Prize in London. Louise Blouin Foundation. London, UK.
Cargo / cargo manifest / cargo vision. Autocenter. Berlin, Germany.
Love Letters: ampliamento e allestimento della nuova collezione del MACRO. MACRO Museo d´Arte Contemporanea Roma. Rome, Italy.
21 RUSSIA. Group exhibition of the contemporary Russian artists. PinchukArtCentre. Kiev, Ukraine.
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. Oberhausen Germany.

 

2008
Brussels Biennial 1. Brussels Bienniale. Brussels, Belgium
God and Goods - Spirituality and Mass Confusion. Villa Manin Centro d'Arte Contemporanea. Coidropo, Italy.
A(rt)R(ussia)T(oday)-index. LNMA Latvian National Museum of Arts. Riga, Latvia.
Worlds on Video - International Video Art. Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina (CCCS). Florence, Italy.
Impackt Festival. Utrecht, Netherlands.

 

2007
Paul Klee — Theater Here, There and Everywhere. Zentrum Paul Klee. Bern, Switzerland.

 HER(HIS)TORY. Museum of Cycladic art. Athens, Greece.
International and National Projects. P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center. New York, USA.
Silence. Listening to the Show. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. Turin, Italy.
Talking Pictures. Theatrical Stagings in Contemporary Film and Video Art. K21, Kunst Sammlung Nordreihn-Westfalen. Dusseldorf, Germany.
On Geekdom. Art Athina at the Helexpo Center. Athens, Greece.
Une histoire à soi. La Galerie. Noisy-le-Sec, France 2nd Moscow Biennale. The Main Project. Moscow, Russia.
I Believe. Winzavod. Moscow, Russia.


2006
4th Berlin Biennale. Berlin, Germany.
Russia! Guggenheim museum. Bilbao, Spain.
Fremd bin ich eingezogen. Kunsthalle Fridericianum. Kassel, Germany.
Confined Innocence. Art Gallery of Windsor. Windsor, Canada.
October Salon 2006. October Salon. Belgrad, Serbia.
5 Tage bis zum Ende der Kunst. Indirect speech. Kunsthalle Fridericianum. Kassel, Germany.


2005
Hardwired. Firstdraft Gallery. Sydney, Australia.
We're Talking about Music. Theatre play (in collaboration with Marian Zhunin). 37 Theater festival. Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy.
Russia! Guggenheim museum. New York, USA.
Film Festival Rotterdam. Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Rock Music. Center in Galerija P74. Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The Comedy. Central House of Artists. Moscow, Russia.

 

2004
Impakt Festival. Utrecht, The Netherlands
Russia 2. Moscow Biennale. Moscow, Russia
7 sins. Moderna Galerija. Ljubljana, Slovenia
Born to be a Star. Kunstlerhaus. Vienna, Austria
Manifesta 5. Donostia - San Sebastiàn, Spain
Body Display. Secession. Vienna, Austria.
Movimento/Movimenti. Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Renato Guttuso - Villa Cattolica. Bagheria, Italy.
Russian Videoart. Art in General Gallery. Chelsea Art Museum. New York, USA.

 

2003
Individual Systems. 50th Biennale di Venezia. Venice, Italy
Horizon of Realities. MUKHA Museum of Contemporary Art of Antwerp. Antwerp, Belgium.


2001
The Urgent Reporting. Travelling exhibition. Russia.
New York Festival of Russian Films. The Ziegfeld Theater and Clearview Cinemas. New York, USA.
Week of Russian Сinema. Forum Stadtpark. Graz, Austria
Up-and-coming. Film Festival Hannover. Hannover, Germany
SuperVision. Symposium on videoart and new technologies. Yugno-Sakhalinsk - Moscow, Russia.

Public collections.

The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
The Cultural Foundation EKATERINA, Moscow, Russia
Museum of Actual Art Art4.ru, Moscow, Russia
Foundation Sandretto re Rebaudengo, Torino, Italy
Trussardi Foundation, Milan, Italy
MUHKA Museum of Contemporary Art. Antwerp, Belgium
National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow, Russia
TATE Modern, London, UK
Contemporary City Foundation, Moscow, Russia
MMOMA Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
Pompidou Centre, Paris, France

Bibliography
  • Victor Alimpiev.Malerei. Austellung im MMIII Kunstverein. Mónchengladbach 06.11 – 21.11.2010
  • Виктор Алимпиев. Чей это выдох? Каталог персональной выставки, Фонд культуры «ЕКАТЕРИНА», 2008
  • Viktor Misiano, “Viktor Alimpiev”, Contemporary, Issue 79, NY, 2006
  • Genoveva Ruckert, “Viktor Alimpiev”, cat., edited by O.K. Center for Contemporary Art Upper Austria, 2007
  • Antonio Geusa. “A Sliding Look to the Horizon”. Flash art, Nov. Dec. 2005
  • Mika Hannula, “Breathing In, Breathing Out”, text: Viktor Alimpiev at the 2.nd Moscow Biennial, 07.03.07
  • Francesco Bonami, “OCCHIO ALLA BIENNALE”. Senza colori la vita è pubblicità, La Stampa, 11.08. 2003
  • Christoph Schutte, “Sturm in Klassenzimmer”, FAZ Kultur, No.:195, 23.08.2006, p.43
  • Johannes Schmidt, “Learning from Moscow – Positions of current art from Moscow”, cat., edited by der Stadtischen Galerie Dresden, 2007
  • Irene Calderone, “La musica del senso”, Silence. Listen to the show, cat., edited by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2007
  • Larissa Harris, “Victor Alimpiev”, Modern Painters, The International Art Magazine, March 2007
  • Olesya Turkina, “Victor Alimpiev”, Manifesta 5, cat., 2005