Victor Alimpiev

Selected solo exhibitions:
2008 Whose Exhale Is This? Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow
2007 Victor Alimpiev. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
Victor Alimpiev. Studio La Città, Verona, Italy
Victor Alimpiev. P.S.1, New York, USA
Victor Alimpiev. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Two Songs. Art Laboratory Berlin, Berlin
My Breathing. Interuniversity Exhibition Centre, Nizhny Novgorod
2006 Der Wind weht nicht am Parkett! Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany
The Shoulders of Helen (with Anatoly Osmolovsky). Stella Art Gallery, Moscow
Wetterleuchten. Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany
Victor Alimpiev. O.K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz, Austria
2005 Nightingale. Regina Gallery, Moscow
Radiance. Contemporary City Foundation, Moscow
We're talking about music (with Marian Zhunin) (theatre production). 37th Biennale Teatro, Venice, Italy
2004 A Battle Far Away. M. Gelman Gallery, Moscow
2003 To Oleg. M. Gelman Gallery, Moscow
2002 Ode (with Marian Zhunin). TV-Gallery, Moscow
Will to Utopia. Cinephantom Club at the Cinema Museum, Moscow
1999 Oleg, video version (with Sergey Vishnevsky). Spider&Mouse Gallery, Moscow
1998 Oleg (with Sergey Vishnevsky). Winter-Theater Gallery, Moscow

Selected group exhibitions:
2008 Gods and Goods. Villa Manin, Passariano, Italy
2007 Paul Klee - Überall Theater. Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
Her(his)tory. Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens
Silenzio. Una mostra da ascoltare. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
Talking Pictures. K20K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany
Confined Innocence. Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Canada
II Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Federation Tower, Moscow
Urban Formalism. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
History of Russian Video Art - Volume 1. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
Learning from Moscow. Stadtische Galerie, Dresden, Germany
I Believe! Vinzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow
To Be Continued... (Was macht Video anders? Part I). Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany
From Russia with Love. Merano Arte Edificio Cassa di Risparmio, Merano, Italy
Videonale 11. Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
On Geekdom. Benaki Museum, Athens
60th Locarno International Film Festival. Locarno, Switzerland
Une Histoire a Soi. La Galerie, Centre d'art contemporain de Noisy-le-Sec, Noisy-le-Sec, France
Something About Power. L-Gallery, Moscow; Central Exhibition Hall 'Manege', Saint Petersburg
Motion. Evolution. Art. Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow
XV. Vinzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow
2006 4th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. Berlin
Fremd bin ich eingezogen. Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
Oktobarski Salon 2006. Kulturni centar Beograda, Belgrade
52nd Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Oberhausen, Germany
Let There Be Video! Russian Video Art 1996-2006. Central House of Artists, Moscow
5 Days Until the End of Art. Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
¡Rusia! Guggenheim Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bilbao, Spain
Modus R: Russian Formalism Today. Newton Building, Miami, USA
2005 Comedy. Central House of Artists, Moscow
Rock Music. Center and Gallery P74, Ljubljana
Hardwired. Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney, Australia
51st Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Oberhausen, Germany
Russia! Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Peripheral Visions. Chapter Gallery, Cardiff, UK
In Their Own Words: 4 Video Elegies. RuArts Gallery, Moscow
Moscow Breakthrough. Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, London
Russia 2. Central House of Artists, Moscow
Barbizon. RuArts Gallery, Moscow
2004 New Russian Video. Chelsea Art museum, New York, USA; Yugozapadny Cinema, Yekaterinburg
Movimento/Movimenti. Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Renato Guttuso, Bagheria, Italy
50th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Oberhausen, Germany
Body Display. Secession, Vienna, Austria
Za Czerwonym Horyzontem. Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw
Manifesta 5. San Sebastian, Spain
Seven Sins. Moderna galerija Ljubljana, Ljubljana
Art Without Excuses. State Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev, Moscow
Six Times Video. Central House of Artists, Moscow
Ich bin hier und du bist dort... Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
Impakt Festival. Utrecht, Netherlands
2003 New Countdown. Digital Russia with Sony. Central House of Artists, Moscow
Horizons of Reality. Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium
Art-Moscow Workshops. Central House of Artists, Moscow
49th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Oberhausen, Germany
50th Venice Biennale. Venice, Italy
VIII Moscow International Forum of Artistic Initiatives. State Exhibition Hall 'New Manege', Moscow
ARTKlyazma. II International Outdoor Contemporary Art Festival. Klyazma Reservoir, Moscow Region
Born to be a Star. Künstlerhaus, Vienna
2002 Current Report. Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, Nizhny Novgorod; Novosibirsk Art Gallery, Novosibirsk; Art Gallery, Tolyatti
Sono un Artista Italiano - Very nice to meet you! Russian Artist - Piacere! State Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow; Centro Arte Contemporanea Spazio Umano, Milan, Italy
Melioration. I Outdoor Contemporary Art Festival. Klyazma Reservoir, Moscow Region
2001 Dolly in Wonderland. Institute for Contemporary Art Issues, Moscow
SuperVision. Sakhalin Regional Art Museum, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; Club '16 Tons', Moscow
Out/in the Cold. Central House of Artists, Moscow
Up-and-coming. International Film Festival, Hanover, Germany
47th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Oberhausen, Germany
Media Forum 2001. Moscow
Russische Filmnächte II. Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria
New York Festival of Russian Films. The Ziegfeld Theater and Clearview Cinemas, New York, USA
2000 Pilot Issue. Institute for Contemporary Art Issues, Moscow
1999 The Last Generation. Spider&Mouse Gallery, Moscow
1998 Female Chthonic - Male Brutal. Elena Kovylina and Georgy Pervov's apartment, Moscow

"What is the meaning of this play?" – asks the actress in one of Victor Alimpiev's video works. This is a question one wants to keep asking oneself when encountering Alimpiev's art. What unites Alimpiev's works is a certain secret code, an enigmatic language of signs and signals.

Alimpiev's art occupies an unusual place in contemporary art, combining theater and documentary film, video and music, dramaturgy and cinematography. Despite the meticulousness and thoroughness of the creation process, Alimpiev's works contain a spontaneity that distinguishes them from the overly numerous works of contemporary art that we've been introduced to over the past two decades. On the other hand, Alimpiev has an innate talent for selecting refined perspectives and an exceptional gift for resonance—his approach is more musical than visual. Despite their simplicity, his works are filled with a kind of trembling, a supernatural vibration that transforms the most ordinary scenarios into a prologue to a secret esoteric ceremony.

You can practically feel it: his works are as captivating as melodrama, as rich in color as a symphony orchestra, and as expressive as opera. But upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that Alimpiev's works are made with minimal means.

"Essentially, Alimpiev's flights of fantasy (...) are intended to free our bodies, our movements, and sounds from any absolute necessity and obvious meaning, and to turn life into a mysterious nuptial dance, into an incomprehensible collective ritual."

Massimiliano Gioni
Art historian, curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York; artistic director of the Trussardi Foundation in Milan; co-curator of the 4th Berlin Biennale (2006); co-curator of Manifesta 5 (2004). Currently a permanent jury member of Manifesta.