Grisha | Vadim Sidur. Theatre of Absence

The Vadim Sidur Museum and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, with the support of the Ruarts Foundation, are proud to present the exhibition Grisha | Vadim Sidur. The Theatre of Absence. The exhibition features wax sculptures and graphic works by the contemporary artist Grisha, created specifically for this project, together with works by Vadim Sidur and selected pieces from the Moscow Museum of Modern Art’s collection.

The exhibition is framed by a historical narrative: the Vadim Sidur Museum occupies the premises where director Oleg Kisseliov — co-author with Vadim Sidur of the film Monument to the Modern Condition (1974) — had intended to open an experimental theatre. This unrealised potential of the venue also defines the conceptual approach.

The exhibition transforms into a metaphorical stage. Grisha’s delicate wax sculptures and reliefs alongside Sidur’s sculptural compositions, take on the qualities of characters in an unperformed play, while retaining their essential artistic identity. Works by Mikhail Shemyakin, Mai Miturich-Khlеbnikov, and Vadim Zakharov, drawn from the Moscow Museum of Modern Art’s collection, act as scenographic markers They set the motifs of light and shadow, directing the gaze into the depths of this illusory production.

The exhibition awakens the imagination, transforming the space into a portal between eras and alternative narratives. Visitors are invited to contemplate how art can transcend time, and how unfulfilled worlds may be glimpsed through the lens of our present reality.

Grisha (b. 1989) — a contemporary artist with a background in street art. As well as creating graffiti and granite sculptures, Grisha experiments with various materials and works with graphics. Many of his works use a regular gel pen, and the level of detail is striking in its precision and meticulousness. Grisha has applied this method to relief images on foil. He has been collaborating with the artist 0331s since 2010. As part of the 7th Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art (2017), the joint exhibition Soot with 0331s, organised in collaboration with the Ruarts Foundation, took place at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA). In 2018, he took part in the exhibition Parts of Walls at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall (St Petersburg). In 2019, Grisha, together with 0331s and Alexei Partola, made an unauthorised descent into an abandoned section of the Paris Catacombs. As a result, in 2021, the Ruarts Foundation hosted an exhibition of photographic documents dedicated to this adventure and published the book City from the Underground. In 2022, the Ruarts Gallery hosted Grisha’s first solo exhibition, titled Unacceptable Luxury, based on the Horror vacui concept. In 2023, the Ruarts Gallery stand at the Cosmoscow fair, featuring works by Grisha and Alexei Luki, was named the best stand of the year. Grisha’s works are held in museum and private collections in Russia and abroad.

Vadim Sidur (1924 – 1986) was a prominent representative of Soviet unofficial art in the second half of the twentieth century. His biography is a story of a man that went through the hardships of the 1930s, evacuation, a severe injury from fighting in World War II, and subsequent rejection by the official culture community. A man who, through his dedication to the chosen path, managed to find the most accurate language for expressing the inexpressible and securing a unique place in the history of post-war art. Vadim Sidur’s artistic legacy is diverse and includes more than five hundred sculptures and about a thousand graphic sheets; an experimental film Monument to the Modern Condition, shot in 1974; a posthumously published collection of poems The Happiest Autumn and an autobiographical novel MYTH. Monument to the Modern Condition, which he had been working on for many years, collecting memories, observations and everyday sketches. Vadim Sidur’s monumental sculptures have been installed in Russia, Germany and the USA.

In 2018, the Vadim Sidur Museum became part of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and it has grown to be much more than just a place for storing and representing the artist's legacy. Today, it is a venue that explores and develops the current cultural agenda. The museum's collection contains more than 1,000 sculptures and graphic works by Vadim Sidur, as well as multiple archival materials. The museum works with the collection in a dynamic way through cutting-edge approaches to designing exhibitions.

The museum's collection contains Russian and foreign publications about Vadim Sidur, exhibition catalogues, research collections, fiction books illustrated by Sidur, a series of poetry collections Evenings at the Sidur Museum, as well as literature on the theory of contemporary

The Ruarts Foundation, established in 2003 by the collector and patron Marianna Sardarova, is now one of the largest private foundations supporting the development of contemporary art in Russia. The core of its collection consists of post-war non-mainstream art and contemporary Russian art. The Ruarts Foundation’s activities are aimed at supporting artists, individual and institutional cultural initiatives, organising exhibitions, public and educational programmes, and initiating research projects.