Silk Road

About the exhibition

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Chinese car brand HONGQI present Silk Road, a special exhibition project that extends Zurab Tsereteli's monographic anniversary exhibition Garden of the Sun.

The Silk Road, the road that connected East Asia with the Mediterranean in Ancient and Middle Ages, has become a synonym for continuous progress and the deep ties of Chinese culture with the Western world. These ties are enduring today and aiming for the future. The HONGQI brand, founded in 1958, is almost as old as modern China. It is one of the companies that continues to integrate traditional culture and philosophy with innovations and technological advances. HONGQI pays great attention to the support of culture, its presence in our lives and its impact on the social.

As part of the collaboration at Zurab Tsereteli's Garden of the Sun exhibition, MMOMA and HONGQI invited young artists Anastasia Artemova and Misha Most to contribute to a special section of the exhibition. They suggested their own views on the connection between the past, present and future, on progress, and on traditions and values that claim to be out of time. In turn, Zurab Tsereteli provided for the project the sculpture Silk Road, a plastic sign, a visionary symbol of a new stage in the history of the great civilisation route. Its first rendition was created by the author in 2017 and debuted in 2023 at an exhibition at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing (NAMOC) where it remained. The version presented at MMOMA was made by the artist for the current exhibition and vividly illustrates both the historical foundations of oriental views and the philosophy of the oldest company HONGQI, which combines the main directions of Chinese culture with modern solutions. The centre of the composition is the Earth sphere covered with bas-reliefs illustrating episodes of the history of the Silk Road. An endless spiral of the Möbius strip rises above the sphere, symbolising the continuous change of epochs. This image refers to the Chinese philosophical idea of the unity of Heaven and Human, the non-existence of boundaries between the subject and the object.

Young artists Anastasia Artemova and Misha Most, in works created specifically for the project, continued the idea of the connection of eras and the importance of traditional Chinese philosophy. Anastasia Artemova has painted a diptych representing two important milestones in the history of HONGQI company. One canvas depicts a fragment of the body of the legendary HONGQI CA770 model, known to the world as the transport of Chinese leaders and foreign guests of the highest rank. The model was produced from 1959 to the 1990s virtually unchanged, and its recognisable shape epitomised the brand. The second canvas represents the new L 5 series, based on the design of the classic model. Artemova’s diptych shows the development of HONGQI's ideas, style and history as a movement through time in search of a balance between the demands of change and the pursuit of its identity.

The installation by Misha Most Projections of the Future resembles a cave: the large-scale panel in the centre of a darkened hall depicts allegorical symbols of technological progress. These drawings spread out on the walls and ceiling. Like cave paintings, they are revealed to the viewer only when a beam of light hits them, which is switched on by movement in the hall. Another light source, created on the basis of a HONGQI car headlight, periodically illuminates the whole space, turning it into a familiar exhibition hall. Painting in Misha Most’s project are the messages to future generations, that can also be left by the viewers once they summarise their associations with technology. Right on the spot, artificial intelligence transforms words into visuals using images from Misha Most's graffiti.

The special project Silk Road, which is about the connection of eras and the linearity of time, about the synthesis of tradition and progress, epitomises the history and philosophy of a car company open to cultural experiments.

About HONGQI

HONGQI (Chinese for “Red Banner”) is a premium car brand from China with a long history and rich heritage. It was founded in 1958 and for more than half a century specialised in producing luxury executive cars exclusively for the needs of the country's government agencies, top executives and political leaders. In 2018, a decision was made to transform the brand, resulting in the creation of a range of HONGQI cars available for sale, aimed at the most successful and wealthy members of society. The current HONGQI model range in Russia includes 6 models: flagship executive sedan H9, premium full-size electric crossover E-HS9, business class minivan HQ9, premium full-size crossover HS7, business sedan H5 and mid-size crossover HS5.

The brand's design is based on a synergy of traditional luxury and modern technological advances, and is intended to epitomise exceptional taste, refinement and leadership on the road to excellence. The design of the trademark grille with 12 vertical slats refers to the ancient traditions of Chinese chronology, symbolising the cyclic signs of the twelve-decimal cycle – the Earth Branches. HONGQI is a part of the leading group of the Chinese car industry – FAW Group.The official distributor of HONGQI cars on the Russian market is FAW-Eastern Europe Ltd.