2025
Moscow
ISBN 9785605372103
Published by GARAGE Museum

Work on this book began several years ago, coinciding with my realization of the immense scale of Moscow’s street art scene, which had been forming for decades. Since 2004, through publishing books and magazines, organizing exhibitions, and covering key events, I have assembled a unique archive. By reaching out to members of the community, I was able to significantly expand this material, and in 2020, I donated it to the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. It was this step that prompted me to create a printed publication, which is fully based on these unique archival materials.

This book is dedicated to the formation and development of Moscow’s street art scene from the early 1990s to 2020. The publication, like the archive, is structured chronologically and is divided into three conventional time periods. Starting with a description of the graffiti subculture’s emergence in the post-Soviet years, I trace its dynamic development in the 2000s through the first specialized publications and exhibitions, and then document the process of the Moscow street art scene’s formation and its subsequent politicization in the 2010s. Alongside an analysis of individual artistic practices, I also examine the processes of street art’s institutionalization, which began in the mid-2010s and fully took shape by 2020.

The archive on which the book is based includes both digital copies of photographs from Moscow exhibitions and festivals, and ephemera (stickers, flyers, invitations, and posters) related to these events. These rare materials allow us to reconstruct how street art was perceived and presented during that period, and to feel the spirit of the era. The archive is complemented by unique photographs of works by key Moscow artists and collectives, many of which help establish an accurate timeline of events. The publication also uses my own original materials: articles and interviews with participants of the Moscow street art scene, as well as excerpts from my books «Art and the City» and Russian Urban Art: History and Conflicts.

Drawing on evidence from the era of the youth subculture’s formation in the 1990s, which grew into a form of socio-political protest and a full-fledged direction in contemporary art, I aim to offer the reader a broad panorama of events, personalities, and phenomena for a comprehensive analysis of the nature of Russian street art.

13 х 20 cm, 224 pages, soft cover.
Russian edition.
Available to purchase online and at the shops of GARAGE Museum in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The book was presented on December 2025 at the GARAGE Contemporary art Museum in Moscow and on March 2026 at the VSE SVOBODNY bookstore in Saint Petersburg.