Igor Ponosov (b. 1980)

Russian artist, Partizaning activist, curator and researcher focused on Urban Art. Author of books: Art and the city (Russian: Искусство и город) and Russian Urban Art: History and Conflicts. Laureate of The Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award (St Petersburg). 

Between 2005 and 2009 he published three books on street art in Russia and the ex-USSR. From 2011 to 2013 he curated The Wall a project based in the CCA Winzavod, Moscow. In 2011 he founded the Partizaning.org website as a platform for exchange among activists, artists and urbanists. From 2013 to 2016 he curated Delai Sam festival, which focused on grassroots iniatives and activism in Russia. Igor is author of the book Art and the city (2016), for which he received The Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award 2016 for Best Text on Contemporary Art (St. Petersburg), in 2019 he was nominated with the book to Kandinsky prize in Moscow. In 2017 he was curating of group show and lab in Berlin, which have been focused on Urban Art and activism of Eastern Europe. In 2018 Igor wrote and published Russian Urban Art: History and Conflicts book, which has been launched in Tartu, Besancon, Paris, Helsinki, Krakow, Berlin, Freiburg and Weil-am-Rhein. 

Contacts:
iponosov@gmail.com
facebook.com/igor.ponosov
instagram.com/igor_ponosov

Selected exhibitions:

• 2019 — Post-Posters. Syndicat Potentiel, Strasbourg.
• 2019 — The Absurd. Candid Arts Trust space, London.
• 2018 — Is It Dangerous To Take A Shower During A Thunderstorm? Coat gallery, Miami.
• 2018 — Habitat Happy. Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin.
• 2018 — Partizaning: Participatory Urban Replanning. Nosna Gallery, Krakow.
• 2018 — Meine Strasse? Моя Улица?
  August Bebel Institut, Berlin.
• 2017 — Cultural Hijack.
  International School of Architecture ARCHIP, Prague.
• 2017 — Hand luggage only. Nuart Gallery, Stavanger.
• 2017 — GARAGE L6 #17. GARAGE L6, Freiburg.
• 2016 — The Thaw. CCI Fabrika, Moscow.
• 2016 — XXI Triennale di Milano International. Exposition EXPERIENCE (Ex Expo Area), Milano.
• 2016 — Crossing Borders / Crossing Boundaries.
  Street Art Museum, Saint Petersburg.
• 2016 — Life o’ Banner.
  Cracow Gallery Weekend KRAKERS, Krakow.
• 2015 — Russland vs. Russland Kulturkonflikte.
  Studio 1 Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin.
• 2015 — 2nd International Award for Public Art.
  Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland.
• 2014 — global aCtIVISm. the ZKM, Karlsruhe.
• 2014 — 11. Garage Museum, Moscow.
• 2013 — The 10th Sao Paulo Architecture Biennale.
  SESC, Sao-Paolo.
• 2013 — Cooperation territory.
  16th LINE Gallery, Rostov-on-Don.
• 2012 — Sobyanin, baby, c’mon!
  Vostochnaya Gallery, Moscow.
• 2012 — The Wall. Winzavod, Moscow.
• 2008 — Art about Mortality.
  M-Gallery, Rostov-on-Don.
• 2006 — Street Art. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Awards/Grants/Residencies:

• 2019 — 12th Kandinsky prize (long-list).
  BREUS Foundation, Moscow.
• 2019 — Fabrika studios. Session IV.
  CCI Fabrika, Moscow.
• 2017 — Gastatelier im Kunsthaus L6.
  Das Kulturamt der Stadt Freiburg, Freiburg.
• 2016 — Sergey Kuryokhin prize.
  Sergey Kuryokhin art center, St. Petersburg.
• 2016 — Living Alive.
  NCCA Arsenal, Nizhny Novgorod.
• 2014 — Arts Leadership Fellows.
  CEC ArtsLink, New York.
• 2014 — Discover Eliava.
  GeoAIR Art Residency, Tbilisi.
• 2012–2013 — The program in support Russian artists. MCA Garage, Moscow.

Books:

• 2019 — Encyclopedia of Russian Street Art
  (co-author, editor)
• 2018 — Russian Urban Art: History and Conflicts.
• 2018 — Delai Sam: grass-roots and activism from ex-USSR (co-author, chief editor)
• 2018 — Street Art Museum: A permanent collection №1. 2013–2018 (co-author, chief editor).
• 2017 — RECLAIM, RECODE, REINVENT: Urban Art and Activism in Eastern Europe (co-author, chief editor).
• 2016 — Art and the city.
• 2015 — Switchie/Switchie (co-author).
• 2005–2008 — Objects № 1–3 (co-author, publisher).

Curation:

• 2017, 2018 — Graffiti in the Internet age.
  Electromuseum, Moscow.
  Street art Museum, St. Petersburg.
• 2017 — New Urban Reality.
  CLB Gallery, Berlin.
• 2015 — ЦЕХ. CCC Smena, Kazan.
• 2015 — Urban Exploration.
  Moscow Urban Forum, Manege, Moscow.
• 2013–2015 — Delai Sam.
  Zil, Flacon, Moscow.
• 2010–2013 — The Wall. Winzavod, Moscow.
• 2008 — Russian Street Art is Dead.
  M’ARS Gallery, Moscow.

Selected links:

• My articles on Partizaning, 2012–2019.
• Igor Ponosov enlightens with ‘Russian Urban Art: History and Conflicts’ — Brooklyn Street Art, 2018.
• Interview on Arrested Motion, 2017.
• Igor Ponosov Taking Muralism to a New Level on the Fjords of Norway — Widewalls, 2017.
• Browsing Through the First Book About Russian Urban Art in English — Widewalls, 2018.
• Rebirth of Russian Street art during the protest movement — Nuartjournal, 2017.
• Artful dodgers: urban interventionists Partizaning are taking back the streets — Calvert Journal, 2013.

Portrait by Stas Dobry.