Gazprombank Collection of Russian Contemporary Art Debuts in Italy at Villa delle Rose

The Gazprombank Collection, one of Russia's major corporate art holdings, is presented for the first time in Italy at Villa delle Rose in Bologna. The exhibition, titled 'It's OK to change your mind!', runs from 2018 and features works by 21 artists selected from the collection's 770 pieces. Founded in 2012, the collection comprises 160 artistic projects by 70 artists, spanning Russian contemporary art from the 1990s to the present. The show aims to offer a new perspective on Russian avant-garde legacies a century after the October Revolution, moving beyond stereotypical imagery. The title derives from a 2016 acrylic-on-canvas work by Svetlana Shuvaeva, itself referencing an IKEA slogan. Notable works include Sergey Sapozhnikov's 2013 photographic installation inspired by dramatic theatre architecture, Alexandra Paperno's series 'On the Sleeping Arrangements in the Sixth Five-Year Plan' (2012), Arseniy Zhilyaev's wall sculptures 'Peace – Our Ideal' (2003), Anatoly Osmolovsky's bronze and nickel sculptures, and Elena Kovylina's performance video documentations. The collection previously traveled outside Russia only once, to the Albertina Museum in Vienna in October 2013.