The Missing Planet: Post-Soviet Art at Centro Pecci

Curated by Marco Scotini, 'The Missing Planet' at Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato presents over 80 works by artists from Russia, the Baltic states, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The exhibition, drawn largely from the museum's collection, serves as a retrospective of the Soviet Union's fundamental changes and their impact on artistic perception. It is framed as the final chapter of an ideal post-Soviet trilogy at the Centro Pecci, following shows in 1990 and 2007 dedicated to unofficial Soviet art. The timing coincides with the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent dissolution of the USSR, adopting an 'archaeological approach' to history. The narrative is divided into sections exploring socialist utopias from the 1970s, including the aspiration to transcend gravitational limits (spatial, temporal, and social) and the revival of 'cosmist' ideas, as well as their collapse with the Perestroika reforms of 1985. Notable is a mural by Erik Bulatov, one of the most significant living Russian artists, dedicated to Perestroika, blending propaganda iconography with revolutionary symbols. The exhibition runs from November 8, 2019, to May 3, 2020.