Reconstruction of the exhibition
“The Neighbourhood of the Regina Gallery”
Artists: Andrei Monastyrsky
For the exhibition, works were produced by the artists P. M. Shevlyagin, A. S. Kulik, K. Markushin, T. Mashukova-Antoshina, and A. Chizhova
Curator / Art Director of the gallery: Oleg Kulik
Type of event:
Solo exhibition / spatial installation (gallery intervention)
Exhibition dates: 01.08.91 – 25.08.91
Venue: Regina Art Gallery
(66 Malaya Cherkizovskaya Street, Moscow, Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad metro station)
Reconstruction of the exhibition The Neighbourhood of the Regina Gallery (Regina Gallery, Moscow, 1991)
The exhibition The Neighbourhood of the Regina Gallery, conceived by Andrei Monastyrsky and curated by Oleg Kulik, took place from August 1 to August 25, 1991, at the Regina Gallery in Moscow. The project unfolded as a spatial installation and a form of site-responsive intervention, extending the conceptual and physical boundaries of the gallery space into its surrounding environment.
The exhibition was based on a process of direct engagement with the area around the gallery, located in the Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad district. Prior to the opening, participants explored the neighbourhood, collecting materials and fragments from nearby sites, including industrial zones, pathways, and peripheral urban landscapes. These found elements—wood, debris, architectural remnants, and even a gravestone—were transported into the gallery and reassembled as part of the installation.
A key gesture of the project involved the relocation of a section of turf from the Kievogorodskoye Field, a site closely associated with the activities of the Collective Actions group. The turf was used to cover the gallery floor, effectively merging the symbolic territory of Monastyrsky’s artistic practice with the institutional space of the gallery. In this way, the exhibition enacted a literal and conceptual displacement, bringing an external landscape into the interior of the exhibition environment.
The project can be understood as both an expansion and a translation of Monastyrsky’s longstanding interest in zones, peripheries, and the phenomenology of place. By incorporating materials from the surrounding area, the exhibition constructed a layered spatial narrative that blurred distinctions between inside and outside, artwork and environment, documentation and action.
The exhibition was also documented through photography and video, including recordings by Iosif Bakstein and other contemporaries, which today serve as key archival traces of the project. These materials, along with the Regina Gallery Chronicle (1990–1992), form an essential part of the historical record of the exhibition.
This reconstruction brings together archival images, documentation, and research-based interpretations in order to revisit the exhibition as both a historical event and a living structure. Rather than attempting to fully reproduce the original installation, the reconstruction reflects on its methods—displacement, collection, and spatial translation—highlighting its significance within the context of late Soviet and early post-Soviet contemporary art.
This reconstruction was developed as a collective project with the participation of Ekaterina Moskalenko, Maria Larionova, Alina Oldvaier, Elena Gorn, Natalia Kovaleva, and Maria Borisova.
