The project’s name refers to the link between the spectator and art, studying the phenomenon of private collections. However, the key role in the exposition’s concept is played by the theme of neighborliness with an enigmatic figure of “The Other", whose presence helps to realize and rebuild one's own identity.
Art can create stereotypes, as well as expose them. This duality establishes a specific relationship between the spectator and the artwork, which consists of gullibility and suspicion, charm and unraveling.
The project embraces Russian, European and American authors, covering their life and work from the 70s to the present day. It was made to show how Russian and Western artists, including those who lived during the Cold War, work with the theme of trust in information, texts and images of the Power, the Own and the Other. The exhibition’s concept includes specific attention to classical genres, like portraits and interiors, where the authors on both sides of the Iron Curtain reveal the deceptive ghostliness of the visible in familiar objects. The time of Curtains is back. The Iron Curtain is a hollow wall whose insides are filled with ideologies, but at the same time serves as a secret corridor: a folding screen for dialogue, tapping and eavesdropping, which turns neighbors into voyeurs and sharpens their sight and hearing.
Iconicity and emptiness of some images make one think about the almost religious nature of a person's attitude to things in periods of instability. They also illustrate the forming processes of perception’s patterns and clichés, the processes of turning objects into signs.
The exhibition presents works of painting, graphics, sculpture, video art, installations.
Stella Kesaeva, President of the Foundation: “The exhibition “I'm here because of you. Russian and foreign art from Stella Art Foundation’s collection” in Victoria Art Gallery space, one of the best exhibition venues in Samara, undoubtedly, is an important event for our Foundation. The works that Victoria's guests will see, carry the energy of their creators and the history of Stella Art Foundation: big projects in the Russian Pavilion in Venice, participation in the creation of the Venice Biennale’s Central Program, 2009, and intervention exhibitions at the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, in 2008 – 2011, etc. I hope that residents of Samara will be interested in immersing themselves in the collection’s aura, as well as appreciating the excellent work of the Victoria’s curators. It is especially pleasant to note the interest in the collection in Russia. In July 2022, Arsenal Museum in Nizhny Novgorod celebrated its 25th anniversary with the exhibition “Forms and Methods. Selected Works from Stella Art Foundation’s collection”. On February 16, 2023, the new project opens in Samara. I would like to believe that our journey along the Volga and the whole country will proceed with more exhibitions. And, of course, I would like to thank the team of Victoria Art Gallery with pleasure for their interest in the collection, the excellent organizational and curatorial work of its employees. Such highly professional interaction creates the basis for the future. I have no doubt that our cooperation with the gallery will develop at different levels and platforms.”
