Joseph Backstein
Joseph Backstein | |
|---|---|
Иосиф Маркович Бакштейн | |
 Joseph Backstein in 1995 | |
| Born | September 21, 1945 Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Died | January 12, 2024 (aged 78) London, England |
Resting place | Novo Vostriakovskoye Jewish Cemetery, Moscow |
| Education |
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| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1987–2024 |
| Known for | Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art; Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow |
| Spouses |
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Joseph Markovich Backstein (Russian: Ио́сиф Ма́ркович Бакште́йн; born Bokshtein; 21 September 1945 – 12 January 2024) was a Russian curator, art critic and sociologist of culture. He founded the Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow and served as the founding commissioner of the Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art for its first six editions.[1][2][3][4][5]
He played a central role in the institutional development of contemporary art in post-Soviet Russia and in establishing international networks for Russian contemporary artists.[1][3][2] Backstein was repeatedly named among the fifty most influential figures in Russian art in the annual ranking published by the magazine ArtChronika.[6][7]
Early life and education
[edit source]Backstein was born Iosif Markovich Bokshtein in Moscow on 21 September 1945, the son of the artist Mark Iosifovich Bokshtein (1904–1958) and the biologist Rakhil Lazarevna Mitropolitanskaya (1906–1987). His cousin was the mathematician Meer Feliksovich Bokshtein (1913–1990).[3][8]
Backstein graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Machine Building in 1968 and worked as an engineer in several research institutes for nearly two decades.[1][3] During this period he increasingly became involved in Moscow's unofficial artistic and intellectual circles.[3]
In the 1970s and 1980s he moved in a circle that included Alexander Melamid, Vitaly Komar, Vladimir Paperny, Andrei Monastyrski and Ilya Kabakov, and he took part in actions staged by the Collective Actions group. He was married to the artist Irina Nakhova. In 1985 he completed postgraduate study at the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences, receiving the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences.[3]
Curatorial work
[edit source]Backstein began curating in 1987 at Club of Avant-Garde Artists (CLAVA). That same year he organised the performance project Steamship-87, and in 1988 he staged an exhibition at the Sandunovskie Baths in Moscow. In 1992 he organised another exhibition inside Butyrka prison.[3]
His first trip abroad was to Berlin in 1988, where he helped organise the exhibition IsKUNSTvo, shown in Moscow and Berlin.[9] These projects marked the beginning of his international curatorial activity and long-term collaborations with Western museums and institutions.[3][1]
Institute of Contemporary Art
[edit source]
In 1992 Backstein founded the Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow, also known as the School for Problems of Contemporary Art, and New Art Strategies programme. The institute was renamed in his honour in 2018.[5][3][2][10] The institute combined postgraduate education, curatorial training and public programmes, becoming one of the principal centres for contemporary art education in Russia.[3][2]
The school occupied Ilya Kabakov's former studio on Sretensky Boulevard from the 1990s until 2018.
International career
[edit source]After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Backstein worked to bring Russian non-conformist and conceptualist art to audiences abroad. In 1990–1991 he co-curated the touring exhibition Between Spring and Summer: Soviet Conceptual Art in the Era of Late Communism with David A. Ross, Elisabeth Sussman and Margarita Tupitsyn, shown at the Tacoma Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and the Des Moines Art Center — the first large-scale exhibition of Russian art staged in the United States.[10] This was followed by the touring exhibition Perspectives on Conceptualism, shown in the United States in 1991–1993.[1][3][4]
He curated the Russian pavilion at the 1999 Venice Biennale, presenting Komar and Melamid and Yuri Albert, and also worked on the Russian contribution to Manifesta 4 (2002) and the 25th São Paulo Biennial (2002, featuring Sergey Bratkov).[1][3][11] During the 2000s he brought internationally known artists to Moscow, including Christian Boltanski, Antony Gormley, Norman Foster and Yoko Ono.[1][3] He also served on international juries and advisory boards for contemporary art exhibitions and institutions.[3]
Moscow Biennale
[edit source]
Backstein is best known as founder and commissioner of the Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art,[12][13] which he led for its first six editions.[2][3] The first edition opened in 2005 at the former Lenin Museum, and later editions were staged at a series of Moscow venues, including Federation Tower, the building that later became the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Artplay, the Manege and VDNKH.[3][2]
Curators associated with the Biennale included Jean-Hubert Martin, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Peter Weibel and Bart de Baere.[1][3]
Backstein stepped down after the sixth edition in 2015. In later interviews he said that he could no longer continue working on the biennale and that its future format and organisational structure were under discussion.[14]
Later career and writing
[edit source]Backstein also served as deputy director of ROSIZO.[3] In 2015 he contributed to the section on Conceptual art and Sots Art for the exhibition Contemporaries of the Future at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.[1][3] He also served on the museum's Academic Council.[15]
Awards and recognition
[edit source]Backstein was a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and received the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia's "Man of the Year" award in 2008.[3] He was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts.[8] He was repeatedly ranked among the fifty most influential figures in Russian contemporary art by the magazine ArtChronika, including in its 2010, 2011 and 2012 rankings.[6][7]
Personal life
[edit source]Backstein was married three times. He was married to the artist Irina Nakhova. In 2001 he married Katy Deepwell, a London-based academic and art critic, and they remained married until his death. He had four children.[1][3][2]
Death and legacy
[edit source]Backstein died in London on 12 January 2024 and was buried in Moscow on 19 January 2024.[1][3][4] A memorial event dedicated to Backstein was held during Art Moscow in April 2024.[2][3] In 2025 Pushkin House in London organised a public event devoted to his curatorial legacy.[2]
His personal library of around 4,000 books, catalogues and periodicals has been preserved through the GES-2 House of Culture and is now held at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow.[5] His archive is held at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.[3][2]
Selected curatorial projects
[edit source]- 1987 – Creative Atmosphere and the Artistic Process, the first exhibition of the Avant-Garde Club, Moscow.
- 1987 – Steamship-87 (performance project), Moscow.[3]
- 1988 – IsKUNSTvo, Moscow and West Berlin.[9]
- 1988 – Bathhouse, exhibition project at the Sandunovskie Baths, Moscow.[3]
- 1990–1991 – Between Spring and Summer: Soviet Conceptual Art in the Era of Late Communism, Tacoma Art Museum; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Des Moines Art Center (co-curator with David A. Ross, Elisabeth Sussman and Margarita Tupitsyn).[10]
- 1991–1993 – Perspectives on Conceptualism, United States (touring).[1][3]
- 1992 – Exhibition of Moscow Conceptualists, Butyrka prison, Moscow.[3]
- 1992 – Illustration as a Way to Survive: Ülo Sooster – Ilya Kabakov, Kanaal Art Foundation, Kortrijk, Belgium (co-curator with M. Catherine de Zegher).[16]
- 1993 – Monuments: Transformation for the Future, Central House of Artists, Moscow, and World Financial Center, New York.
- 1997 – It's a Better World: Russian Actionism and Its Context, Secession, Vienna (co-curator with Johanna Kandl).[17]
- 1997 – Collective Action, Exit Art, New York (co-curator with Elena Elagina).
- 1999 – Russian Pavilion, 48th Venice Biennale, featuring Komar & Melamid and Yuri Albert.[1][3]
- 2002 – Russian project at Manifesta 4, Frankfurt.[3]
- 2002 – Russian Pavilion, 25th São Paulo Biennial, featuring Sergey Bratkov.[11]
- 2005 – Angels of History: Moscow Conceptualism and Its Influence, MuHKA, Antwerp (co-curator with Bart De Baere and Anna Zaitseva).[18]
- 2005 – 1st Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art (founding curator and commissioner).[1][2][3][4]
- 2008 – Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Moscow Retrospective, Moscow.[3]
- 2010 – Glasnost: Soviet Non-Conformist Art from the 1980s, Haunch of Venison, London.[19]
- 2011 – The Practice of Everyday Life: Young Artists from Russia, Calvert 22, London.[20]
Books
[edit source]Books and essays
[edit source]- J. Backstein; D. Birnbaum; S.-O. Wallenstein (Eds.). (2008). Thinking Worlds: The Moscow Conference on Philosophy, Politics, and Art. Les Presses du Réel.[21]
- J. Bakshtein. (2015). Внутри картины. Статьи и диалоги о современном искусстве [Inside the Picture: Articles and Dialogues on Contemporary Art]. Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye.[22]
- J. Bakshtein. (2018). Статьи и диалоги [Articles and Dialogues]. Ad Marginem Press / Garage.[23]
- M. Epstein; J. Backstein; I. Kabakov. (2025). Триалоги [Trialogues]. NLO Books.[24]
Exhibition catalogues
[edit source]- D. A. Ross (Ed.). (1990). Between Spring and Summer: Soviet Conceptual Art in the Era of Late Communism. Tacoma Art Museum.[25]
- J. Backstein. (1997). Secession: It's a Better World – Russischer Aktionismus und sein Kontext = Russian Actionism and Its Context. Secession.[26]
- J. Backstein; B. De Baere; A. Zaitseva (Eds.). (2005). Angels of History: Moscow Conceptualism and Its Influence. Mercatorfonds.[27]
- J. Backstein; A. Gormley. (2009). Поле притяжения [Domain Field]. Garage.[28]
- J. Backstein; E. Degot. (2010). Glasnost: Soviet Non-Conformist Art from the 1980s. Haunch of Venison.[19]
See also
[edit source]References
[edit source]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Alexander Melamid. "Joseph Backstein (1945–2024)". Artforum. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Joseph Backstein: Curating Contemporary Art, in and from Russia". Pushkin House. 16 January 2025. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 "Joseph Backstein, curator and critic, 1945-2024". AICA International. 30 April 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Ludmila Lunina (15 January 2024). "The engine of Russian contemporary art Joseph Backstein has died". Art Focus Now. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "The Personal Library of Joseph Backstein. Book collection". GES-2. 24 September 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 "50 самых влиятельных людей в российском искусстве 2010" [50 Most Influential People in Russian Art 2010]. ArtChronika (in Russian). 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 "50 самых влиятельных людей в современном российском искусстве" [50 Most Influential People in Contemporary Russian Art]. ArtChronika (in Russian). 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Бакштейн Иосиф Маркович (1945-2024)" [Bakstein Joseph Markovich (1945–2024)]. Russian Academy of Arts (in Russian). Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 "ИсKUNSTво. Москва — Берлин / Berlin — Moskau" [IsKUNSTvo. Moscow — Berlin / Berlin — Moscow]. Russian Art Archive Network (in Russian). 1988. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "About". Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Sergey Bratkov". M HKA Ensembles. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ Sarah Walden (22 January 2005). "Cash? Who needs it!". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ "Emphasizing Creativity, Not Collectivity". The New York Times. 5 February 2005. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ Sophia Kishkovsky (4 June 2016). "Shake up in Moscow's contemporary art scene". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- ↑ "Joseph Backstein passes away". Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. 15 January 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- ↑ "Illustration as a way to survive". Book Catalog / WorldCat. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ "A Post-Soviet Experiment: Coining 'Moscow Actionism'". Third Text. 38 (3). 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ Joseph Backstein, Bart de Baere, Anna Zaitseva, ed. (2005). Angels of History: Moscow Conceptualism and its Influence. Mercatorfonds / Europalia International / State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSIZO. ISBN 90-6153-619-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - 1 2 Joseph Backstein; Ekaterina Degot (2010). Glasnost: Soviet Non-Conformist Art from the 1980s. London: Haunch of Venison.
- ↑ Sarah Richter (20 April 2011). "Contemporary Russian Discourse: Practice For Everyday Life, Calvert 22, London". Aesthetica Magazine. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ Joseph Backstein; Daniel Birnbaum; Sven-Olov Wallenstein, eds. (2008). Thinking Worlds: The Moscow Conference on Philosophy, Politics, and Art. Co-published with the Interros Publishing Program, Moscow. Published in Turkish as Farklı Dünyaları Düşünmek: Felsefe, Siyaset ve Sanat İçin Moskova Konferansı, trans. Emine Ayhan (Metis, 2012). Paris: Les Presses du Réel.
- ↑ Joseph Backstein (2015). Внутри картины. Статьи и диалоги о современном искусстве [Inside the Picture: Articles and Dialogues on Contemporary Art] (in Russian). Moscow: Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye. ISBN 978-5-4448-0374-5.
- ↑ Joseph Backstein (2018). Статьи и диалоги [Articles and Dialogues] (in Russian). Moscow: Ad Marginem Press / Garage. ISBN 978-5-91103-396-5.
- ↑ Mikhail Epstein; Joseph Backstein; Ilya Kabakov (2025). Триалоги [Trialogues] (in Russian). Written in the early 1980s; published posthumously. Moscow: NLO Books. ISBN 978-5-4448-2603-4.
- ↑ David A. Ross, ed. (1990). Between Spring and Summer: Soviet Conceptual Art in the Era of Late Communism. Catalogue for the exhibition co-curated by Joseph Backstein, Elisabeth Sussman and Margarita Tupitsyn; travelled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1 November 1990 – 6 January 1991) and the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa (16 February – 31 March 1991). Tacoma, Washington: Tacoma Art Museum.
- ↑ Joseph Backstein (1997). Secession: It's a Better World – Russischer Aktionismus und sein Kontext = Russian Actionism and Its Context. Co-curator: Johanna Kandl. Vienna: Secession.
- ↑ Joseph Backstein; Bart De Baere; Anna Zaitseva, eds. (2005). Angels of History: Moscow Conceptualism and Its Influence. Brussels: Mercatorfonds. ISBN 90-6153-619-7.
- ↑ Joseph Backstein; Antony Gormley (2009). Поле притяжения [Domain Field] (in Russian). Moscow: Garage.
