"Nonconformism in Two Capitals" – the fifth lecture in the series "Nonconformists. Art Against the System"

"Nonconformism in Two Capitals" – the fifth lecture in the series "Nonconformists. Art Against the System"

Moscow and Leningrad — two stages, two temperaments, two paths of independent art.
One — through communal apartments, philosophy, minimalism, and concept.
The other — through studios, dense painting, and internal emigration.

In this lecture, we will explore how artist communities outside the official system formed during the 1970s and 1980s.
Why not only the work itself but also the context mattered — who was around, who was watching, who smuggled slides abroad.
How schools emerged, archives were built, parallel exhibitions appeared, and small institutions took shape.

And why Moscow and Leningrad nonconformism is not just about geography — but about two different strategies of survival under unfreedom.