Joseph Backstein

Joseph Markovich Backstein (; 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 played a leading role in the Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art from its founding in 2005, curating its first two editions (2005 and 2007) and serving as its commissioner from 2007 until his resignation in 2016.

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.

Early life and education 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).

He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Machine Building in 1968. From 1969 to 1974 he was a researcher at the Institute of Economics and Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1974 to 1991 at the Institute for Industrial Design in Moscow. During this period he increasingly became involved in Moscow's unofficial artistic and intellectual circles. He curated the main project of the Biennale's first two editions, in 2005 and 2007, alongside Daniel Birnbaum, Iara Boubnova, Nicolas Bourriaud, Rosa Martínez, Hans Ulrich Obrist and (in 2005) Robert Storr; the 2007 team was joined by Fulya Erdemci and Gunnar B. Kvaran. He served as the Biennale's commissioner from 2007 until his resignation in 2016.

Later career and writing In 2015 Backstein co-curated, with Maria Nasimova and Grigory Kazovsky, the section on Conceptual art and Sots Art for the exhibition Contemporaries of the Future: Jewish Artists in the Russian Avant-Garde, 1910s–1980s at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.

Awards and recognition Backstein became a member of the Union of Artists of Russia in 1988 and of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) in 1995.

2018 – Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award for Best Text on Contemporary Art for Статьи и диалоги (Articles and Dialogues).

2018 – Honorary prize for contribution to the development of contemporary art, "Innovation" State Prize in Contemporary Art (Государственная премия «Инновация»), awarded by the V-A-C Foundation and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. 1993 – Stalin's Choice: Soviet Socialist Realism, 1932–1956, PS1, New York (co-curated with Kathrin Becker, Zdenka Gabalova and Alanna Heiss). 1994 – Monuments: Transformations for the Future, Kunstihoone, Tallinn, Estonia (co-curated with Vera Pogodina and Johannes Saar). 1998 – Medialization, Edsvik Art Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. 2005 – 1st Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Dialectics of Hope — founding curator-coordinator, with Daniel Birnbaum, Iara Boubnova, Nicolas Bourriaud, Rosa Martínez, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Robert Storr. 2013 – 5th Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art — commissioner (curator: Catherine de Zegher). J. Bakshtein. (2015). Внутри картины. Статьи и диалоги о современном искусстве [Inside the Picture: Articles and Dialogues on Contemporary Art]. Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye. J. Bakshtein. (2018). Статьи и диалоги [Articles and Dialogues]. Ad Marginem Press / Garage. M. Epstein; J. Backstein; I. Kabakov. (2025). Триалоги [Trialogues]. NLO Books.

Exhibition catalogues D. A. Ross (Ed.). (1990). Between Spring and Summer: Soviet Conceptual Art in the Era of Late Communism. Tacoma Art Museum. J. Backstein. (1997). Secession: It's a Better World – Russischer Aktionismus und sein Kontext = Russian Actionism and Its Context. Secession. J. Backstein; B. De Baere; A. Zaitseva (Eds.). (2005). Angels of History: Moscow Conceptualism and Its Influence. Mercatorfonds. J. Backstein; A. Gormley. (2009). Поле притяжения [Domain Field]. Garage. J. Backstein; E. Degot. (2010). Glasnost: Soviet Non-Conformist Art from the 1980s. Haunch of Venison.