Yury Avvakumov

Yuri Avvakumov (, born 22 July 1957, Tiraspol ) is a Russian architect, artist, and curator. He became a member of the Union of Architects of Russia in 1985, a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts in 2012, and a Full Member in 2017. Avvakumov has represented Russia at the Venice Biennale three times.

Biography He was born in Tiraspol in the Moldavian SSR of the Soviet Union (now in Transnistria, Moldova) on 22 July 1957 and has lived in Moscow since 1968. He graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute (МАРХИ) in 1981 and worked there as a research fellow from 1983 to 1988.

Since 1982, he has participated in exhibitions of fine art and architecture as an artist, architect, and curator.

In 1988, he founded the Agitarch studio in Moscow.

In 1993, he established the Utopia Foundation.

From 1993 to 1994, he taught at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (Die Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe) in Karlsruhe, Germany.

According to Snob magazine, by the early 2020s, Avvakumov had designed around 100 exhibitions as an architect, participated in approximately 500 as an artist, and curated about 50. He represented Russia at the Venice Biennale three times:

Paper architecture

In 1984, Avvakumov introduced the term "paper architecture" into Russian usage to describe the genre of conceptual design that emerged in the USSR during the 1980s. According to Snob magazine, which refers to Avvakumov as "one of the most renowned contemporary Russian architects," The book presents an archive of selected works by Avvakumov in this genre, which he has been collecting since 1984. It features works by more than 100 authors, referred to as "paper artists," with 250 projects and 570 illustrations. In 2020, Avvakumov received The Art Newspaper Russia award for "Book of the Year" for this publication. The book was reissued in English in 2021, the "Museum Town" at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, the underground museum "Zaryadye" in Moscow (2016), and other projects.

In 2014, he designed the exhibition Right of Correspondence, which featured notes and letters from political prisoners in Soviet camps, drawn from the archives of the society Memorial.

In 2025, the Garage Museum publishing house released the book "EXAMPLES. The Exhibiting Art, or the Art of Exhibiting", which included more than 100 museum and exhibition projects by Avvakumov from 1983 to 2025. The projects are accompanied by explanatory notes and comments. The album of projects is preceded by 33 short essays summarizing the author's experience in designing exhibitions and museums.

Awards and recognition In 1997, he received the British Council Award for the Krasnaya Gorka Bridge project (which was not implemented).

In 2001, he was awarded the Gold Honorary Badge of "Public Recognition."

In 2007, he received the Ludwig Giese Prize at the 10th Sculpture Triennial in Fellbach, Germany.

In 2010, he was awarded the Innovation State Prize for the Open Doors Day project at the MMOMA.

In 2017 and 2022, he received the silver and gold medals "Worthy" from the Russian Academy of Arts.

Works, collections and projects

Museums Avvakumov's works are represented in the following museum collections of the world: Museum of Modern Art (New York); German Architecture Museum (Frankfurt); Victoria and Albert Museum (London); Centre Pompidou (Paris); ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe); Alberto Sandretti Collection (Milan); Stadtmuseum Fellbach (Fellbach); Nasher Museum of Art (Durham, North Carolina).

Links Official English website