In Moscow, a Little Museum Thumbs Its Nose at Tradition

MOSCOW, Oct. 9 -- Not far from the very Soviet spectacle of the ITAR-Tass news agency building, a small, maverick contemporary art museum has opened in Moscow. Walk in, and all the horrible stereotypes of Russian museums are negated, as if the owner, private collector Igor Markin, had anticipated your worst fears.

There is no coat check and no bag check and a palpable absence of grumpy elderly women on the staff. There are no guards at all. To prove the casualness of the space, aptly called Art4.ru, Markin provides felt-tip markers for writing on the bathroom walls.

The floor is covered in green plastic turf, and a croquet set rests near "Russian 20th Century," a painting by Erik Bulatov showing an iconic Russian Orthodox church tower emanating white rays.

Nearby, a skateboard lies on the floor. Asked if a visitor could actually skateboard through the museum, the woman behind the cash register replied: "Of course. You can do anything you want."

Markin said he is dedicated to demystifying and democratizing Russian art. "We want the art to be seen," he said. "I'm pleased with the results so far, but it will take at least a year to really get the word out that we are here."

There are no names or titles attached to the works. The curious can peruse the catalogue over coffee or go online to the museum's Web site, http://www.art4.ru. Visitors get two stickers, reading "Za" (For) and "Protiv" (Against). They are encouraged to vote for their favorite and least favorite piece in the museum by placing the appropriate sticker preferably near, though sometimes on, the art.

Some of the most challenging works, such as a large-scale photograph of trampy-looking models hanging out in a cemetery near a funeral in progress, are peppered with "Protiv" stickers.

Art4.ru is envisaged as an antidote to Moscow monumentalism, a radical departure from the oppressive milieu of traditional museums and sculpture gardens. Located in a still-unfinished luxury building, it opened this summer, unveiling significant works by contemporary Russian artists, some of whom cannot be found in any other museum in Moscow.

Blond hair to his shoulders, always in jeans and sneakers, Markin looks more like an aging art student than a monied collector. But the 40-year-old, who made his fortune manufacturing plastics and window blinds, has acquired more than 1,000 pieces of Russian art from the past 50 years. He is a pioneer among the new wave of tycoon art lovers energizing the art scene here, and he is among the first to open a private museum.

About 300 pieces from his collection are on view at any one time, and every day some pieces are taken down and others put up.

The playful atmosphere of the museum prepares visitors for works such as the archival films of the provocative Oleg Kulik, who is best known for playing a dog in the performance art piece "I Bite America and America Bites Me." Kulik's aggressive art was so successful he was frequently arrested, and he once bit an art critic on the ankle.

Art4.ru also features the Russian pranksters known as the Blue Noses Group, including their photograph of two Russian policemen kissing in a white birch forest, titled "Era of Mercy." The image has drawn angry denunciations from Russian politicians.