main project
30 мая — 1 октября 2025
Выставка проходит на двух площадках:
Мытный рынок (Большая Покровская, 2а) и гостиница Ермолаевых (Стрелка, 1)
Мытный рынок (Большая Покровская, 2а) и гостиница Ермолаевых (Стрелка, 1)
skin of the earth
Режим работы: вторник-воскресенье, 11:00-21:00
Today, we are witnessing a remarkable turning point in history. Humanity is being called upon, perhaps for the first time, to recognize its wholeness and interconnectedness in the pursuit of harmonious coevolution with the Earth. Questions about the future of humankind and the survival of the planet now unite nations, cultures, and generations in a shared effort to confront the defining challenges of our age. The Biennale of Environmental Art marks another significant step along this way.
At the heart of the main project lies the Earth’s delicate outermost layer—its thin, life-sustaining envelope, comparable to living skin—and its irreplaceable role in supporting planetary life. The emergence of a complex biosphere, and of human civilization itself, is inseparable from the soil layer. Situated at the intersection of the Earth’s geospheres, soil forms a space where multiple ecological systems converge, serving as both a source of biodiversity and a genetic reservoir of life. It functions as an interface, enabling exchanges between the planet’s deep interior and the “envelope of thinking substance”—the layer shaped by human activity, including the technosphere.
The scientific concept of soil was first articulated by the eminent Russian scholar Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev, who defined it as “fully independent natural-historical bodies, resulting from the complex interaction of local climate, plant and animal organisms, the composition of parent rock, landforms, and, finally, the age of a given territory.”
The Russian word pochva (“soil”) evokes meanings such as “base” or “support”—that which underlies human movement and preserves a sense of foundational stability. This metaphor remains urgent today. The familiar expression “the ground is slipping from under our feet” feels more relevant than ever, capturing the growing fragility of our world. The spread of erosion, pollution, and land degradation, the disappearance of countless species, and the replacement of natural ecosystems with artificial ones all bring the global ecological crisis closer. Confronting it requires a profound rethinking of collective ethics and a renewed commitment to planetary responsibility.
These concerns form the poetic and conceptual foundation of the biennale’s main project, which explores the theme across a wide spectrum of meanings and artistic practices.
Engaging with long-term processes of evolution, the works turn toward the planet’s deep layers and ancient histories, exploring the “memory of soil” that preserves traces of processes that formed the Earth and its development as a whole. At the same time, artists engage with the present, addressing advances in biogenetics, neuroscience, and robotics, as well as the emerging symbioses between natural and technological systems.
Reflections on the “skin of the Earth” touch upon something intimate and primordial—a generative force shared by all living beings. Human civilization arose through agriculture, and for this reason artists often turn to the origins of agrarian cultures: their historical and mythological narratives, local practices, and systems of belief. At the same time, they confront pressing contemporary issues, including the consequences of human impact on soils, neocolonial resource extraction, land dispossession, and ecological challenges within agriculture.
Through interdisciplinary approaches, the project brings together scientific research and marginalized knowledge, traditional cultures and advanced technologies, rational analysis and intuitive insight. Drawing on the principles of deep ecology, ecosophy, and posthumanism, it affirms ecological justice and promotes a partnership-based relationship with the natural world. It emphasizes the equal value of human and non-human life and articulates new ethical foundations for our shared existence on the planet.
At the heart of the main project lies the Earth’s delicate outermost layer—its thin, life-sustaining envelope, comparable to living skin—and its irreplaceable role in supporting planetary life. The emergence of a complex biosphere, and of human civilization itself, is inseparable from the soil layer. Situated at the intersection of the Earth’s geospheres, soil forms a space where multiple ecological systems converge, serving as both a source of biodiversity and a genetic reservoir of life. It functions as an interface, enabling exchanges between the planet’s deep interior and the “envelope of thinking substance”—the layer shaped by human activity, including the technosphere.
The scientific concept of soil was first articulated by the eminent Russian scholar Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev, who defined it as “fully independent natural-historical bodies, resulting from the complex interaction of local climate, plant and animal organisms, the composition of parent rock, landforms, and, finally, the age of a given territory.”
The Russian word pochva (“soil”) evokes meanings such as “base” or “support”—that which underlies human movement and preserves a sense of foundational stability. This metaphor remains urgent today. The familiar expression “the ground is slipping from under our feet” feels more relevant than ever, capturing the growing fragility of our world. The spread of erosion, pollution, and land degradation, the disappearance of countless species, and the replacement of natural ecosystems with artificial ones all bring the global ecological crisis closer. Confronting it requires a profound rethinking of collective ethics and a renewed commitment to planetary responsibility.
These concerns form the poetic and conceptual foundation of the biennale’s main project, which explores the theme across a wide spectrum of meanings and artistic practices.
Engaging with long-term processes of evolution, the works turn toward the planet’s deep layers and ancient histories, exploring the “memory of soil” that preserves traces of processes that formed the Earth and its development as a whole. At the same time, artists engage with the present, addressing advances in biogenetics, neuroscience, and robotics, as well as the emerging symbioses between natural and technological systems.
Reflections on the “skin of the Earth” touch upon something intimate and primordial—a generative force shared by all living beings. Human civilization arose through agriculture, and for this reason artists often turn to the origins of agrarian cultures: their historical and mythological narratives, local practices, and systems of belief. At the same time, they confront pressing contemporary issues, including the consequences of human impact on soils, neocolonial resource extraction, land dispossession, and ecological challenges within agriculture.
Through interdisciplinary approaches, the project brings together scientific research and marginalized knowledge, traditional cultures and advanced technologies, rational analysis and intuitive insight. Drawing on the principles of deep ecology, ecosophy, and posthumanism, it affirms ecological justice and promotes a partnership-based relationship with the natural world. It emphasizes the equal value of human and non-human life and articulates new ethical foundations for our shared existence on the planet.
Yulia Aksenova
Curator:
Zahrah Al Ghamdi, Galina Andreeva, Daniil Antropov, Ifeoma U. Anyaeji, Vitaly Barabanov, Alexey Buldakov, Edgar Calel, YinJu Chen, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Minerva Cuevas, Pranay Dutta, Elena Filaretova, Sergey Filatov, Dima Filippov, Cristina Flores Pescorán, Ivan Gorshkov, Maria Gruzdeva, Elsa Guillaume, HO GUI, Joey Holder, Erdal İnci, Kwang Young Chun, Alexey Kallima, Timofey Karaffa Korbut, Sergey Katran, Dmitry Kavarga, Alexandra Kehayoglou, Darya Kiseleva, Irina Korina, Kirill Koteshov, Viktoria Kravtsova, Vlad Kulkov, Olesya Lavrinenko, Jiayu Liu, Ana María Millán, Yue Mingyue, Abdessamad El Montassir, Maria Michi, Irene Musina, Sasha Nesterkina, Ivan Novikov, Michelle O’Connell, Yumiko Ono, Long Pan, Subash Thebe Limbu, Giuseppe Penone, Danya Pirogov, Nicolas Pirus, Ulyana Podkorytova, Giulia Pompilj, Vasily Romanenkov, Sergey Sonin and Elena Samorodova, Inna Savchenko, Maria Serebryakova, Ilya Sibiryakov, Wang Sishun, Kim Soonim, Andrey Syaylev, Olanrewaju Tejuoso, Charwei Tsai, Evgeniya Tut, Ozan Turkkan, Recycle Group, Ustina Yakovleva, Yangkura, Dishon Yuldash, Dunya Zakharova, Elina Zazulya, Robert Zhao Renhui
Artists: