Published on: 2026-09-24
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
What makes an object or an idea aesthetically significant? Harmony of proportions, precise rhythm, impeccable symmetry, or the ability to surprise, to break expectations, to make you see the familiar differently? We tell about three events that challenge conventional notions of beauty at venues in the capital. Department of Culture. In “Multimedia Art Museum” the XVI International opened “Photobiennale-2026” with seven projects — from manual photo printing to microscopic jellyfish. In Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) is ongoing “Silence of the Star” — an exhibition where beauty lies in anxiety, nostalgia, and attention to the fragile. And in at the Yesenin Center On October 1, a fashion show of the collection “Dowry” will take place — a dialogue between the imperial wardrobe of the early 20th century and the modern silhouette. Each of these events poses the question: do we really understand beauty so unambiguously?
“Photobiennale-2026”: when photography ceases to be just a snapshot
On September 23, the Multimedia Art Museum on Ostozhenka opened its 30th exhibition season — and immediately with a major event. The XVI International “Photobiennale-2026” occupies all seven floors and is timed to two anniversaries: the 30th anniversary of the museum and the 200th anniversary of photography. The program includes seven exhibition projects: three international and four Russian. Each of them in its own way challenges stereotypes about what to consider beautiful.
“Lilya Brik: Style Icon and Muse of the Avant-Garde” — an exhibition dedicated to the 135th anniversary of the birth of one of the most prominent figures of Moscow bohemia in the 20th century. The exposition includes photographs from the 1910s-1970s, photo collages by Alexander Rodchenko for Vladimir Mayakovsky’s poem “About This,” posters, and fragments of films. Liliya Brik masterfully crafted her image of a femme fatale: she painted the walls of her room ultramarine to highlight her porcelain skin and fiery red hair, dressed in the designs of the imperial court’s couturier Nadezhda Lamanova, and received Parisian fashion novelties from her sister Elsa Triol. In 1928, she asked Vladimir Mayakovsky to bring a Renault car from France and became one of the first women behind the wheel. The exhibition shows how in the avant-garde, beauty was born from a radical break with tradition.
“Behind the Glass” by Alexandra Cathier — a manifesto of analog photography in the era of digital abundance. The French artist of Belarusian origin, winner of the prestigious Prix Niépce 2026, works with complex manual printing techniques and insists: photography is above all the art of light, not a click on a smartphone screen. While the whole world debates artificial intelligence capable of creating images of nonexistent objects, Katier returns to the origins of light painting. The very fact of turning to analog methods in the modern context provokes the question: is the superiority of technology really so straightforward? The exhibition features both the series that brought the artist worldwide fame and new works.
“About Aliens, Mermaids, and Jellyfish” Yana Shlegel is a direct challenge to the aesthetic canon. The German photographer with equal passion shoots brutalist concrete overpasses and microscopic organisms: fungi, flowers, jellyfish, and phytoplankton. In the master’s lens, even a jellyfish that has inhabited the Earth for hundreds of millions of years gains a mysteriousness close to surrealistic images: against a dark background, it seems to float in weightlessness, taking on the shapes of either a glass dome or a lonely island. The photographer has explored water bodies from the South China Sea to the North Atlantic, collecting water samples and studying phytoplankton under a microscope. His works return to the viewer an almost childlike, unclouded optic of perception. And this is also a lesson in beauty: it is found not only in the great, but also in the microworld that we usually do not notice.
The “Photobiennale-2026” will open at the Multimedia Art Museum
“The Silence of the Star”: when beauty hides in anxiety and nostalgia
There is an exhibition at MMOMA on Gogolevsky Boulevard until November 1. “Silence of the Star” — a project that became the central event of the first season of the joint competition program of the museum and the cultural project “Soyuz.” About 70 works by 24 authors — from recognized masters to finalists of the open competition, which received over 900 applications from across the country. Painting, graphics, sculpture, and installation — the genre range is wide, but all works are united by one thing: a careful, delicate look at reality where the human is no longer the center.
Curators suggest slowing down and looking at contemporary art without trying to decipher the author’s intent. Each hall here reveals its own story. The first one greets with an unsettling silence, in the works expectation seems frozen. In Herman Ing’s paintings — deserted urban corners depicted as if watched by a surveillance camera: this detached, almost cold gaze keeps one tense. The next hall transports to the world of personal memories: Anastasia Bezvershuk films the house from her childhood. Her work is a cozy, almost fairy-tale corner where the past feels like a warm touch. In the following hall, the focus shifts to emotions: Eva Gets explores euphoria, showing two completely different manifestations of it, as if assembling a whole palette of feelings from contrasts.
The key idea of the exhibition: beauty is not always in harmony and classicism. Sometimes it lies in exploring strange, even uncomfortable states, in playing with shapes and materials, anxiety and nostalgia. The title “Silence of the Star” can be read as an image of distance: the world continues at its own pace, without needing constant human commentary. Plants break through concrete, traces of memory emerge through time, life goes on independently of human presence. This is what changes the usual perspective: beauty is found not in conquering the world, but in fragility that we previously did not notice.
The winner of the competition program — Ivan Arkhipov — will present his personal museum project at MMOMA as early as 2027.
Bridal Collection Showcase: Empress’s Wardrobe and Modern Cut
On October 1 at 19:30, there will be a showing of the new collection “Dowry” by the brand at the “Yesenin Center” Arkhipova.Moscow. This is part of the seventh program Moscow Fashion Week, which brought together dozens of designers at venues across the capital. 20 looks, created by Olga Arkhipova, will tell what people receive from family and carry with them throughout their entire life.
The source of inspiration for the designer was the fashion of the early 20th century, as well as the history of Emperor Nicholas II’s family and the wardrobe of his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. But “Dowry” is not a reconstruction of historical costume. Recognizable motifs from the past here merge with contemporary silhouettes, elements of grunge, and new materials. Silver in the collection is not a luxury item, but fragility and a light melancholy. It is born from the aesthetics of the Silver Age, poetry, and memories, and works more precisely than gold: it does not strive to shine, but seems to keep the light inside.
An appeal to this era is especially symbolic in the space of the “Yesenin Center.” Sergey Yesenin developed as a poet during a period when the familiar world of the Russian Empire was rapidly changing. The last years of Nicholas II’s reign, the revolutions, the disappearance of the old order, and the birth of a new culture coincided with his creative formation. Here, in the “Yesenin Center,” the past does not seem distant — it continues to resonate. That is why “Dowry” comes here as a continuation of the conversation about memory, family, heritage, and the individual.
Olga Arkhipova’s collection conveys that heritage is not only about things. It is family stories, habits, intonations, and feelings that a person receives from loved ones and eventually passes on. In this sense, beauty lies not so much in the style or fabric, but in the very gesture: to pause, look back, and see the connection between what was and what is now.
Learn about performances, concerts, exhibitions, and other interesting events on the official channels of “Mosbilet” at “Makse” and Telegram.
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