By 
Author: Sophia Trotsenko
“The idea to engage in young art came from the number of requests that we received from young artists.”
The chasm between established artists and the possibility of new names appearing very quickly became apparent. Young people practically did not have the opportunity to professionally declare themselves, and we decided to take this task upon ourselves.
This is how the Start project appeared. Subsequently, Winzavod had workshops, and last year we launched a new permanent project, Open Studios – workshops for young artists with an educational program and English. I think the project faces common problems for all art institutions in Russia. Contemporary art is the most progressive area of culture. And the art of young artists is, obviously, the avant-garde and the most experimental area of our activity.
And here you can never predict the result. Selection criteria are always outside the scope of the project presented by the artist. We assess several factors that we consider to be key. This is the artist’s view of the context in which he lives and works, the desire to develop in the profession, the projects that he has implemented, plans and ideas for the future. The participants of the first season of the “Open Studios” were not chosen by me personally, but by an expert council, which includes representatives of the most important art institutions: head of the exhibition department of MMOMA Alexey Novoselov, artist Aidan Salakhova, art critic and founder of XL gallery Elena Selina, art dealer and art critic Nikolay Palazhchenko and others.
The market for young artists in Estonia seems to me to be the most promising, despite its youth and novelty. More and more art schools and opportunities for young talents are emerging in Russia, which means that competition is also growing. With the growth in supply, contemporary art is becoming a little more accessible to those who are interested in it. The circle of people who can afford to become involved in collecting contemporary Estonian art is expanding. “
