In the other categories, Diana Machulina was named young artist of the year for "Labor," a photo-realistic painting of a Communist party presidium. PG Group took home the media-art prize for "Mounting Mobile Agitation," which comically imagines a Chinese invasion of Russia. They will receive a three-month "creative business trip" to Florence and 10,000 euros, respectively.
Before announcing the winner of the main award, philosopher Boris Groys pointed out that "since the political orientation of all three nominees are so clear, the decision will be necessarily as political as it is aesthetic." Unlike Gutov's Communism and Orlov's anti-Communism, however, Belyaev's work is a far cry from what normally appears in political Russian art.
Belyaev is a follower of ultranationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin and a representative of the Eurasian Union of Youth, whose catechism features phrases such as "Strength begets strength" and "Our goal is absolute power!" The two nominated pieces featured a detail from a Stalinist Gothic monument and a crowd listening to a speech by Stalin himself, rendered in Belyaev's "grand Statist style."
Despite performances from international stars such as the Chapman Brothers and Marina Abramovich and prize founder Shalva Breus' insistence that it be judged solely on artistic grounds, the award had already essentially turned into a referendum on Belyaev's views. His surprise nomination last month sparked public outcry and a furious critical discussion on art web site OpenSpace, in which Kandinsky jury member Andrei Erofeev declared, "They should give him the Leni Riefenshtal prize."
Others took a more level-headed approach to Belyaev's intrusion into the shortlist. Receiving her award earlier in the evening, Machulina pointed out that "for some reason everyone got scared of 'fascism' at the exhibition, but nobody's worried about it in real life. There's no point in focusing on Gintovt ?€” we should focus on fascism." She went on to hope that "there'll be all the more political art, because if artists won't tackle politics, politics'll tackle them and everyone else."
Nonetheless, the controversy spilled well over into the ceremony. Fellow judge Andrei Borovitsky meekly admitted that the jury could not reach a unanimous decision and had to resort to a vote. Outside, members of left-wing artistic and political groups picketed, holding a banner covered in swastikas and chanting, "Shame on Kandinsky!"
When Belyaev began his acceptance speech to a strange mixture of rapt cheering, mild applause and stunned silence, he was immediately interrupted by 2007 laureate Anatoly Osmolovsky's screams of "Disgrace! Disgrace!" from the back of the hall, which led to general confusion as many of the audience made for the door. But the laureate had the last words ?€“ "Russia is eternal!" ?€“ and left with the 40,000 euro prize.
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