Anti-monuments. Foreign and Russian sculpture after the Second World War. Richard Serra

Avant-garde movements in the beginning of the 20th century have contributed much to change traditional role of sculpture leaving it without a distinct feature of monuments, i.e. to remind of any event - whether it is existence of human being (portrait bust or statue made during the lifetime), tomb monument or ancient myth (Greek or Christian). There began to appear «objects», «readymades», and abstractions, which, at first sight, did not have much in common with memorials of the past. It was after WW2 when avant-garde form of architecture became massive and monumental, nurtured by totalitarian art of two rival countries – Germany and the Soviet Union. Critic Valentin Dyakonov will talk about the twelve most prominent sculptors created within a period from 1950 up to nowadays. Another question to be addressed will be what today's sculpture is and how it is influenced by new tasks set by industrial and post-industrial megapolis. Could the most abstract sculpture still be the monument? And monument of what can it be?

The sixth character of the series is Richard Serra (b. 1939), one of the greatest American sculptors of these days. His giant abstract sculptures are rusty iron sheets of several meters height. Waved or looped, they hardly fit the premises of museums or are exhibited in urban spaces. Are they still sculptures or already architecture sites?

Valentin Dyakonov (b. 1980) – art historian, culture expert, reviewer for Kommersant paper.