Oligarques, art et dollars: les nouveaux collectionneurs russes

Promoters of galleries, foundations and important art prizes, Russian oligarchs invest in contemporary art with passion and entrepreneurship. They currently play a primary role in the promotion and politics of culture in their country. In 2009, the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, the principal locale of the central event of the 3rd Moscow Biennial, curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, becomes the principal meeting place for the new Russian contemporary art patrons and collectors. Evoking the example of Sergei Chtchoukine and his collection of masterpieces, the film portrays several of the new scenario’s protagonists, following them at work, their homes, at London’s auction houses and Moscow’s galleries. Among them are Nathalia Kournikova, a gallerist and collector whose collection includes a painting by Vladimir Putin; Shalva Breus, the collector who founded the Kandinsky Prize, and Stella Kesaeva, founder and directrix of the Stella Art Foundation.