Projects

CSAR's activities also consist of exhibitions and large-scale cultural events, open to the public, and in which are presented protagonists of Russian and Italian cultural life, publications, art films, theatrical and musical performances, in some cases directly planned and promoted by CSAR.

Ruskino a Ca’ Foscari

Since its foundation until the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, CSAR has worked in partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes in the organization of periodic film festivals, starting with Ruskino. 

"Ruskino a Ca’ Foscari" was the annual Venetian festival of contemporary Russian cinema, whose first edition dates back to 2011 and which was a consolidated and highly anticipated event within the university activities and in Venice. Through screenings in the presence of directors, producers and actors, Ruskino gived to the Italian public the opportunity to learn about Russian cinema presenting films made by famous directors, but also by younger authors in their cinematographic debut.

13 – 15 December 2021, 
"Se Dostoevskij non esiste, tutto è ammesso"

Auditorium Santa Margherita, Venezia
Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes

file pdf14 – 18 December 2020, Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
Streaming on Zoom. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes
1.12 M
  • 14 – 18 October 2019, Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
    Aula Magna Silvio Trentin - Ca' Dolfin, CFZ Ca’ Foscari Zattere / Cultural Flow Zone, Venezia; Palazzo Antonini – Università di Udine; Teatro del Collegio Salesiano Astori, Mogliano Veneto. In partnership with Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes.
  • 5 – 9 November 2018, Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
    Aula Magna Silvio Trentin - Ca' Dolfin, Auditorium Santa Margherita, Cinema Rossini, Venezia; Teatro del Collegio Salesiano Astori, Mogliano Veneto. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes.
  • 6 – 10 novembre 2017, Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
    Aula Magna Silvio Trentin - Ca' Dolfin, CFZ Ca’ Foscari Zattere / Cultural Flow Zone, Cinema Rossini, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes.
  • 7 – 11 novembre 2016, Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
    Aula Magna Silvio Trentin - Ca' Dolfin, CFZ Ca’ Foscari Zattere / Cultural Flow Zone, Cinema Rossini, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes.
  • 9 – 13 novembre 2015, Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
    Aula Magna Silvio Trentin - Ca' Dolfin, CFZ Ca’ Foscari Zattere / Cultural Flow Zone, Auditorium Santa Margherita, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes.
  • 4 – 8 November 2014, Ruskino a Ca' Foscari
    Auditorium Santa Margherita, CFZ Ca' Foscari Zattere / Cultural Flow Zone, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes.
  • 13 – 17 November 2013, Ruskino – Russian animation
    Auditorium Santa Margherita, Cinema Rossini, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes. and Ca' Foscari Cinema
file pdf3 – 4 October 2012, Ruskino – Tarkovskiana
Auditorium Santa Margherita, Cinema Giorgione, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes, Ca' Foscari Cinema, Circuito Cinema Venezia.
776 K
  • 14 – 15 February 2012, Ruskino a Ca’ Foscari
    Auditorium Santa Margherita, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes and Ca' Foscari Cinema
  • 18 – 19 November 2011, Ruskino a Ca’ Foscari Parole sullo schermo
    Auditorium Santa Margherita, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia. In partnership with the Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes and Ca' Foscari Cinema.

Subtitling contest

At the same time as the festival, in January 2014, the first edition of the competition for the best Italian subtitling of recently produced Russian films was launched for the students of Ca’ Foscari.

The competition, which saw the participation of numerous students, has become an annual event. The best subtitles are awarded prizes and are premiered during Ruskino, then included in the festival circuit promoted in Italy by the  Centre for Film Festivals and International Programmes.

Since 2016, an additional competition has been held for high school students, within the PCTO projects.

Other film screening

file pdf7-8 March 2021 [ITA]
Special online screening of the film “Due Donne” (V. Glagoleva, 2014) on International Women's Rights Day and the 65th anniversary of the birth of filmmaker Vera Glagoleva
782 K
file pdf14 February 2021 [ITA]
Special online screening of the film “Love in the USSR” (K.Šachnazarov, 2013) on Valentine's Day
456 K
  • 18 September 2017, Mini Russian-Italian Film Festival
  • Auditorium Santa Margherita, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice
    In partnership with the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of Moscow
  • 14 – 22 February 2015, Photos of Russia
    Asiago
    In partnership with the Centre of International Programmes
  • 1 – 5 March 2014, 90 years of Mosfilm
    CFZ Ca' Foscari Zattere / Cultural Flow Zone, Multisala Rossini, Venice
    In collaboration with the Centre of International Programmes and Ca' Foscari Cinema.
  • 3 – 31 May 2012, Tarkovskiana
    Candiani Cultural Center, Mestre
    Film retrospective "Image, Sound and Word in the Artistic Universe of Andrei Tarkovsky" and five meetings with film critics in partnership with Circuito Cinema Venezia
  • 5 – 7 September 2011, From Faust to Hirohito: a tetralogy for the 21st century.
    Auditorium Santa Margherita, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice
    Film retrospective of Alexander Sokurov and meeting with the director. In partnership with Ca' Foscari Cinema
  • 1 June 2011, Desert of Forbidden Art, directed by Amanda Pope and Chavdar Georgiev.
    Auditorium Santa Margherita, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice.
    In partnership with the Central Asia Pavilion at the 54th Art Biennale and Ca' Foscari Cinema

Conferences

Over the past ten years, the Centre for Studies in Russian Art (CSAR) has conceived and organised numerous conferences and international scientific symposia, involving universities, museums, cultural institutions, researchers and scholars from more than ten countries and rapidly produced the corresponding volumes of proceedings. The Centre has also consolidated its long-time partnership with the State Institute for Art Studies (SIAS) of the Russian Ministry of Culture in the organization of research events and programmes, such as the joint international PhD school in art history Ca' Foscari – SIAS.

International academic symposia organised by the Centre

12 May 2022
Ca' Foscari University, Venice, Aula Magna Silvio Trentin

Curated by Silvia Burini and Angela Mengoni
International study day on the centenary of Yuri Lotman's birth.

25 – 27 October 2017, Translations and Dialogues: The Reception of Russian Art Abroad
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Auditorium Santa Margherita

Organisers: Silvia Burini, Rosalind P. Blakesley, Natasha Kurchanova
(in collaboration with The Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian and Russian Art and Architecture, SHERA, The Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre, CCRAC).

The results of the conference were published in Silvia Burini (ed.), Translations ad Dialogues: the Reception of Russian Art Abroad, Salerno, Europa Orientalis, 2019.

  • 10 October – 7 November 2013
    Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage
    Speakers: Silvia Burini, Laura Gherlone, Franciscu Sedda, Giuseppe Barbieri, Paolo Fabbri, Matteo Bertelé, Margherita De Michiel, Angela Mengoni, Tiziana Migliore, Dunja Radetic.
    Seminar led by Silvia Burini
  • 26 – 28 November 2013
    Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Auditorium Santa Margherita
    (in collaboration with the University of Tartu and Tallinn University)
    Participants from Italy, Russia, Estonia, USA, Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain

Conference proceedings of “A Merry-go Round of Muses”: Yuri Lotman and the Arts [ITA]

31 May 2013
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Aula Baratto

Organisers: Silvia Burini, Matteo Bertelè
(in collaboration with CYLAND Media Art Lab, Saint Petersburg Arts Project, DIGICULT, Milan)
Participants from Italy, Russia, USA

5 October 2012
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Auditorium Santa Margherita

Organiser: Silvia Burini
(in collaboration with the Direction of International Programmes)
Participants from Italy and Russia

Conference proceedings of Remembering Andrej Tarkovskij [ITA]

3 – 4 February 2012
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Ca’ Dolfin, Aula Magna Silvio Trentin
Gallerie d’Italia, Palazzo Leoni Montanari, Vicenza

Organisers: Silvia Burini, Nicoletta Misler
(in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo Art, Culture, Cultural Heritage)
Participants from Italy, Russia, UK, US.

Conference proceedings of Pavel Florensky: from Icon to Avant-garde [ITA]

4 June 2011
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Aula Baratto

Organiser: Alexander Ponomarev
Participants from Italy, Russia, UK

International academic symposia organised in partnership with the Centre

1 – 2 December 2020 
State Institute of Art Studies, Moscow, 4th International Sarabianov Congress of Art Historians

25 – 26 October 2018
State Institute of Art Studies, Moscow, 3rd International Sarabianov Congress of Art Historians
(in collaboration with the European University at St Petersburg and Italian Institute of Culture in Moscow)

Organisers: Ekaterina Bobrinskaya, Anna Korndorf, Anastasia Loseva

6 – 7 ottobre 2016
Insitute for Art Studies (SIAS), Mosca, II Congresso Internazionale «D.V. Sarab’janov» degli Storici dell’Arte

a cura di Ekaterina Bobrinskaja, Anna Korndorf, Anastasija Loseva
(in collaborazione con Università Europea di San Pietroburgo, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mosca)

4 – 5 March 2015
Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice

Organiser: Maria Ida Biggi
(in collaboration with Giorgio Cini Foundation and Tor Vergata University, Rome)

16 – 17 October 2014
State Institute of Art Studies, Moscow, 1st International Sarabianov Congress of Art Historians

Organisers: Ekaterina Bobrinskaya, Anna Korndorf, Anastasia Loseva

10 – 11 October 2011
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Aula Baratto

Organiser: a cura di Silva Burini e Nadezhda Burova
(in collaboration with Prigov Lab at the Russian State University for Humanities and Prigov Foundation)
Participants from Italy, Russia, UK, US, Hungary, New Zealand

Events

16 October 2023
CFZ Cultural Flow Zone - Tesa 1

Speakers: Silvia Burini and Olga Shishko, scientific directors of the project, and Anastasia Kozachenko-Stravinsky and Maria Gatti Racah, coordinators
With the artist Sergey Kishchenko

8 May 2023
CFZ Cultural Flow Zone - Tesa 1.

The initiative is part of the Public Engagement 2023 projects
In collaboration with "Writers in Conversation

February-May 2023
Giorgio Cini Foundation, CFZ Cultural Flow Zone - Tesa 1, Ca'rte Lab- Ca' Foscari exhibition spaces

Series of meetings in collaboration with the Giorgio Cini Foundation Institute for Theatre and Opera and the LEI - Leadership Energy Entrepreneurship project of Ca' Foscari University

2021
file pdfConversations for Dostoevskij. Andrea Tarabbia [ITA]
14 December 2021
Santa Margherita Auditorium

Moderated by Silvia Burini and Flavio Gregori. Presentation of the project 200 Dostoevsky by Maria Redaelli. In collaboration with "Writers in Conversation"
1.07 M
file pdfConversations for Dostoevsky. Fausto Malcovati and Paolo Nori [ITA]
19 November 2021
Ca' Dolfin, Aula Magna Silvio Trentin

Moderated by Silvia Burini and Flavio Gregori. Presentation of the project 200 Dostoevsky by Maria Redaelli. In collaboration with "Writers in Conversation"
1.71 M
2019
file pdfLife, Progress, Infinity and The Demise of the first Human Race ...and its Economic Model of Survival
20 November 2019
Aula Baratto, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice.
Lecture by Vadim de Grainville, held as a part of the show “Constructed Situations”. Curators: Masha Sergeeva, Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, 21 – 26 Fenruary 2019
1.12 M
file pdf"Semiotica della cultura: Jurij Lotman" [ITA]
10 April 2019
Aula Morelli, Malcanton Marcorà Palace, Venice,
Participants: Silvia Burini, Giuseppe Barbieri, Anna Maria Lorusso, Jorge Lozano
2.08 M
2018
file pdfBook presentation. “L’arte del movimento in Russia 1920 – 1930” by Nicoletta Misler [ITA]
17 May 2018
Querini Stampalia Foundation, Venice
Speakers: Chiara Bertola, John Bowlt, Silvia Burini, Susanne Franco
3.61 M

Book presentation. "Jurij Lotman. Conversazioni sulla cultura russa"
12 April 2018
Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà, Aula Morelli, Venice
Organisers: Silvia Burini
Speakers: Giuseppe Barbieri, Jorge Lozano, Angela Mengoni, Elide Pittarello

Talk by Boris Mikhailov
6 April 2018
Casa Tre Oci, Venice
Participants: Silvia Burini, Denis Curti

2016
file pdfA Demanding Interlocutor: Russian Art and Italy. Five years of the Centre for Studies in Russian Art (2011-2016) [ITA]
7 March 2016
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage
1.11 M
2015

Ceremony of the handing over of the sculpture "Melancholic Androgynous Warrior" by Grisha Bruskin
16 July 2015
Querini Stampalia Foundation, Venice

2012
file pdfVladimir Sorokin: Snow Storm [ITA]
21 April 2012 Doge’s Palace, Venice
Writer’s talk under the aegis of “Incroci di civiltà” literary festival Organisers: Elena Kostioukovich (critic and writer), Daniela Rizzi (Ca’ Foscari University)
170 K

Film Marathon “Fact Factory. Soviet Avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s”
31 January 2012, Palazzo Cordellina, Vicenza.
Organisers: Davide Giurlando
A collateral project of the exhibition "Russian Avant-garde: Experience of the New World”

Multimedia reading and performance “Between Us and Utopia. Revolutionary Voices of Evgeny Zamyatin”
25 January 2012, Palazzo Cordellina, Vicenza.
22 January 2012, Gallerie d’Italia, Palazzo Leoni Montanari, Vicenza.
A collateral project of the exhibition "Russian Avant-garde: Experience of the New World”

2011

The Tower. A Songspiel
19 April 2011

Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Auditorium Santa Margherita
The film of the Russian art group "What to do?"
(in collaboration with the graduate school of IUAV University and Ca’ Foscari Cinema)
Discussion with Dmitri Vilensky (What to do?), Silvia Burini and Gian Piero Piretto (University of Milan)

Online

20 and more Russians in Venice

A new social project of the Center for the Study of Russian Art in collaboration with Venice 1600 will show how Russian writers, painters and artists saw and imagined Venice. In each story, the city is revealed through personal receptions: once seen, it amazes and leaves indifferent no one. From December 2021 to February 2022, we will present on CSAR [ITA] and Venezia 1600 Instagram [ITA] profiles how twenty Russians (and even more) were associated with the lagoon city.

One questions, Two answers

To the 140th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky
The Centre for Studies in Russian Art (CSAR) at Ca’ Foscari is launching a video program “One Question - Two Answers”. This program is dedicated to the great composer whose 140th birthday we celebrate this year - Igor Stravinsky. 

Igor Stravinsky can truly be called a “Man of the World” - he was born in the Russian Empire in Oranienbaum, lived 26 years in France, 31 years in the USA, died in New York and is buried in Venice.
Throughout his life, Stravinsky gave several hundred interviews to magazines and newspapers everywhere in the world. Questions were about his works and music in general, about people he knew, and places he had visited. But the most exciting questions are different. They have philosophical nature, or they are about simple thongs. For example, “What is your hobby” or “What means Genius”.

We asked composers and musicians to answer the same questions. As a result, you can see two answers to the same question: Stravinsky’s and our contemporary’s. 

200 Dostoevskij

On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky, CSAR organised a participatory project involving students, professors, writers, artists and fans of Russian art and literature. Participants sent a short video in which they read a passage from their favourite work by the famous writer.

The videos received were shared on the Centre's Instagram [ITA] page every 11th of the month (along with interesting insights prepared by the Centre's trainees), some were posted on the YouTube page [ITA], and all were edited into a single video [ITA] that was also presented in presence. In fact, as part of the project in collaboration with Writers in Conversation, 'Conversations for Dostoevsky' were organized: a series of appointments with writers and philosophers. Among the first guests are Paolo Nori and Fausto Malcovati (19.11.2021) and Andrea Tarabbia (14.12.2021).

Dante in Russia 700

700 years after the death of the great poet, 2021 is the year of Dante, the artist whose work admirably brought together all the knowledge of the Middle Ages, from theology to science, from philosophy to politics, from art to literature.

The perception of Dante Alighieri's creativity in world culture is immeasurable. In Russian culture, his figure occupies a particularly important place. Whether in literature or music, in theatre or cinema, in every aspect of visual culture, artists and intellectuals have constantly referred to his lesson and legacy over the centuries.

To celebrate the important centenary, the Centre for Studies in Russian Art at Ca' Foscari University Venice has initiated a programme running throughout 2021. Twice a week, on the Instagram page Dante.in.russia.700 [ITA], stories were posted revealing the image of Dante in the space of Russian culture: poetry, literature, cinema, music, theatre, painting and much more.

Furthermore, as part of the Dante.in.russia.700 project, a contemporary art marathon was held, prepared by two young curators, Arina Orlova and Maria Yashkina. Under their guidance, a group of young contemporary artists created a series of works especially for this project.

Visit the project website of Dante in Russia 700.

Pump the volume!

In this computer age of ours we often watch videos with low volume, sometimes even on mute. Yet there are videos which one cannot really understand this way. One just has to turn up the volume.

Pump the volume! was an online project consisting of short films and video art by contemporary artists where music and sound play the key role.
In this programme we met composers, musicians and artists.
Every month was dedicated to one of our guests. Every week we showed video interviews and artworks screened online.
The programme allowed you to enter a space where the magic of sound and image creation happens, learning more about the relationships between artists and composers, and finding out what, among others, a political score is, or whether opera can be hidden in a pocket.
All this and much more in the programme "Pump up the volume", realised by the Centre for Studies in Russian Art at Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
Guests:

  • January - Nikita Spiridonov (composer, artist)
  • February - Vladimir Smolyar (artist)
  • March - Marina Fomenko (artist, curator) and special guest Paolo Ricci (composer)
  • April - Sergey Katran (artist) and a special guest
  • May - Gabriel Prokofiev (composer, DJ)
  • June - Alexei Kruglov ((musician, artist)

Watch the trailer for Pump the volume! [ITA]

pump.up.the.volume on Facebook - pump.up.the.volume on Instagram

Russian Art Walks

Virtual ‘walks’ will allow you to discover stories, characters and artworks that have made Russian and Soviet culture. Three times a month, CSAR will present video-talks by leading international scholars and PhD students of Ca’ Foscari University specialized in Russian art and members of the Centre’s scientific secretariat on our YouTube channel.

Russian Art Drops

Every month, the Centre for Studies in Russian Art releases Russian Art Drops, the project dedicated to telling the story of the life and artistic activity of a Russian artist.

  • December 2020: Olga Rozanova
  • January 2021: Dmitry Zhilinsky
  • February 2021: Stenberg Brothers
  • March 2021: Pavel Filonov
  • April 2021: Martiros Saryan
  • May 2021: Michail Vrubel
  • June 2021: Zinaida Serebriakova
  • October 2021 Igor Stravinsky
  • November 2021: Fyodor Stravinsky
  • December 2021: Theodore Stravinsky

Find all content on Facebook [ITA] and Instagram [ITA].

"Russia poetica"

A series of meeting dedicated to the reading of contemporary Russian poets and beyond, realized by the same translators of texts.

It began with the presentation of the volumes of the Russia Poetica series by the Passigli publishing house.

  • Presentation of the series "Russia Poetica"
    Speakers: Silvia Burini, Fabrizio Dall’Aglio, Alessandro Niero, Valerio Magrelli.
  • Presentation of the volume: Boris Sluckij, "The sixth heaven" and other poems, edited by Alessandro Niero, Passigli, Bagno a Ripoli (Florence) 2013
    The curator Alessandro Niero intervenes.
  • Presentation of the volume: Viktor Krivulin, "Concert on request" and other poems, edited by Marco Sabbatini, Passigli, Bagno a Ripoli (Florence) 2016.
    The curator Marco Sabbatini intervenes.
  • Presentation of the volume: Sergej Gandlevskij, "Celebration" and other poems, edited by Elisa Baglioni, Passigli, Bagno a Ripoli (Florence) 2017.
    The curator Elisa Baglioni intervenes.
  • Presentation of the volume: Aleksandr Kušner, Verses of the new century, edited by Marilena Rea, Passigli, Bagno a Ripoli (Florence) 2019.
    The curator Marilena Rea intervenes.
  • Presentation of the volume: Sergej Stratanovskij, Graffiti, curated by Alessandro Niero, Passigli, Bagno a Ripoli (Florence) 2014.
    The curator Alessandro Niero intervenes.

See all the episodes on CSAR's  YouTube[ITA] channel!

Theatre

24 February 2017

Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Auditorium Santa Margherita

Stage reading «Mayakovsky. To You!»

by Massimiliano Finazzer Flory

7 March 2017

Ca’ Foscari Theatre, Venice

Street performance of the theatre group “Mr Pejo's Wandering Dolls”

Incontro con il pubblico (in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari Theatre)

Music

9 October 2018

Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Ca’ Dolfin, Aula Magna Silvio Trentin

Vladimir Spivakov Foundation Lead Singers Concert

(in collaboration with the Centre of Film Festivals and International Programmes)

18 November 2015

Theatre Ekaterina II, The State Hermitage, St Petersburg

“Quali colombe dal disio chiamate…” Visions and Sounds between Russia and Italy: Dante, Tchaikovsky, Martini

Multimedia concert led by maestro Maurizio Baglini
Organisers: Silvia Burini, Giuseppe Barbieri

13 December 2011

Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice

“On the cross”. Homage to Sofia Gubaidulina

Professor Giorgio Nonveiller commemoration concert
(in collaboration with Venice Conservatory “Benedetto Marcello” and Venice Academy of Fine Arts)