CHTO DELAT: Dmitry Vilensky & Tsaplya Olga Egorova | Lucija Klarić | Kamov Residency

CHTO DELAT: Dmitry Vilensky & Tsaplya Olga Egorova

As part of the Kamov Residency Programme of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Tsaplya Olga Egorova and Dmitry Vilensky, members and founders of the Chto Delat artistic collective, will be in Rijeka from 18 September to 7 October.

Chto Delat (What is to be done?) is an artist collective founded in 2003 in St. Petersburg by a group of artists, philosophers, critics and writers. From its beginnings, the collective has brought together art, political theory and activism, developing interdisciplinary and collective forms of artistic practice rooted in research into concrete social and political struggles.

Chto Delat works across film and video, theatre and performance, installation, murals, publications, seminars and public campaigns. Their practice is characterised by collective research, participatory methods, political pedagogy, Brechtian alienation, irony and surreal elements, using art as a space for the production of knowledge, critical reflection and the creation of new forms of solidarity.

In 2013, the collective initiated the School of Engaged Art, an experimental educational platform in St. Petersburg that grew out of its earlier practices of self-organised education and collective learning. The same year it established Rosa’s House of Culture, a social and cultural centre. Since 2017, Chto Delat has also operated through the non-profit association Chto Delat e.V. in Berlin, enabling international collaboration and project-based funding.

The collective has maintained a strong political position throughout its history. In 2014, it withdrew from participation in Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg in protest against Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most members of the collective were forced into exile as a result of political persecution. Since then, the collective has continued its activities internationally as Chto Delat International, building a community in exile and developing new forms of collective practice and mutual support. These activities are particularly developed through the Chto Delat Emergency Project Room in Berlin.

Chto Delat does not define itself as a conventional art institution or formal organisation, but rather as a community based on friendship, collaboration and mutual support. Its practice asks how art can become a tool for understanding political reality, organising communities and creating spaces for resistance, solidarity and alternative forms of social life.

Over more than two decades, the collective has presented its work at leading international institutions and exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; MAXXI, Rome; Tate Liverpool; New Museum, New York; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Gwangju Biennale; Shanghai Biennale; and Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, among others. Its works are held in the collections of MoMA, Centre Pompidou, Van Abbemuseum, Reina Sofía, MAXXI, KIASMA, MUAC, MUDAM and other international museums and art institutions.

18.09.-07.10.2026.

During their residency in Rijeka, from 18 September to 7 October, Dmitry Vilensky and Tsaplya Olga Egorova, members and founders of the artistic collective Chto Delat, will open their practice to Rijeka’s artistic and social context. Their residency is conceived as a combination of artistic work, research, and opportunities to engage directly with local artists, curators, researchers, cultural workers, and interested audiences, allowing them to become acquainted with the specificities of Rijeka’s cultural scene, its institutions, histories, and contemporary practices.

The city of Rijeka, whose cultural and industrial history has been strongly shaped by periods of change, different political and social systems, and the experience of transition, offers a range of potential points of connection with the themes that Chto Delat explores in its work. Through conversations, visits, exchanges of experiences, and encounters with the local scene, the artists will explore these connections as well as possibilities for future collaboration.

At the same time, during the residency they will continue working on the post-production of their new video work, allowing the artistic process to unfold alongside their engagement with the place in which they are staying.

An important part of the residency will also be engagement with the public, including general audiences as well as artists, researchers, and thinkers. Through several public programmes, Chto Delat will present its long-standing practice and open up a space for discussion about the relationship between art and political reality. At the first event, taking place at MMSU on 22 September, Dmitry Vilensky and Tsaplya Olga Egorova will speak about the development of the Chto Delat collective and their experience of artistic practice in the context of political and social crises. A few days later, on 25 September, in collaboration with the REVENANT research group at the University of Rijeka, they will discuss the ways in which imperial pasts and their legacies resonate through contemporary art, culture, and society.

The residency will also include the Rijeka premiere of their new film Songs of Hope and Despair at Art-kino Croatia on 1 October, followed by a conversation with the artists. The film will thus be presented not only as a completed artistic work, but also as an opportunity to meet and engage in a discussion about the themes that underpin it.

Chto Delat’s stay in Rijeka is therefore conceived as a space for artistic work, research, exchange, and public engagement. Alongside the time dedicated to their own artistic production, the residency enables them to enter into dialogue with the city and its communities, while offering local audiences and artists an opportunity to encounter an internationally active artistic practice that, for more than two decades, has developed at the intersection of art, society, and politics.

Museum of modern and contemporary art

→ www.mmsu.hr

Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (HR) - MMSU

MMSU in Rijeka founded in 1948, in its long tradition offers a committed support to innovative ways of approaching, producing and presenting art. From its very beginning the Museum has been building reputation of one of the most prominent visual art institutions in Croatia, entrusted with presentation of Croatian artists at prestigious international art events such as: Venice Biennial 1962, 1997, 2007, 2010, Sao Paolo Biennial 1967, 2004 etc. 

The Museum rounds its programming around visual art education, parallel to different modes of exhibition concepts that address new discursive possibilities and transform it into a place of inspiration, idea exchange and active participation. Under the motto openness, creativity & engagement, together with artistic, cultural and community organizations, Museum furthers visual arts research, collaboration and exchange within the region and internationally, while aspiring to reach increasingly diverse audiences and to work in a close relationship with the community.

Museum’s collection offers a diverse range of artistic visions with over 8,000 artworks dated from the end of the 19^th century to the present day. From 2017 Museum is located at new address, Krešimirova 26c, in ex-industrial complex Rikard Benčić. Since then, some important exhibitions were organized at MMSU in the framework of the pre-program and program of Rijeka 2020 - European Capital of Culture, i.e. Tomislav Gotovac: Crisis Anticipator - Don't Ask Where We're Going (2017), Vlado Martek: Exhibition with Many Titles and Goran Petercol: Don't Worry About Poetics, They Will Arrive on Their Own in 2019 and David Maljković: With the Collection in 2020..