Igor Sacharow-Ross (born 1947 in Khabarovsk) is a German-Russian visual artist who works in Cologne and Munich. He is considered a pioneer in the realm of interdisciplinary art.
Life and work
Igor Sacharow-Ross was born in the Russian Far East and, as a member of the nonconformist art scene, was subject to political persecution in the 1970s. He staged the first actions and performances in the former USSR in 1975, ultimately leading to his deportation in 1978. His early engagement with the concept of nature was prompted by his growing up in the Siberian taiga. He conceives of nature as a field of both destructive and beneficent primeval forces. In the 1980s, Sacharow-Ross began working with molecular structures, such as cancer cells and leaf forms. The artist already at that point sought to combine natural science with considerations from the humanities.The projects of the 1980s, mediators between art and science, are research projects, which unfold in space installations. Since the nineties his project expanded constantly in terms of space as well as content. Against the background of the syntopic thought (defined by Ernst Pöppel) he develops artistic forms of expression for an intermedia communication on the inferface of aesthetic and common thinking and acting. Evolving from this the »Raumcollage« (spatial collage) originated as a form in which the artist takes great pains to provoke an interaction between the artistic space and the surroundings.
The oeuvre of Igor Sacharow-Ross, grown over the last 40 years, defies common classifications. In a retrospective portrayal, one discovers the specific quality of his work, having never committed himself to a certain style or medium. Drawings, photographs, paintings, sculpture as well as print, videos, installations and resonance bodies are thus equally used by him and condensed in spatial collages. However, with all divergency of styles and means there are constant aspects in the artistic work. In general it is about determining the coordinates of humanity, or how Igor Sacharow-Ross himself calls it: it is about developing »batteries of empathy«. In a great number of experimental series spectators are confronted with questions like »Who are we as human beings actually? On which lines of life are we situated?«
For decades he is continuously considering the open wounds of the history that is called Europe: the day-to-day violence and torture, the misery of refugees, of the banished and the expelled as well as the destruction of the environment. All these historical motions and flight movements are condensed and symbolically transformed in his work. The effort to trigger »processes of reconstruction in man’s memory« is an essential momentum of his occupation with the entanglements of the all-European history. A further constant quality of his artistic work is the concept of syntopia, that aims at a participation of the audience. Igor Sacharow-Ross pursues the interdisclipinary connection of the arts and sciences on the one hand and of society and politics on the other hand by means of exhibitions and events, which always have the spectators as social agents in their center. They are the ones to establish new inter-connections, for example during the project »Sapiens/Sapiens« (Palais de Nations, Geneva and Simultanhalle of Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 2000ff.) as well as with the Syntopia-sculpture »Der Zaun« (The fence) in the context of the Bundesgartenschau, Potsdam (2001). Existential experiences of being-in-danger and pain are always inscribed into these works of art, as for example in the exhibition of »Trauma Natalis« in the National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow (2005).
1973: University Leningrad/St. Petersburg
1977: Institute of Contemporary Art, London
1977: The Arts Club, Washington
1979: Katholische Akademie, Vienna
1979: University Leuven
1981: Centro Culturale S. Giorgeto, Verona
1984: Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Lindau
1985: Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, Nuremberg
1986: Galerie für Original-Radierung, Munich
1987: Künstlerwerkstatt, Lothringerstraße 13, Munich
1988: Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
1988: Kunstfonds Kunstraum, Bonn
1989: Kunstverein Ludwigsburg
1989: Kunsthalle Innsbruck
1989: Goethe-Institut, Paris
1990: Goethe-Institut, Madrid
1992: Städtische Galerie im Museum Folkwang, Essen
1993: New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
1993: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
1993: Goethe-Institut, Moscow
1994: Kunstverein Rosenheim
1994: Kunststation St. Peter, Cologne
1994: University Bonn
1995: Kunstverein Schwerte
1996: The Jerusalem Foundation of Visual Art
1996: Kunstverein Pirmasens
1997: Städtische Galerie Meiningen
1998: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tourcoing/Lille
2000: Palais des Nations (UNO), Geneva
2000: Simultanhalle des Museums Ludwig, Cologne
2001: Trinitatiskirche, Cologne
2001: Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg
2001: Municipal Museum, Kaliningrad
2001: Institute PRO ARTE, St. Petersburg
2001: Railway Museum, St. Petersburg
2001: Bundesgartenschau, Potsdam
2002: Galerie der Bayerischen Landesbank, Munich
2003: Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow
2003: Heike Strelow Projektbüro für Kunst und Kultur, Frankfurt am Main
2004: Brotfabrik Galerie, Berlin
2004: Derik-Baegert-Gesellschaft, Schloss Ringenberg
2005: National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow
2006: Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau
2006: Kunstverein Passau
2006: Stadtgalerie Altötting
2007: Ludwig Museum in the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
2007: A. S. Popov Central Museum of Communication, St. Petersburg
2007/8: Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
2007/8: Deutsches Museum Bonn, Bonn
2008: National Centre of Photography of the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg
2008: Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt / Main
2009: Fruc, Montpellier
2009: Kunstraum Dornbirn
2010: Deutsches Museum Bonn, Bonn
2011/12: Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt / Main
1970: Municipal Museum of Khabarovsk
1971: Kustarni Pereulok, St. Petersburg
1974: Gasa-Palace of Culture, St. Petersburg
1975: Newski-Palace of Culture, St. Petersburg
1976: Ordschonikidze-Palace of Culture, St. Petersburg
1976: Bolshaja Sadowaja 13, Moscow
1977: The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY
1977: Biennale Venice
1978: Salon des Réprouvés, Peintres russes non officiels, Paris
1978: Palazzo Reale, Turin
1978: National Museum of Art, Tokio
1978: Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana
1985: Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
1986: Haus der Kunst, Munich
1986: Arte Sella, Borgo Valsugana
1987: Kraftzellen, Group artwork, documenta 8, Kassel
1987: Galerie der Künstler, Munich
1988: Gallery Hannes Hake, Wiesbaden
1988: Museum Bochum
1988: Hauptzollamt, Munich
1991: Gallery Vàclav Spála, Prague
1992: Kölnischer Kunstverein
1993: Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund
1993: Kunsthalle, Wilhelmshaven
1993: Kunsthaus, Nuremberg
1993: Kunsthalle, Weimar
1993: Grassi-Museum, Leipzig
1993: Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Cologne
1993: Århus Festival
1994: High Tech Forum of Daimler-Benz AG
1994: Kunsthalle Hamburg
1994: Kunsthaus Dominikanerkirche, Osnabrück
1994: Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
1995: Stadtgalerie im Sophienhof, Kiel
1995: Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
1995: National Gallery of Norway, Oslo
1995: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
1995: Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow
1995: Haus der Kunst, Munich
1995: The State University of New Jersey
1996: Central House of Artist, Moscow
1997: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn
1998: Diözesanmuseum für christliche Kunst, Munich and Freising
1998: Kunsthaus Bregenz
1999: Biennale d'art contemporain, Sélesta
1999: Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Rotterdam
1999: Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Cologne), Cologne
1999: Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen
2001: Edsvik Konsthall, Stockholm
2001: Museum für Kommunikation, Frankfurt / Main
2002: Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen
2002: Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
2002: Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
2002: Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam
2004: Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
2004: Manege Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg
2005: Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen
2006: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
2007: Ludwig Museum in the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
2007: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
2008: Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Cologne
2008: National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Ekaterinburg
2008: Maison des jeunes, Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou
2009: Fotomuseum Winterthur
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Schilderwerken. Edited by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Text by Jaak Brouwers. Leuven 1979.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Radierungen und Objekte. Edited by Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft. Text by Peter Stepan. Nuremberg 1985.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Kraftzellen. Edited by M·A Munich. Text by Boris Groys. Munich 1986.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Yagya. Edited by Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt Munich M A. Text by Igor Sacharow-Ross, Jean Baudrillard, Boris Groys, Agrippa von Nettersheim, Blaise Pascal, Nicolai Fiodorov. Munich 1987.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Zwischenfelder. Edited by Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne and Dany Keller Galerie, Munich. Text by Peter Frank. Schuffelen, Pulheim 1988.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Kraftzellen II. Edited by Kunstverein Karlsruhe, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Kunsthalle Innsbruck. Text by Peter Frank, Boris Groys, Udo Kittelmann, Joseph Beuys. Schuffelen, Pulheim 1989.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Tunnel. Edited by Goethe-Institut Madrid. Text by Michael Marschall von Bieberstein, Edith Decker. Madrid 1990.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Apotropikon. Räume – Felder – Handlungen. Edited by Galerie Schüppenhauer. Text by Boris Groys, Igor Sacharow-Ross, Peter Stepan. Cologne – Munich 1991.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Tabula Rotunda. Edited by Städtische Galerie im Museum Folkwang. Text by Jochen Hörisch, Hermann Krings, Petra Giloy-Hirtz. Essen 1992.
Igor Sacharow-Ross. Edited by Evelyn Weiss. Text by Leonid Baschanow, Alexander Borovsky, Jewgenja Petrowa, Peter Stepan, Ludwig Weimer. Prestel, Munich–Berlin–London–New York 1993. ISBN 978-3791312484
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Arbeitsplatz. Edited by Kunstverein Rosenheim. Text by Annelie Pohlen, Petra Giloy-Hirtz. Rosenheim 1994.
Igor Sacharow-Ross. Feuer und Fest / Fire and Festival. Edited by Petra Giloy-Hirtz. Text by Vladimir Sorokin, Fasil Iskander, Jewgeni Popow, Viktor Kriwulin, Igor P. Smirnov, Boris Groys, Petra Giloy-Hirtz. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 1994. ISBN 978-3893222735
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Reanimation. Edited by Evelyne-Dorothée Allemand. Text by Engelbert Broich, André Comte-Sponville, Hubertus Gaßner, Ernst Pöppel, Jürgen Raap, Eva Ruhnau, Eberhard Stengel. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 1997. ISBN 978-3893223497
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Ausschnitt. Edited by Ralf-Michael Seele. Text by Ralf-Michael Seele, Rüdiger Dahlke, Dietmar Schaberg, Eberhard Stengel. Städtische Galerie ADA Meiningen, Meiningen 1997. ISBN 3-930675-13-7
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Die Zelle, die Zeit, das Licht. Edited by Bayerische Landesbank International S. A. Text by Evelyn Weiss. Luxembourg 1998.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Wartehalle. Edited by Institut Pro Arte St. Petersburg. Text by Igor P. Smirnov, Arkadij Dragomoschtchenko, Ernst Pöppel, Alexander Skidan, Oleg Kireev, Denis Bednik, Alain Badiou, Andrej Bitov, Nadeschda Grigorjeva, Sergej Savjalov, Pavel Klubkov, Dimitrij Golinko-Volfson, Evgenij Maisel, Alexandr Sekratzkij. Levscha, St. Petersburg 2001.
Igor Sacharow-Ross: SAPIENS / SAPIENS. Edited by Syntopie Ort. Text by Nils Röller, Wladimir Koschaew, Ernst Pöppel, Jan Halcrow, Oleg Kireev, Elisabeth Sikiaridi, Franz Vogelaar, Gabriele Beßler, Josef Riedmiller, Petra Schröck, Jürgen Raap, Jürgen Kisters, Engelbert Broich, Janina Wegner-Keres, Klaus Heid, Thomas Polednitschek, Dieter Buchhart, Florian Falkenstein, Eberhard Stengel, Igor Sacharow-Ross. Salon, Cologne 2002. ISBN 978-3897701557
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Refugium. Edited by Syntopielabor Cologne. Text by Ernst Pöppel, Kasper König, Hans Thomas, Peter Busmann, Ian Halcrow, Cornelia Köster, Valerij Sautschuk, Nadescha Grigorjeva, Igor P. Smirnov, Lilija Brusilowskaja, Igor Kondakov, Elena Plehanowa, Dimitry Bulatov, Oleg Kireev, Schamma Schachadat, Andrey Demitchev, Michael Berg. AHO, Ischevsk 2003. ISBN 5-93972-271-7
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Abgebrochene Verbindung. Edited by Dieter Buchhart, Hans-Peter Wipplinger. Text by Edith Rabenstein, Dieter Buchhart, Igor Sacharow-Ross, Thomas Zaunschirm, Sabine Schütz, Ernst Pöppel, Eva Ruhnau, Durs Grünbein, Vladimir Sorokin, Alexander Borovsky, Anna Karina Hofbauer. Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 2006. ISBN 978-3939738008
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Syntopia. Edited by Andrea Niehaus and Dieter Ronte. Text by Andrea Niehaus, Dieter Ronte, Susanne Witzgall, Irene Kleinschmidt-Altpeter, Peter Ulrich Hein, Klaus-Peter Speidel, Christoph-Friedrich von Braun, Robert Huber, Ernst Pöppel. Wienand, Cologne 2007. ISBN 978-3879099443
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Geflechte. Edited by garnitur / Christina Schönborn, Martin Kammerlander (Vienna). Text by Klaus Speidel, Ulrich Stimming, Reinhard Putz, Ernst Pöppel, Alexander Borovsky, Tobias Loemke. Salon, Cologne 2008. ISBN 978-3897702882
Igor Sacharow-Ross: Nicht gefiltert. Edited by Hans Dünser. Text by Anna Karina Hofbauer, Ernst Pöppel. Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 2009. ISBN 978-3-941185-83-8