A special project of supporting young art START has been trying different formats for ten years: this year, four curators were chosen as an experiment, for the first time in the project's history. The first of them in the season 2018/2019 will start work Ilya Smirnov with the exhibition of the artist Dasha Kuznetsova «Who is my real mother»
The practice of Dasha Kuznetsova combines an interest in psychiatry and neuroscience with practical study of mythological thinking. The main tool of the artist – automatic drawing that allows to transfer folklore, memory mechanics, sleep and borderline states into paper forms
Ruins, abandoned buildings and hidden fragments of the urban landscape are reflected by Kuznetsova as symbols of non-reflective zones of the human mind.
«Personification of mythical and natural forces are the main characters of this archaic environment. Who is my mother actually deploys a two-dimensional medium of drawing in the field of sculpture? Through religious motifs, the artist transforms the exhibitionspace in a ritual site where wood and fire become central mutually balancing elements» - says exhibition curator Ilya Smirnov.
Dasha Kuznetsova (b. 1989) lives and works in Moscow. A graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Arts, Moscow State University. Ivan Fedorov, the artist. Previous exhibitions:
“Forgotten Name", Red Center, Moscow, 2016; “Today was a tough day”, Red Center, Moscow, 2018; “After us only ashes”, Project Richter, Moscow, 2018.
Ilya Smirnov (b. 1984) lives and works in Moscow. Graduate of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, artist and curator, co-founder of Alyssa Davis Gallery, New York. Previous exhibitions: Mechanics Alley, 63rd – 77th STEPS, Bari, 2015; Il Futuro Era Bellissimo Per Noi, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, 2016; The cutest evil, Lily Robert, Paris, 2016; Ruminations of the Midnight Stroll, No. 29 Marefield Gardens, London, 2018.
START is a unique platform that performs the function of a professional "elevator" for beginning young artists. For ten years, more than 50,000 applications have been received on the site of the project START http://projectstart.ru, more than 60 personal exhibitions have been realized.
Open Studios
Free of Charge 
Starts at 10:00 
