Report on the Russian pavilion in Venice (Milena Orlova/Kommersant, in Russian). Another report, with video (Kultura, in Russian).

The Ministry of Culture and Alfa-Bank will collaborate on the reconstruction of the 1914 pavilion, which was last restored in 1956 (Lenta.ru, in Russian).

Ekaterina Degot conducts a frank interview with the curator of the Russian pavilion in Venice, Olga Sviblova.

Sviblova latter compares the role of the presented artists to that of the national football team or singers at the Eurovision song contest. There's jousting about the nature of curatorial activity (Sviblova is unconcerned with its theoretical aspects), of glamour, of commercialism in art, of discourse.

The pavilion budget is a mere 5 million roubles ($165,000), raised from commercial sponsorship.  And Sviblova doesn't expect to earn a penny (Open Space, in Russian).