OCTOBER 27, 2017 – FEBRUARY 4, 2018

On October 27, the ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art will launch “Assa En Masse,” a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the underground movement, “Assa,” which flourished in Leningrad in the early 1980s. The exhibition is open to the public free of charge and will be accompanied by a parallel educational program, which will continue through February 4, 2018.

“Assa” originated as a battle cry that first rang out amid the Necrorealists but then spread like wildfire across Leningrad’s bohemian scene. “Assa” was the name that Timur Novikov gave his gallery, and the word that punctuated the paintings of legendary artist Oleg Kotelnikov. “Assa” was used both as a street tag, and as a label on the clothing in Beatnik fashion shows. The avant-garde catwalks on display in Sergey Kuryokhin’s Pop-Mekhanika performances were lovingly dubbed “Assa-Parades.” Together, these rock-n-roll “happenings” mobilized a rollicking community of musicians, underground artists, club kids and poets, all under the banner of “Assa.” This freeform art movement reached its apex with the eponymous film, which even today is considered one of the most iconic movies of the 80s generation.