…That said, my personal vote goes to Nikolai Polissky’s wood-rendered take on the Large Hadron Collider. Polissky lives and works in the tiny village of Nikolo-Lenivets on the banks of the Ugra River, four hours outside of Moscow. Over the last ten years or so, Polissky turned it from a run-down outpost known only for its vicious local samogon (home-brewed vodka) into one of Russia’s few artistic bright spots outside of the capitals. Twice a year, Polissky puts on the ArchStoyanie land art festival, attracting the efforts not only of great artists like Alexandr Brodsky and Electroboutique but also a whole team of local peasants that make up his assistants. Arguably, he deserved a nomination last year — he didn’t even make the shortlist — for his “Firebird,” a massive metal figure modeled after the Russian imperial eagle that belched out smoke and flames on the eve of the presidential election.
But ultimately it’s more about what the Kandinsky Prize is for. Polissky is by far the least known (most underrated, in my book) of the nominees, and unlike most of the other artists, didn’t even nominate himself for the prize; but if you see a prize as about rewarding achievement, his transformation of an entire village easily stands with Zakharov and Pepperstein’s distinguished list of plaudits. I’m not sure the jury will think the same way — last year they favored Belyayev over legendary SotsArt sculptor Boris Orlov. But this time, for a change, they do have three excellent artists to choose from. And that’s at least a start.