Vladislav Shapovalov is an artist and researcher based in Milan, Italy. He was a member of the art collective Radek Community (Moscow, 1999–2007) and has been working independently since 2008. His projects use exhibitions as a medium to investigate the intersections of historical narratives, political imaginary and geopolitical configurations.
In 2016–2017, he was a fellow in the International Fellowship Program for Art and Theory at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen in Innsbruck.
Currently, he is a PhD researcher at HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg.
The book dedicated to his long-term project Image Diplomacy was awarded a grant from Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and published by Mousse publishing in 2020.
Solo
– Image Diplomacy, curated by Sarp Renk Özer, 16 November – 31 December 2018, AVTO, Istanbul
– Image Diplomacy, curated by Emanuele Guidi, 1 December 2017 – 10 February 2018, Ar/ge Kunst, Bolzano, Italy
– Image Diplomacy, curated by Anna Ilchenko, 16 November 2017 – 25 January 2018, Moscow Museum of Modern Art with V-A-C Foundation, Moscow
Selected group exhibitions
– Stories of Time, curated by Nina Tabassomi, 30 July – 06 November 2022, Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol, Innsbruck, Austria
– Protext! When Fabric Becomes a Manifesto, curated by Camilla Mozzato and Marta Papini, 23 October 2020—14 March 2021, Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
– The Missing Planet, curated by Marco Scotini and Stefano Pezzato, 7 November 2019 – 27 September 2020, Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
– Unexpected Encounters, curated by Solvita Krese, Inga Lāce and Andra Silapētere, 13 December 2019 - 23 February 2020, “Arsenāls” Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art / Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA), Riga
– The Fabric of Felicity, curated by Valentin Diaconov, Iaroslav Volovod and Ekaterina Lazareva, 12 September 2018 – 27 January 2019, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
– Holes In The Wall. Anachronic Approaches To The Here-And-Now, curated by Gudrun Ratzinger, 7 February – 25 March 2018, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna
– A Thousand Roaring Beasts: Display Devices For A Critical Modernity, curated by Olga Fernández López, 20 October 2017 – 4 March 2018, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain (catalogue)
– Was Tun?!, curated by Petra Gerschner, Aspekte Galerie, Munich, Germany, 2017
– Looking At The Present Through Rear-View Mirrors, curated by Andrei Siclodi, Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck, Austria, 2017
– Atlas [of the ruins] of Europe, curated by Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga and José Riello, CentroCentro Cibeles de Cultura y Ciudadania, Madrid, 2016
– Uncanny Formations, curated by Andrei Siclodi, Kunstlerhaus Buchsenhausen, Innsbruck, Austria, 2016
– Fear. The Origin of the State, curated by Fedor Blašák and Christian Kobald, Nová synagóga / Kunsthalle Žilina, Slovakia, 2015
– The School of Kyiv. Kyiv Biennial, curated by Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schollhammer, Kyiv, 2015
– Sources Go Dark, curated by Valerio Borgonuovo and Silvia Franceschini, Futura Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, 2015
In 2016–2017, he was a fellow in the International Fellowship Program for Art and Theory at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen in Innsbruck.
Currently, he is a PhD researcher at HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg.
The book dedicated to his long-term project Image Diplomacy was awarded a grant from Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and published by Mousse publishing in 2020.
Solo
– Image Diplomacy, curated by Sarp Renk Özer, 16 November – 31 December 2018, AVTO, Istanbul
– Image Diplomacy, curated by Emanuele Guidi, 1 December 2017 – 10 February 2018, Ar/ge Kunst, Bolzano, Italy
– Image Diplomacy, curated by Anna Ilchenko, 16 November 2017 – 25 January 2018, Moscow Museum of Modern Art with V-A-C Foundation, Moscow
Selected group exhibitions
– Stories of Time, curated by Nina Tabassomi, 30 July – 06 November 2022, Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol, Innsbruck, Austria
– Protext! When Fabric Becomes a Manifesto, curated by Camilla Mozzato and Marta Papini, 23 October 2020—14 March 2021, Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
– The Missing Planet, curated by Marco Scotini and Stefano Pezzato, 7 November 2019 – 27 September 2020, Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
– Unexpected Encounters, curated by Solvita Krese, Inga Lāce and Andra Silapētere, 13 December 2019 - 23 February 2020, “Arsenāls” Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art / Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA), Riga
– The Fabric of Felicity, curated by Valentin Diaconov, Iaroslav Volovod and Ekaterina Lazareva, 12 September 2018 – 27 January 2019, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
– Holes In The Wall. Anachronic Approaches To The Here-And-Now, curated by Gudrun Ratzinger, 7 February – 25 March 2018, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna
– A Thousand Roaring Beasts: Display Devices For A Critical Modernity, curated by Olga Fernández López, 20 October 2017 – 4 March 2018, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain (catalogue)
– Was Tun?!, curated by Petra Gerschner, Aspekte Galerie, Munich, Germany, 2017
– Looking At The Present Through Rear-View Mirrors, curated by Andrei Siclodi, Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck, Austria, 2017
– Atlas [of the ruins] of Europe, curated by Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga and José Riello, CentroCentro Cibeles de Cultura y Ciudadania, Madrid, 2016
– Uncanny Formations, curated by Andrei Siclodi, Kunstlerhaus Buchsenhausen, Innsbruck, Austria, 2016
– Fear. The Origin of the State, curated by Fedor Blašák and Christian Kobald, Nová synagóga / Kunsthalle Žilina, Slovakia, 2015
– The School of Kyiv. Kyiv Biennial, curated by Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schollhammer, Kyiv, 2015
– Sources Go Dark, curated by Valerio Borgonuovo and Silvia Franceschini, Futura Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, 2015
Screenings
—International Film Festival Innsbruck, 10 October 2021, Leokino 2, Innsbruck, Austria
– Image Diplomacy, in "Komplexe Bilder 4: De/Konstruktionen", curated by Maia Gusberti, 4 June 2019, Kino REX, Bern, Switzerland
– FOTO WIEN, Festival Headquarters, 23 March 2019, Vienna
– Image Diplomacy, 19 December 2018, SALT Beyoğlu, Istanbul
– Besides the Screen. Vaults, Archives, Clouds and Platforms: Archiving and Preservation in the 21st Century, 2 – 3 July 2018, King’s College, London and 5 – 6 July 2018, CIAC-ISMAI, Porto, Portugal
Symposia curated
– Exhibitions of Influence. Display and Film as Political Medium, Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck, Austria, 30 May 2017. Speakers: Susan Reid (Loughborough University), Oksana Sarkisova (Central European University), Anna Ladinig (University of Innsbruck)
Lectures, public talks and conferences
He is a visiting professor at NABA – New Academy of Fine Arts, Milan.
– Art Past Present with Vladislav Shapovalov. Hosted by Farrah Karapetian and Joes Segal, The Wende Museum, Culver City, CA, 16 June 2021
– Image Diplomacy. Vladislav Shapovalov in conversation with Elvira Vannini and Emanuele Guidi, Ar/ge Kunst, Bolzano, Italy, 7 February 2018
– Forgotten Internationalism & Filmmakers of the World, Unite!, National Gallery in Prague / Tranzit, 14 December 2017
– Between Diplomacy and Dissidence: Politics of Exhibition and Curatorial Positioning During the Cold War, Modernidad(es) Descentralizada(s), University of Barcelona, 13 December 2017
– Image Diplomacy. Vladislav Shapovalov in conversation with Erika Balsom, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 18 November 2017
– Image Diplomacy: Archives That Were Never Meant To Be Kept, The 5th Garage International Conference "The Archive: Savior, Inventor, Witness", Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 13-14 October 2017
– Image Diplomacy, Kunstlerhaus Buchsenhausen, Innsbruck, Austria, 21 October 2016
– Archives in Contemporary Art: Artist as Researcher and Artistic Practices within the Archives, National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, 27 November 2015
– Future Present. Archives in an Expanded Field, Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, Moscow, 18 June 2014
– Focus East, official programme of Bologna Art Fair, Bologna, Italy, 28 January 2014
– Archive in Art-Practice, Baza Institute, Moscow, 16 December 2013
Publications
– Vladislav Shapovalov, Image Diplomacy, On The Question of Exhibition Part 2, Parse Journal, Issue 13.2 – Summer 2021
– Vladislav Shapovalov: Image Diplomacy, Edited by Emanuele Guidi and Andrei Siclodi, Mousse Publishing, 2020 (monograph)
Catalogues
– Protext!, Centro Pecci, Nero Publishing, 2021
– The Missing Planet, Centro Pecci, Nero Publishing, 2020
– A Thousand Roaring Beasts: Display Devices For A Critical Modernity / Mil bestias que rugen. Dispositivos de exposición para una modernidad crítica, Edited by Olga Fernández López, CAAC, Seville, Spain, 2017
Press
– How to Deal With Dystopia: “The Missing Planet” at Pecci Centre, Prato / Mousse magazine, March 2020
– Krievu izcelsmes mākslinieks Vladislavs Šapovalovs: pieredžu redaktors, Interview with Šelda Puķīte, Delfi.lv, January 2020 (in Latvian)
– 222 Emerging Artists Worth Investing In / 222 artisti emergenti su cui investire, Exibart, 2019, p. 205.
– On the Circulation of Images. Essay by Gudrun Ratzinger, Camera Austria International No. 145, March 2019, pp. 23–34. (in English and German, .pdf)
– The Cold War of Image Diplomacy. Conversation with Maria Abdulhamid. The Americana Issue, Archivio magazine, December 2018, p. 164–169.
– Image Diplomacy, review by Andrey Shental, Flash Art magazine, 9 February 2018
– The politics of exhibiting – The exhibiting of politics. Conversation with Elvira Vannini, Hotpotatoes, 10 January 2018 (in Italian)
– Bringing communism back to Moscow. Conversation with Andrey Shental, Artgiude, 22 January 2018 (in Russian)
—International Film Festival Innsbruck, 10 October 2021, Leokino 2, Innsbruck, Austria
– Image Diplomacy, in "Komplexe Bilder 4: De/Konstruktionen", curated by Maia Gusberti, 4 June 2019, Kino REX, Bern, Switzerland
– FOTO WIEN, Festival Headquarters, 23 March 2019, Vienna
– Image Diplomacy, 19 December 2018, SALT Beyoğlu, Istanbul
– Besides the Screen. Vaults, Archives, Clouds and Platforms: Archiving and Preservation in the 21st Century, 2 – 3 July 2018, King’s College, London and 5 – 6 July 2018, CIAC-ISMAI, Porto, Portugal
Symposia curated
– Exhibitions of Influence. Display and Film as Political Medium, Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck, Austria, 30 May 2017. Speakers: Susan Reid (Loughborough University), Oksana Sarkisova (Central European University), Anna Ladinig (University of Innsbruck)
Lectures, public talks and conferences
He is a visiting professor at NABA – New Academy of Fine Arts, Milan.
– Art Past Present with Vladislav Shapovalov. Hosted by Farrah Karapetian and Joes Segal, The Wende Museum, Culver City, CA, 16 June 2021
– Image Diplomacy. Vladislav Shapovalov in conversation with Elvira Vannini and Emanuele Guidi, Ar/ge Kunst, Bolzano, Italy, 7 February 2018
– Forgotten Internationalism & Filmmakers of the World, Unite!, National Gallery in Prague / Tranzit, 14 December 2017
– Between Diplomacy and Dissidence: Politics of Exhibition and Curatorial Positioning During the Cold War, Modernidad(es) Descentralizada(s), University of Barcelona, 13 December 2017
– Image Diplomacy. Vladislav Shapovalov in conversation with Erika Balsom, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 18 November 2017
– Image Diplomacy: Archives That Were Never Meant To Be Kept, The 5th Garage International Conference "The Archive: Savior, Inventor, Witness", Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 13-14 October 2017
– Image Diplomacy, Kunstlerhaus Buchsenhausen, Innsbruck, Austria, 21 October 2016
– Archives in Contemporary Art: Artist as Researcher and Artistic Practices within the Archives, National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, 27 November 2015
– Future Present. Archives in an Expanded Field, Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, Moscow, 18 June 2014
– Focus East, official programme of Bologna Art Fair, Bologna, Italy, 28 January 2014
– Archive in Art-Practice, Baza Institute, Moscow, 16 December 2013
Publications
– Vladislav Shapovalov, Image Diplomacy, On The Question of Exhibition Part 2, Parse Journal, Issue 13.2 – Summer 2021
– Vladislav Shapovalov: Image Diplomacy, Edited by Emanuele Guidi and Andrei Siclodi, Mousse Publishing, 2020 (monograph)
Catalogues
– Protext!, Centro Pecci, Nero Publishing, 2021
– The Missing Planet, Centro Pecci, Nero Publishing, 2020
– A Thousand Roaring Beasts: Display Devices For A Critical Modernity / Mil bestias que rugen. Dispositivos de exposición para una modernidad crítica, Edited by Olga Fernández López, CAAC, Seville, Spain, 2017
Press
– How to Deal With Dystopia: “The Missing Planet” at Pecci Centre, Prato / Mousse magazine, March 2020
– Krievu izcelsmes mākslinieks Vladislavs Šapovalovs: pieredžu redaktors, Interview with Šelda Puķīte, Delfi.lv, January 2020 (in Latvian)
– 222 Emerging Artists Worth Investing In / 222 artisti emergenti su cui investire, Exibart, 2019, p. 205.
– On the Circulation of Images. Essay by Gudrun Ratzinger, Camera Austria International No. 145, March 2019, pp. 23–34. (in English and German, .pdf)
– The Cold War of Image Diplomacy. Conversation with Maria Abdulhamid. The Americana Issue, Archivio magazine, December 2018, p. 164–169.
– Image Diplomacy, review by Andrey Shental, Flash Art magazine, 9 February 2018
– The politics of exhibiting – The exhibiting of politics. Conversation with Elvira Vannini, Hotpotatoes, 10 January 2018 (in Italian)
– Bringing communism back to Moscow. Conversation with Andrey Shental, Artgiude, 22 January 2018 (in Russian)