No

Aleksey Dubinsky, Alexander Gronsky, Stine Marie Jacobsen and Teobaldo Lagos Preller, Gülsün Karamustafa, Semyon Khanin, Anonymous Artist, Cristina Lucas, Pavel Otdelnov, Sergei Prokofiev, Fernando Sánchez Castillo, Superflex, Pilvi Takala, Alisa Yoffe

The exhibition No is a joint project by an international group of artists and the Meduza newsroom. It is an attempt to examine and understand, from various perspectives, the pivotal shifts in the world with which we are confronted today.

In 2014, pressure and censorship from the Kremlin forced a team of independent journalists to leave Russia. In exile, they created Meduza. The decade since has been marked by frustration and turmoil, forcing people to grapple with major historical events: war in Europe, the pandemic, the climate crisis, escalation in the Middle East, the right-wing turn, burgeoning support for dictatorships, and the emergence of cynicism as the prevailing attitude in politics. Such catastrophic encounters always generate tragic stories.

The title of the project is radical on purpose. No, «Нет» in Russian, is a symbol of disobedience, born of ten years of resilience, stubbornness and the will to fight. To say No, to have the ability to object, is a basic human right — one that is now being denied to so many people, including in Russia. The word No can get you arrested or imprisoned. It can get you killed.

This exhibition unites the voices that keep saying No against all odds. No to war, No to dictatorship, No to fear. It pays homage to independent journalists, civic and political activists, and to all those who have the courage to disagree.

Curated by Meduza

Meduza was launched in 2014. It is one of the leading and critical news portals in the Russian-speaking world with a monthly reach of over 15 million readers. In Russia, Meduza was blocked and banned, and since then the editorial team has worked under constant pressure from the Kremlin. Despite these challenges, Meduza strives to continue reporting on-site and delivering independent news from Russia. The editorial team relies on crowdfunding to finance its journalistic work. Additionally, Meduza publishes books that can no longer be published in Russia due to censorship.

Narrators: Katerina Abramova, Alex, Katya Balaban, Taisia Bekbulatova, Zhenia Berezhna, Anton Dolin, Alexander Gronsky, Anton Khitrov, Ivan Kolpakov, Elena Kostyuchenko, Andrei Pertsev, Svetlana Reiter, Kristina Safonova, Sultan Suleimanov, Galina Timchenko, Vitaly Vasylčenko, Lilia Yapparova