The fourth edition of the contemporary art fair |catalog| has opened in Moscow in a new location close to the Kremlin. Competing directly with Cosmoscow, its more established cousin, does it have a chance of surpassing the old?

Leading Russian art gallery Triumph is one of the organisers of |catalog|. Rumour has it that the gallery fell out with the owner of Cosmoscow, Margarita Pushkina. Whether this is true or not, Triumph has not taken part in Cosmoscow for several years, despite actively showing its artists in fairs around the world. Similarly, another major Russian gallery, Ovcharenko, which has its own auction house Vladey, stopped taking a booth at Cosmoscow long ago. However, all three of these stalwarts in the Russian contemporary art scene have become regular participants and headliners at |catalog|, where they are representing Western artists and blue-chip Russian classics.

This year Triumph is presenting American artist Henri Alexander Levy (b. 1991) with collages at €15,000 and a large canvas priced at €200,000. Ovcharenko is selling two recent large-scale canvases by Pavel Pepperstein (b. 1966), priced at $50,000 each and works on paper for $4–5,000 and Vladey is showing art by two Russian superstars who recently passed away, Erik Bulatov (1933–2025) and Valery Chtak (1981–2024). A preparatory sketch for Bulatov’s 1977 painting ‘Melting Clouds’ is priced at $58,000, while Chtak’s idiosyncratic graffiti-style canvases inscribed ‘I don’t know – I’m from Moscow’ are priced at $25,000 each.

The big story around this year’s fair is its change of venue. From a former printing house on Pyatnitskaya Street in central Moscow, which has closed for renovation, it has moved to an even more upmarket location, a space which will house a future shopping mall in the Zolotoy residential quarter on Bolotnaya Square, just a few steps from the Kremlin. There are advantages and disadvantages. The location is great, there is a large car park, and the space itself has been divided into small boutique spaces perfect for booths. On the downside, it is in a basement with little to no mobile internet coverage, stuffy air, and the booths are further apart from one another than in the usual intimate fairground settings. It seems that collectors’ pedometers on their smart phones will show unprecedented numbers.

The VIP preview, which started at eleven in the morning, did not attract the big crowds that had been predicted. By lunchtime, small groups of art lovers were scurrying around the arcades here and there with moderators taking tours and over several hours, there were very few coveted red dots to be seen on the walls. The visitors were mostly ladies with expensive designer handbags chatting with dealers and thoughtfully looking to understand the art on display. Their husbands, companions and male fellow collectors were expected to arrive in the evening.

The participants in this year’s |catalog| consist only of domestic Russian art galleries, about sixty of them. However, the owners talk optimistically about international partners in the near future. Alina Kryukova, owner of a–s–t–r–a gallery and one of the organisers of the fair, talked at the opening about international artists being represented in the booths, and that the future inclusion of galleries from abroad is ‘just around the corner’. This is difficult to believe, given the experience of Cosmoscow, which has been calling on Western galleries to come to Moscow and participate in the fair, but has achieved very little success to date. None of the international mega-galleries, for example, even responded to the calls, although perhaps they are used to Russian collectors coming to find them and not the other way around.

The dates and location of this boutique-style fair are, of course, already geared towards the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays and perhaps this partly explains why the works on offer in the galleries are mainly small in size – something that can be bought quickly, wrapped up and given as a present.

Pogodina Gallery has put on a magical exhibition around the fairy tale character of Pinocchio. At its centre is a work by conceptual artist Igor Makarevich (b. 1943) depicting the famous wooden puppet in the spirit of the Russian avant-gard and priced at $13,000. By the same artist with a different interpretation there is a Pinocchio also for sale at the Overcoat Gallery for $15,000. There are also wonderful paintings by Konstantin Zvezdochetov (b. 1958) priced at $5–6,000, a series of amusing textiles of animal portraits of famous Russian writers by Irina Korina (b. 1977) ($1,200–1,500), a sculptural installation with the word ‘Paradise’ covered with pigeons by Sergey Shekhovtsov (b. 1969) ($32,000). At Atelier Choutko there is a fantasy installation consisting of a painting and a bench by the famous performer Andrey Bartenev (b. 1965), ‘Doctor Sigmund Freud Meets Patient Bartenev,’ for $15,000.

At Syntax Gallery there are small humorous canvases by the anonymous art collective ‘Union of the Impossible’ based on photo memes from the internet at $3,500. The same amount is being asked for abstract works by Valeria Voshko (b. 1997), a young artist from Vladivostok who skilfully works with colour, at the Arka Gallery.

There are also many small sculptures at the fair, ranging in price from $2,000 to $7,000. These include works by Ulyana Podkorytova (b. 1984) at Myth Gallery, Artem Lyapin (b. 1997) at Grabar Gallery, and Grecht (b. 1989) at Jessica Gallery. Photography is also represented by three dedicated photo galleries, Lumiere, PENNLAB, and the Béton Centre for Visual Culture with prices ranging from $2,000 to $26,000.

Gallery owners are optimistic about the return on investment for their booths and sales. According to them, the organisers are quite loyal and even willing to provide furniture, lighting and help with installation free of charge. The only moment of discontent was in the unexpected censorship which happened during set up when some works had to be removed. According to dealers, the authorities suddenly appeared and pointed to some works without any explanations. ‘All we want is to have clear criteria for what and who can be shown and what cannot,’ concluded Elena Kuprina, owner of E.K.Gallery in Moscow.