Gallery SHCHUKIN Artist Aladdin Garunov Garners the Kuryokhin Award

The 2013 Sergey Kuryokhin Award Ceremony was held in Saint Petersburg. Artist Aladdin Garunov became the winner in the category “The Best Work of Visual Art” with his project “All-out Prayer”. 

 “All-out Prayer” (2012) by Aladdin Garunov is about the East and the West, their interpenetration, and the changes it carries for the world and for every human being. “This is my attempt to not only apprehend the spiritual beauty and culture of Islam but look into issues arising as a result of its rapid spread across the world,” the artist said of the project. The “All-out Prayer” video-installation resembles pictures for news stories on difficulties relating to the integration of migrants from the East into Western society. The other part of the project – assemblages from rugs, shoes, and rubber, which send us back to the religious traditions of Moslem countries – fills the first one with meaning. With the “All-out Prayer” project, Aladdin Garunov was a finalist of the Kandinsky Award in 2012. Saint Petersburg’s New Museum showcased “All-out Prayer” in November 2013-February 2014 as part of Garunov’s retrospective “Metaphors for Covered Distances”. 

The Sergey Kuryokhin Award is an annual Russian contemporary art award instituted in 2009 by the Sergey Kuryokhin Charity Fund and Modern Art Center. The award was bestowed for the fifth time this year.