Emilia and Ilya Kabakov: Artists' Talk

Once a prominent member of the Moscow circle of conceptualists, Ilya Kabakov has become one of the most highly regarded artists working today. His Sitting-in-the-Closet Primakov, from the series Ten Persons 1971–3, is included in Open Systems: Rethinking Art c.1970. It tells the story of a small boy who leaves a closet to discover, through the world, higher and higher levels of abstraction. Since 1989, all the artist's work has been a collaboration with his wife Emilia Kabakov. Much of this work consists of installations and environments, often evoking the social history of twentieth-century Russia. The Kabakovs will be in conversation discussing their work, past and present.