As a country starting with letter R listed on Countryaah.com, Russia (Russian Federation) is a country in Eastern Europe and North Asia with (2018) 144.5 million residents; The capital is Moscow.
Country Overview
The population is very unevenly distributed. About three quarters of the people live in the European part, which makes up less than a quarter of the total area of Russia. The largest religious community is the Russian Orthodox Church. 7-15% of the population are Muslim. They live mainly in the southern parts of the country. Russia is enormously rich in natural resources, especially oil, natural gas, coal, gold and diamonds. The export of raw materials forms the backbone of the economy. Many large industrial companies belong to the state. The nuclear power Russia has high military spending.
In the 18th century, under the tsars Peter the Great and Catherine the Great , the Russian Empire developed into a major European power. The communist Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution of 1917. In 1922-91 Russia was the most important part of the Soviet Union. With the new constitution of 1993, Russia became a federal republic headed by a powerful president. Vladimir Putin has been President of Russia since 2012, as he did in 2000-08. He created new structures for the police and the military, while severely restricting democratic rights such as the right to freedom of expression. As Russia 2014 the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea incorporated into their national territory, the USA and the member states of the European Union criticized the country. Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Architecture
In architecture one established v. a. in Moscow and Saint Petersburg numerous buildings based on modern western architecture. Moscow is also building in the style of Russian eclecticism (represented in monumental sculpture by Zurab Tsereteli, * 1934: Monument to Peter I.; 1997), which among other things. draws on the architectural legacy of Stalinist neoclassicism. Likewise, buildings were built in Moscow that, as symbols of post-socialist Russia, are detailed copies of structures that were destroyed in the 1930s and 1940s (e.g. Resurrection Gate, 1993–95; Savior Cathedral, 1995–97). In a retrospective discourse, syntheses of European-historical and contemporary design idiom succeed, which respond sensitively to the surrounding urban architecture (e.g. International Bank in Moscow on Kropotkinplatz, 1992-95, by Alexander Skokan, * 1943), expansion of the Pushkin- Museums, 2000–01, by Andrei Bokow, * 1943). New approaches are to be expected with the construction progress of Moskva City (started in 1998, completion planned for 2015), a new office and business town on the western outskirts of Moscow’s inner city.
Fine arts
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, both the social conditions for official Soviet art and non-conformist art, which fell into crisis, ceased to exist. The processes of the retro-avant-garde in post-communist society can be summarized under the topoi privatizations and appropriations. In the search for a new definition, the drafting of new ideologies and utopias as well as everyday reality play an essential role; religious aspects (icons) remain important. The topics are z. B. Ethnic affiliations, but also connotations of a collective memory. The implementation takes place by referring back to historical epochs and the different currents of the art of the 20th century (especially Byzantine art, baroque, classicism, pop art). In addition to the classic media, work with photography, video, etc. comes to the fore. In dealing with the directions of the »Moscow Conceptualism« which continued to shape the art scene (IJ Kabakov ; DA Prigow ; Vadim Sakharov [Vadim Zakharov], * 1959) and “Moscow Radicalism” (Osmolowski) have been emerging since the late 1990s with multifaceted, subversive analyzes of the unclear (geo-) political and cultural changes. The artistic strategies include the ironic-satirical recoding of mass media, economic systems and traditional Russian stereotypes (including Oleg Kulik, * 1961; Wladislaw Mamyshev-Monroe, * 1969, † 2013; Vyacheslav Misin, * 1962; Alexander Schaburow, * 1965). Design explosive, idyllic and absurd political scenarios, among other things. A. Osmolowski, AES + F (including Lew Ewsowitsch, * 1958), “Dubossarski & Vinograd” (Wladimir Dubossarski, * 1964; Alexander Vinogradow, * 1963), Dmitri Gutow (* 1960). The native UkrainiansMikhalov and Sergej Bratkov (* 1960) document v. a. the daily misery of those around them. Carry a diffizilen feminist discourse on rituals, Idyllic, Violence and fetishes Tatjana Antoshina (* 1966), Svetlana Baskowa (* 1965), Tatiana Hengstler (* 1962), Olga Tobreluts (* 1970), Lyudmila Gorlowa (* 1968), Tania Liberman (* 1968) and Olga Chernysheva (* 1962), who lives in Moscow and Amsterdam. Developing new aesthetic concepts, among other things. also the groups “Escape Program” and “Radek” from Moscow and the New Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg. Mail art reached its peak in the 1990s (Rea Nikonowa, * 1942; Serge Segay, * 1947). Representatives of net art such as Aleksei Shulgin (* 1963) andOlia Lialina (* 1971) try out methods of new technologies.
