M HKA Ensembles

M HKA, Antwerp

16 September 2022 - 08 January 2023

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov

Ilya Kabakov was born in Dnepropetrovsk — now Dnipro — in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He joined a group of conceptual artists in Moscow that worked outside the official Soviet art system. In 1987, he moved to the West, living in various countries. He began collaborating with Emilia Kabakov in 1989. As well as producing drawings and paintings, they spearheaded a style of conceptual installation art that is theatrical or experientially oriented, evoking places that are fictional or drawn from memory. In their installations, the exhibition spaces often undergo a total transformation. Viewers find themselves in a strange or absurd world that refers to the social and cultural context of the Soviet Union as well as the artists’ own lives.

Ilya and Emilia Kabakov are considered the most significant Russian artists of the late 20th century. They held a major exhibition, 16 Installations, at M HKA in 1998, and the museum has acquired several of their key works for its collection.

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