Irina Korina: Chapel
Overview
Presented in conjunction with TransCultural Express, Chapel marked the first major US installation by acclaimed Moscow-based artist Irina Korina. Renowned for her site-specific, immersive architectural interventions constructed from mundane, disposable, and industrial materials native to post-Soviet Russia, Korina created a large-scale sculpture that deconstructed traditional places of worship into everyday urban forms.
Project Context & Curatorial Role
Commissioned and curated for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the installation transformed the interior of the Peter Jay Sharp Building into a monumental reflection on faith, nostalgia, and rapid societal shift.
Architectural & Conceptual Deconstruction
Korina disassembled the traditional archetype of a church—reconstituting sacred elements through everyday, vernacular structures such as construction sheds (bytovka), market kiosks (palatka), corrugated metal fencing (zabor), and Soviet-era stained glass (vitrazh).
Themes of Transience & Memory
By combining materials associated with temporary utility and urban decay—such as rusted metal walls and market pavilion frames—the work explored how fleeting, material everyday spaces shape collective belief, political transformation, and new social anxieties.
Cultural Contextualization
To navigate the complex visual vocabulary and socio-historical references embedded in Korina’s work, the exhibition featured a commissioned Russian-English glossary by art critic Brian Droitcour, contextualizing key concepts surrounding Soviet history, urban space, and post-Soviet material life.
Role: Commissioner/Curator
Date: June 5—September 1, 2013
Location: Peter Jay Sharp Building, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Artist: Irina Korina
