Boris Mikhailov
Boris Mikhailov (1938, Kharkiv) is a key figure of the Kharkiv School of Photography and one of the great masters of contemporary photography. He was educated as an electromechanical engineer.
In 1962, after completing his studies at the Kharkiv Institute of Communal Construction, Mikhailov found employment at the Riga electromechanical factory. Later he was transferred to Kharkiv factory No. 201, where, on his own initiative, he began making a film about its history. To prepare, he conducted research at the State Archive in Bili Stovpy, where he discovered both film and photo documentation of the A. Makarenko juvenile labor colony, which was the site of the engineering plants FED and Komunar. This first encounter with social-documentary images in the archive influenced his priorities in photography going on.
In the early 1960s, Mikhailov joined the film club at the Regional Trade Union Amateur Arts House. It was led by director and journalist Aron Kanievskyi, who officially exposed the scandalous case against the group of Kharkiv styliagy [hipsters] called Golubaya loshad’ [Blue horse]. According to Mikhailov, hearing private tales of what went on behind the scenes of the trial, in which young people were punished for being crazy about the Beatles and rock-and-roll, had a marked influence on the formation of his critical approach toward Soviet reality and fired up his desire for freedom of expression.
One way this creative freedom took form was through the subjective manipulation of photographic images, especially in the method of superimposition, which he used in the series Yesterday’s Sandwich (late 1960s–1970s). He described it thus: “In two negatives that accidentally got stuck together like a sandwich, I happened to see a completely new, metaphoric image. By moving one negative over the other, I could quickly obtain a large number of images, from which I had to merely select what was important. . . . I sensed that something good could come by chance and the main thing is not to miss what you get. This was programmed chance. . . . I suspect that the series Yesterday’s Sandwich aligned with the worldview of Soviet people in the 1960s–1970s, who, like me, were already conscious of the duality of Soviet life and seemed to be talking about changes beginning in society, democratization…” [1].
In the mid-1960s Mikhailov joined the photo club at the Regional Trade Union Amateur Arts House. There he met the circle of artists with whom he would form the Vremia [Time] group in the early 1970s (Jury Rupin, Evgeniy Pavlov, Oleg Maliovany, Oleksandr Suprun, Oleksandr Sitnichenko, Gennadiy Tubalev, Anatoliy Makiyenko).
In May 1969 Mikhailov was fired from his factory job for “unreliability” when nude photographs were found in the darkroom. After that he worked as an engineer—and later, darkroom manager—at Vodokanal Proekt [Water supply project].
Beginning in the 1970s, he would often visit his colleagues in Lithuania: photographers Vitas Luckus, Algirdas Šeškus, Algimantas Kunčius, Algimantas Aleksandravičius, Vytautas Balčytis. Recalling these visits, Lithuanian art historian Laima Skeivene emphasized that in late-Soviet photography “there was no demand for actual realism, let alone for the irony and grotesque of Mikhailov’s works; he was the first to fundamentally reveal the absurdity of many of the forms our life took, the despair of estrangement and sense of cold helplessness.” [2]
The photographer’s investigations began to focus on documenting the duality of Soviet life: images of the “collective body” with markers of the pervasive ideologization of public space (Red, 1968–1975, Dance, 1978, Salt Lake, 1986) appeared along with photographs of intimate private life (Private Series, late 1960s, Calendars, 1967, Suzi et Cetera, 1960s–1970s). The family album serves as one source of the codes that represent the Soviet way of life for Mikhailov: the anonymity associated with vernacular photography was the basis of a “social portrait” of the era [3] — the series Luriki (1971–1985). Here the semi-legal business of enlarging, retouching, and hand-coloring family portraits, which most Kharkiv photographers engaged in to make ends meet, became a conceptual gesture showing the features the “average Soviet person” plays up in self-representation.
A strong impetus for rethinking his own artistic practice came from Mikhailov’s close communication with Moscow conceptual artists: from the late 1970s through the early 1980s he maintained contact with Ivan Chuikov, Vladimir Yankilevsky, Erik Bulatov, Eduard Gorokhovsky, and Ilya Kabakov [4]. The latter, in particular, became one of Mikhailov’s good friends. The conceptual approach he developed during this time is evident in his books where photography is combined with text: Horizontal Pictures, Vertical Calendars (1980), Viscidity (1982), Unfinished Dissertation (1984–1985).
Seeking out new ways to capture the epoch, Mikhailov devised the method of “parallel associations” in the series Berdyansk Beach, Sunday 11 am to 1 pm (1981); he employed it again in later works By the Ground (1991) and At Dusk (1993). Mikhailov comments, “Here is a man with a child. This made an impression on me. Suddenly I was seeing Americanisms. . . . It resembled America during the Great Depression, don’t you think? . . . This group is related through parallel associations. And if I had photographed American life from the past, people would see that we were living as they did. Understanding where we are also means that the place we end up reminds us of something else.” [5]
From 1987–1989 Mikhailov was involved in the Moscow-based group Neposredstvennaya fotografiya [Immediate photography] together with Alexander Slyusarev, Igor Mukhin, Vladislav Efimov, Ilya Piganov and Sergey Leontiev. He was head of the photo department of the Ukrainian experimental creative union Panorama from 1987–1991.
According to Misha Pedan, Kharkiv photographers caught the attention of Western audiences in the mid- to late 1980s. Mikhailov’s works were published in Another Russia, a book based on the collection of Czech curators Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes. In 1989, together with several other Kharkivites, he took part in the group exhibition “Ny Sovjetisk Fotografi” [New Soviet Photography] in Denmark and Sweden. With growing European interest in unofficial Soviet photography, the organizers of the international festival in Arles in 1989 commissioned a film by Ivan Dykhovichny to introduce the public to the most significant Soviet artists. The film was named for one of Mikhailov’s projects — Red Series. In an interview, Misha Pedan notes: “The ‘skeleton’ of the film was Bob’s works. Ivan came to Kharkiv and checked out thousands of photographs by Kharkiv authors. Unfortunately, only a bad-quality copy of the film survived.” [6]
In 1994, Boris Mikhailov, Sergey Bratkov, Sergiy Solonsky and Vita Mikhailov founded Gruppa Bystrogo Reagirovaniya [the Fast Reaction Group], known for its provocative projects that extended the tradition of collective action laid down in Kharkiv back in the 1970s. These projects were envisioned as immediate responses to urgent, topical issues and primarily took the form of actions. The only photo series made by the Fast Reaction Group was If I Were a German (1994). Through staged photographs, where the artists also posed as the main characters, they addressed the problem of national identity and historical memory.
The artist’s continued observations of the social transformations of Soviet and post-Soviet space in the 1990s and 2000s materialized in the series By the Ground (1991), At Dusk (1993), Case History (1997–1998), Tea, Coffee, Cappuccino (2000–2010). In 1996 Mikhailov received the Coutts Contemporary Art Award for his series By the Ground and At Dusk; in 1997 he was awarded the Albert Renger-Patzsch Prize for Unfinished Dissertation. These photo series were published as books at around the same time.
In 1999, his Case History (1997–1998) was published in book form. In this visual probe, one of the most iconic photo projects of its time, the artist drew attention to those upheavals that occurred after the Soviet Union fell apart, leaving a great number of people in a marginal existence.
Since the early 1990s, Mikhailov’s works have been exhibited regularly in museums all over the world. One of his first solo shows was at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv. A significant episode in the photographer’s artistic biography was participating in the group exhibition “Carnegie International” at The Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, USA, along with artists On Kawara, Christian Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, Richard Serra, Richard Avedon, and others.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA, acquired the series By the Ground and included it in the exhibition “New Photography 9” in 1993. That same year Mikhailov’s works were added to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.
In 2000 Mikhailov received the Hasselblad Foundation Award, one of the world’s most prestigious photography prizes, and his series Dance (1978) was published as a book. That same year his book Case Study received Le prix du Livre de Photographie des Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles 2000 (Arles, France). In 2001 Mikhailov was recognized at the Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards (London, UK) for the best photo book and his entire oeuvre was awarded the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize. In 2015 he was awarded the Goslar Kaiserring; past laureates of this prize include important visual artists like Henry Moore, Max Ernst, Joseph Beuys, Richard Serra, Ilya Kabakov.
In 2011, MoMA exhibited Boris Mikhailov’s series Case History. At present he is the first and only post-Soviet artist to have a solo show in this institution.
Mikhailov was a visiting lecturer at the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University (2000) and taught at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Art (2002–2003). In 2008 he was honored with membership in Germany’s Academy of Arts; since 2011 he has been an honorary member of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts.
He lives and works in Berlin and Kharkiv.
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Artist portrait by Fast Reaction Group, 1995
NOTES
- Boris Mikhailov, “Boris Mikhailov: From Conversations about Photography,” MoKSoP (13 December 2020), https://www.moksop.org/borys-mykhaylov-z-rozmov-pro-fotohrafiiu/
- Laima Skeivene, “Fotografiya i perestroika” [Photography and Perestroika] in Foto: Annäherung an die Sowjetunion: Ein fotografischer Dialog (Hannover: Fackelträger,1989), 133.
- B. Mikhailov, “Boris Mikhailov,” loc. cit.
- The date of his arrival in Moscow varies from source to source, either 1979 (See: Nikolay Ridnyi, Anna Kryventsova, “Boris Mikhailov: ‘For me, Conceptualism is an analytical position,’” Moscow Art Magazine, no. 70 (2008). http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/22/article/345) and 1981 (See Boris Mikhailov, “Подытоживая советское” [Summing up the Soviet] in Переломные восьмидесятые в неофициальном искусстве [On the Cusp of the Eighties in Unofficial Art] (Moscow: Новое литературное обозрение, 2014), 391–402).
- David Teboul, Boris Mikhailov: I’ve Been Here Once Before (Munich: Hirmer Publishers, 2011), p. 397.
- Misha Pedan and Nadiia Bernard-Kovalchuk, “Misha Pedan: All the Fears at the End of the Soviet Era Were Connected with the Fact that It Was Unclear Where the Danger Was Coming from,” MoKSoP (10 August 2019), https://www.moksop.org/en/misha-pedan-all-the-fears-at-the-end-of-the-soviet-era-were-connected-with-the-fact-that-it-was-unclear-where-the-danger-was-coming-from/
Solo exhibitions
1989 — Museum of Contemporary Art, Tampere, Finalnd
1990 — Union Bank Collection, Helsinki, Finland
1990 — Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel
1990 — “Boris Mikhailov: Arles – Paris 1989”, Signalhallen, The Royal Armoury, Stockholm, Sweden
1990 — “The Missing Picture/Zeitgenössische Fotografie aus der Sowjetunion”, List Visual Arts Center of MIT, Cambridge, USA
1991 — Armémuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
1991 — The Hasselblad Center, Goteborg, Sweden
1992 — “Boris Mikhailov: Werke von 1970 – 1991”, Forum Stadtpark cultural centre, Graz, Austria
1992 — Brueckenturm Gallerie der Stadt Mainz, Germany
1992 — Perspektief Photographic Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1992 — Galerie &Edition Koch, Kiel, Germany
1993 — “Замальована реальність / Overpainted Reality” (together with Viktor Kochetov), House of amateur artists, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1993 — “Я – не – Я / I am not I”, Photo-Postscriptum gallery, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1994 — “Hotel Europa”, Foto Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1994 — Perspektief Photographic Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1994 — “У земли / By the Ground”, XL gallery, Moscow, Russia
1994 — “Субъективный фотоэкспрессионизм / Subjective photoexpressionism” (together with Sergiy Solonsky, Sergey Bratkov), Kharkiv Art Museum, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1994 — “Париж-Arles”, Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1994 — Fotogalerie Kulturamt Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany
1995 — “Если бы я был немцем / If I were a German ” (together with Sergiy Solonsky, Sergey Bratkov), Marat Guelman gallery, Moscow, Russia
1995 —Brotfabrik gallery (together with Sergiy Solonsky, Sergey Bratkov), Berlin, Germany
1995 — “If I were a German …” (together with Sergiy Solonsky, Sergey Bratkov), Brotfabrik gallery and Andreas Weiss gallery, Berlin, Germany
1995 — “After the Fall”, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, USA
1995 — “Boris Mikhailov”, Portikus exhibition space, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
1996 — “Boris Mikhailov – A Retrospective”, Soros Contemporary Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
1996 — “Караул / Guard” (together with Sergey Bratkov), Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1996 — “Рафаэль / Rafael” (together with Sergiy Solonsky, Sergey Bratkov), Up/Down gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine
1996 — “Boris Mikhailov”, Kunsthalle, Zürich, Switzerland
1997 — Hippolyte Photographie gallery, Helsinki, Finland
1997 — “Crimean Grafomania”, Brotfabrik gallery, Berlin, Germany
1997 — “Photomania”, DAAD gallery, Berlin, Germany
1998 — Peri Center of Photography, Turku, Finland
1998 — “Love in Winter” (together with Nobuyoshi Araki), Satani, Tokyo, Japan
1998 — “Boris Mikhailov. Les Misérables (About the World)”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
1998 — “Boris Mikhailov”, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1999 — “Boris Mikhailov”, Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, France
1999 — “Boris Mikhailov”, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy
1999 — “By the Ground”, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1999 — “Case History and Dance”, Scalo gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
1999 — “Case History”, DAAD gallery, Berlin, Germany
2000 —Barbara Gross gallery, Munich, Germany
2000 — Dvir gallery, Тель-Авів, Ізраїль
2000 — “Boris Mikhailov. 2000 Hasselblad Award Winner”, Hasselblad, Gothenburg, Sweden
2000 — “Boris Mikhailov”, “The Photographers’ gallery”, London, Great Britain
2000 — Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2001— Saatchi gallery, London, Great Britain
2001 — “Boris Mikhailov: Case History & Heiner Müller Projekt”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2001 — Orchard Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland
2001— “The Photographic Museum”, Helsinki, Finland
2002 — “TV Mania”, Stadtgalerie Schwaz, Schwaz, Austria
2002 — “The Insulted and the Injured”, Pace/MacGill gallery, New York, USA
2003 — Shugoarts gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2003 — De Hallen Amsterdam centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2003 — “Boris Mikhailov: Private Freuden, lastende Langeweile, öffentlicher Zerfall, eine Retrospektive”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curator — Urs Stahel)
2003 — “Football”, Barbara Gross gallery, Munich, Germany
2004 —Helga de Alvear gallery, Madria, Spain
2004 — “Fotografia Verbal: Ilya Kabakov and Boris Mikhailov”, Serralves Museum, Portu, Portugal
2004 — “Boris Mikhailov: A Retrospective”, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA
2004 — “Fotografies 60’s-2003”, Virreina Palace, Barcelona, Spain
2004 — “In the Street”, Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany
2004 — “Testimony of the negative photography”, Ujazdów Castle, Warsaw, Poland
2004 — “TV-Mania”, Kunstverein, Arnsberg, Germany
2005 — “Boris Mikhailov: the original photographs”, Institute for the Humanities, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
2005 — “Butterbrot”, Ilka Bree gallery, Bordeaux, France
2005 — “If I were a German”, Suzanne Tarasieve gallery, Paris, France
2005 — “Look at Me I Look at Water / If I were a German / I am not I”, Suzanne Tarasieve gallery, Paris, France
2005 — “Look at me I look at Water”, Centre de la Photographie, Geneva, Щвейцарія
2005 — “Private Pleasures, Burdensome Boredom, Public Decay – a Retrospective”, Amsterdamський музей фотографії “Foam”, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2005 — “Susie & Others / Red / Calendar / Salt Lake / At Dusk / Case History”, Suzanne Tarasieve gallery, Paris, France
2005 — “Zeit Raum Bild – 10 Jahre Dokumentarfotografie”, Kulturforum, Berlin, Germany
2006 — “Intermezzo”, Guido Costa Projects, Torino°, Italy
2006 — “Moments / Monuments” (together with Illya Chichkan), Bereznitsky gallery, Berlin, Germany
2006 — “Yesterday’s Sandwich”, Shugoarts gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 — Barbara Gross gallery, Munich, Germany
2007 — “Banzai!”, Barbara Weiss gallery, Berlin, Germany
2007 — “Look at me / Beach”, Rathole gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 — “Look at me I look at Water”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
2007 — “Sandwich”, Barbara Gross gallery, Munich, Germany
2007 — “Yesterday”, музей “Kunst Meran – Merano Arte”, Merano, Italy
2008 — “The Wedding”, Sprovieri gallery, London, Great Britain
2008 — “Бриколаж / Bricolage”, Multimedia Complex of Actual Arts at Moscow Contemporary Art Center, Moscow, Russia (curator — Vitaliy Pastukhov)
2008 — “Красное, корчневое, вчерашний бутерброд / Red, Brown, Yesterday’s Sandwhich”, АРТ4 Museum, Moscow, Russia
2009 — “Dusk”, DEWEER gallery, Otegem, Belgium
2009 — “Место, время… / Place, Time”, as a part of 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Manezh exhibition centre, Moscow, Russia (curator — Olga Sviblova)
2010 — “1989. Ende der Geschichte oder Beginn der Zukunft?”, Villa Shoningen, Potsdam, Germany
2010 — “1989. Ende der Geschichte oder Beginn der Zukunft?”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
2010 — “At Dusk 1993”, Suzanne Tarasiève gallery, Paris, France
2010 — “Utopia and Reality” , Kunstverein Rosenheim gallery, Rosenheim, Germany
2010 — “Yesterday’s Sandwich 1969/70”, галерея “Casado Santapau”, Madrid, Spain
2011 — Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2011 — “Banzai!”, Ilka Bree gallery, Bordeaux, France
2011 — “Black Archive 1968-1979 / Tea Coffee Cappuccino 2000-2010”, Barbara Weiss gallery, Berlin, Germany
2011 — “Case History”, MomA, New York, USA (curaotr — Eva Respini)
2011 — “The world belongs to you”, 54th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, Pavilion of Ukraine, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy (curator — Caroline Bourgeois)
2012 — “I am not I”, Suzanne Tarasiève gallery, Paris, France
2012 — “If I were German”, Guido Costa Projects, Torino, Italy
2012 — “Promzona / Men’s talk”, Suzanne Tarasiève gallery, Paris, France
2012 — “Salt Lake”, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes, France (curators — Larys Frogier, Carole Brulard)
2012 — “Tea, Coffee, Capuccino”, Suzanne Tarasiève gallery, Paris, France
2012 — “Time is out of joint. Fotografien 1966 – 2011”, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2012 — “Triptychs”, Sprovieri gallery, London, Great Britain
2013 — “UNRESPECTABLE”, YermilovCentre, Kharkiv, Ukraine (curator — Tatyana Tumasyan)
2013 — “ ‘SPECTRUM’ Internationaler Preis für Fotografie der Stiftung Niedersachsen: : BORIS MIKHAILOV Die Bücher 1968-2012”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
2014 — “Case History” (together with Orna Bromber), Dvir gallery, Tel-Aviv, Ізраїль
2014 — “Four Decades”, Dominique Lévy gallery, New York, USA
2015 — Sprovieri gallery, London, Great Britain
2015 — “Boris Mikhailov”, Suzanne Tarasiève gallery, Paris, France
2015 — “Case History”, Sammlung Philara museum, Düsseldorf, Germany
2015 — “Men’s Talk”, Guido Costa Projects, Torino, Italy
2015 — “Norbert Witzgall”, DEWEER gallery, Отегем, Belgium
2016 — “BORIS MIKHAILOV”, премія Goslarer Kaiserring des Jahres 2015, Mönchehaus Museum Goslar, Goslar, Germany
2016 — “io non sono io (i am not i)”, MADRE Museo d’Arte Donna Regina, Napels, Italy (curated by Andrea Viliani, Eugenio Viola.)
2016 — “Ukraine”, Fotomuseum Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium
2016 — “Ukraine”, Centro Italiano per la Fotografia “CAMERA”, Torino, Italy
2017 — “Parliament”, 57th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Pavilion of Ukraine Studio Cannaregio, Venice, Italy (curators — Petro Doroshenko, Liliia Kudelia)
2018 — “Boris Mikhaïlov l’âme, un subtil moteur à explosion”, Centre régional de la photographie Hauts-de-France, Douchy-les-Mines, France
2018 — “Diary”, Barbara Weiss gallery, Berlin, Germany
2018 — “Yesterday’s Sandwich”, Sprovieri gallery, London, Great Britain
2019 — “Boris Mikhailov”, Suzanne Tarasiève gallery, Paris, France
2019 — “Before Sleep / After drinking”, C/O Berlin gallery, Berlin, Germany (curator — Felix Hoffmann)
2019 — “I’m everywhere”, Projektraum Viktor Bucher, Vienna, Austria
2019 — “Jeff Elrod and Boris Mikhailov Two Artist Books”, Max Hetzler gallery, Berlin, Germany
2019 — “Forbidden Image”, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine (curators — Björn Geldhof, Martin Kiefer, Alicia Knock)
2019 — “The Space Between Us”, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
Group exhibitions
1972 —Kharkiv regional photoclub, Kharkiv, USSR
1983 — Vremia group, House of scientists, Kharkiv, USSR
1986 — “Another Russia”, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England
1987 — “Ф-87”, Palace of students of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, USSR
1987 — “Репрезентация / Representation”, Hermitage group, Moscow, RFSR
1988 — Vremia group exhibition, Photovacacie festival, Bulgaria
1988 — “Contemporary Photography from the Soviet Union”, Museum of Photography, Lausanne, Switzerland
1989 — “Фотомост / Photobridge”, Club of avant-gardists, Moscow, RSFR
1989 — “Сто лет фотографии / A Century Ago”, Manezh exhibition centre, Moscow, RFSR
1989 — “Ny Sovjetisk Fotografi”, Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark (curator — Henning Hansen), Kultur-huset, Stockholm, Sweden (curator — Kimmo Sarje)
1990 — Internationale Biennale der Photographie, Turin, Italy
1990 — “Eroosio: 1980-luvun käsitteellistä kuvataidetta ja valokuvaa Neuvostoliitosta”, Amos Anderson Museum, Helsinki, Finland
1990 — “The Missing Picture / Zeitgenössische Fotografie aus der Sowjetunion”, List Visual Arts Centre of MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
1990 — “Op-positions commitment and identity in contemporary Photography from Japan, Canada, Brazil, The Soviet Union and the Netherlands”, Photography Biennale, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1991 — “Carnegie International”, The Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
1991 — Photo Manifesto, Museum of Contemporary Art, Baltimore, MD, US
1992 — “Herbarium, The Photographic Experience in Contemporary Russian Art”, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria (curator — Tatjana Salzrin)
1992 — Albrecht Galerie, Munich, Germany
1992 — II. Internationalle Foto Triennale, Galerie der Stadt Esslingen, Esslingen am Neckar, Germany
1992 — “Litsa,Contemporary Portrait Photography from Russia, Belorussia und Ukraine”, Stichting CIRC, Amsterdam, Netherlends
1992 — “FotoFest”, Georg R.Brown Convention Center, Houston, USA
1993 — “New Photography 9”, MoMA, New York, USA (curator — Edward Robinson, Newhall Fellow)
1993 — Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia
1994 — “Искусство современной фотографии: Россия, Украина, Беларусь / Art of Contemporary Photography: Russia, Ukain, Belarus”, Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia (curator — Evgeny Berezner)
1994 — “Photo-reclamation: New Art from Moscow and Saint Petersburg”, Photographers gallery, London, Great Britain (curator — Brandon Taylor)
1994 — “2х2”, Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
1994 — “Rediscovered Europe: Project for Europe”, Copenhagen, Denmark
1994 — “Europa, Europa. Das Jahrhundert der Avantgarde in. Mittel- und Osteuropa”, Bonn, Germany
1994 — International festival of contemporary art “Free zone”, “Новое пространство” gallery, Odesa (curator — Mykhailo Rashkovetskyi)
1995 — “Currents ’95 – Familiar Places”, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA (curator — Marta Kuzma)
1995 — “Bred in the bone”, Soros Contemporary Art Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
1995 — “Multiple Exposures: Ukrainian Photography Today”, Rutgers Art Center, Zimmerly Museum, New Jersey, USA
1995 — “Zeitgenössische Russische Fotografie und Videokunst”, Akademie der Künste, Berlin and Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
1996 — “Russian Jewish Artists in a Century of Change: 1890 – 1990”, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA (curator — Susan Tumarkin Goodman)
1996 — 10th Biennale of Sydney, Australia
1998 — exhibition of Richard Billingham & Boris Mikhailov, Barbara Gross gallery, Munich, Germany
1999 —”Under/Exposed”, metro, Stockholm, Sweden
1999 — “Сarte blanche a Boris Mikhailov”, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
1999-2000 — “Future is Now Ukrainian Art in the Nineties”, MSU, Zagreb, Croatia (n.d.), Škuc gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia (February10 — March 17, 2000), ity Gallery Collegium artisticum, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (December 5— December 20, 2000) (curators — Branka Stipančić and Tihomir Milovac)
1999-2000 — “Global Conceptualism. Points of Origin, 1950s-1980s”, Queens Art Museum, New York (April 28 — August 29 1999), Walker Art Centre (December 19, 1999 — March, 5 2000), Perez Art Museum, Miami ( June, 23 — September 27, 2000), List Visual Arts Center MIT, Cambridge (Octiber 24 — November 31, 2000), USA (curators — Luis Camnitzer, Jane Farver, Rachel Weiss)
1999-2000 — “Ich und die Anderen”, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal, Germany (November 14 — December 12, 1999), Fotomuseum des Münchner Stadtmuseums, Munich, Germany (March 6 — May 7, 2000), Nikolaj Kunsthal Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark (June 16 — August 6, 2000) (curator — Alexandra Shantal)
1999-2001 — “After the Wall. Kunst und Kultur im postkommunistischen Europa”, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (October 16, 1999 — January 16, 2000), Museum Ludwig, Budapest, Hungary (June 15 — August 27, 2000), Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (Ocotber 1, 2000 — February 4, 2001) (curator — Bojana Pejić and David Elliot)
2000 — 12th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
2000 — Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Ljubiljana, Slovenia
2000 — “BMW Collection: Autowerke”, Munich, Germany
2000 — “How you look at it. Fotografien des 20. Jahrhunderts”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany (curator — Heinz Liesbrock, Thomas Weski)
2000 — “Positions Attitudes Actions, Social and Political Commitment in Photography”, as a part of Rotterdam Photobiennale, Rotterdam, Netherlands (curators — Fritz Gierstberg, Anouk de Wit, Loek van der Molen)
2000 — “Remake Berlin”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curators — Kathrin Becker, Urs Stahel)
2001 — “Autowerke”, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands (Christa Aboitiz, Maggie McCornick, Petra Kerp, Richard Pandisicio, Jone Elissa Scherf, Dirk Snauwaert)
2001 — “Home/Homeless”, Bo01 City of Tomorrow space, Malmö, Sweden
2001 — “Open Ends”, MoMA, New York, USA (curators — Kirk Varnedoe, Paola Antonelli, and Joshua Siegel)
2001 — “Remake Berlin”, as a part of Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France (curators — Kathrin Becker, Urs Stahel)
2001 — “Remake Berlin”, DAAD gallery, Berlin, Germany (Kathrin Becker, Urs Stahel)
2001 — “The Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize 2001”, The Photographers gallery, London, Great Britain
2001 — “Trade”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curators — Thomas Seelig, Urs Stahel)
2002 — 25th Biennale in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2002 — “Die Aufgabe der Zeit”, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Düsseldorf , Germany
2002 — “Sand in der Vaseline. Künstlerbücher II, 1980-2002”, Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefelder, Germany
2003 — Brighton Photo Biennial, Brighton, Great Britain
2003 — “Architektur der Obdachlosigkeit”, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
2003 — “Corpus Christi. Christus-Darstellungen aus drei Jahrhunderten Photographie”, “Deichtorhallen” House of photography, Hamburg, Germany (curator — Nissan N. Perez)
2003 — “Cruel and Tender. Fotografie und das Wirkliche”, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (curators — Thomas Weski und Emma Dexter.)
2003 — “Cruel and Tender”, Tate Modern, London, Great Britain
2003 — “Outcasts and Sunday’s Children – Acquisitions in 2003”, De Hallen centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2003 — “Secret of the 90’s – Uit het Stedelijk Museum”, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem, Arnhem, Germany
2003 — “Summertime blues”, Conrads gallery, Düsseldorf , Germany
2003 — “Verworpenen & zondagskinderen”, De Hallen centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2003 — “Vom Foto zum Bild”, Sandmann gallery, Berlin, Germany
2003 — “Witness”, Barbican art gallery, London, Great Britain
2004 — “Manifesta 5: European Biennial of Contemporary Art”, San Sebastián, Spain (curators — Marta Kuzma, Massimiliano Gioni)
2004 — Moscow house of photograpphy, Moscow, Russia
2004 — 5th International Month of Photography in Moscow, MMOMA, Moscow, Russia
2004 — Barbara Gross gallery, Munich, Germany
2004 — “Acquisitions récentes”, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
2004 — “Architektur der Obdachlosigkeit”, Berlinische galerie, Berlin, Germany
2004 — “Architektur der Obdachlosigkeit”, Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg, Germany (curator — Karin Sagner)
2004 — “Beauty of Darkness”, Reflex Amsterdam gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2004 — “blow up – Zeitgenössische Künstler-Fotografie”, Ulmer Museum, Ulmer, Germany
2004 — “Channel Zero”, Netherlands Media Art Institute Montevideo/Time Based Arts, Amsterdam, Netherlands (curator — Katerina Gregos)
2004 — “Conditional being”, Rafael Tous Collection of Contemporary Photography, Barcelona, Spain
2004 — “Dorf in die Metropole”, Künstlerhaus Bethanien space Berlin, Germany (curator — Arvid Boellert, Mark Gisbourne)
2004 — “HA KYPOPT! Russische Kunst heute”, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany (curator — Ihre Nachfolger)
2004 — “Himmel über der Straße. Benefizausstellung zugunsten von fiftyfifty”, Storms gallery, Munich, Germany
2004 — “Privatisierungen. Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Osteuropa”, Institute for Contemporary Art “Kunst-Werke”, Berlin, Germany (curator — Boris Groys)
2004 — “Secrets of the 90s”, Moderne Kunst Arnhem, Arnhem, Netherlands (curator — Mirjam Westen)
2004 — “Soziale Kreaturen. Wie Körper Kunst wird”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany (curators — Patricia Drück, Inka Schübe)
2004 — “Wirklich wahr! Realitätsversprechen von Fotografien”, Ruhrlandmuseum, Essen, Germany (curators — Sigrid Schneider, Stefanie Grebe)
2005 — “2 LIVE. Photography as the Medium of the 20th and 21st Century”, Koroska gallery, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia
2005 — “Berlin åben by”, Nikolaj Kunsthal Conetmpoary Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
2005 — “Citizens”, PM Gallery & House exhibition space, London, Great Britain
2005 — “Die Zehn Gebote”, German Hygiene Museum, Dresden, Germany (curator — Klaus Biesenbach)
2005 — “Il teatro dell’arte. Capolavori dalla collezione del museo Ludwig di Colonia Villa Manin”, Villa Manin, Passariano, Italy
2005 — “Information/Transformation”, Extra City Center for Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Netherlands
2005 — “Rundlederwelten”, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany (curator — Dorothea Strauss)
2005 — “Taking In Water”, The Royal Pump Rooms, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Great Britain
2005 — “The Seven Sins”, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia (curators — Badovinac, Zdenka, Viktor Misiano, and Igor Zabel)
2005 — “Über Schönheit”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2005 — “WELT-BILDER”, Helmhaus gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
2005 — “Western Biennale of Art: Art Tomorrow”, John Natsoulas Center For The Arts, Davis, USA
2006 — “Beach Photography”, White Space gallery, London, Great Britain
2006 — “Berlin – Tokyo / Tokyo – Berlin. Die Kunst zweier Städte”, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (curators — Angela Schneider, Gabriele Knapstein, David Elliott, Mami Kataoka)
2006 — “CAXAP / Zucker”, Aspekte gallery, Münchner Volkshochschule, Munich, Germany
2006 — “Corpus Christi. Christusdarstellungen in der Fotografie”, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria (curator — Nissan N Perez)
2006 — “Die Schönheit der Chance. Positionen und Tendenzen 2006”, Zumikon centre, Nuremberg, Germany
2006 — “Dokumentation im Bild”, Museum für Photographie Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
2006 — “Geschichten, Geschichte Geschichten, Geschichte Set 3 aus der Sammlung des Fotomuseums Winterthur”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curators — Thomas Seelig, Urs Stahel)
2006 — “In the Face of History: European Photographers in the 20th Century”, Barbican art gallery, London, Great Britain
2006 — “Man Ray bis Sigmar Polke”, Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst, Delmenhorst, Germany
2006 — “neues leben – neues wohnen”, Kunsthaus Erfurt gallery, Erfurt, Germany (curator — Silke Opitz)
2006 — “Op het tweede gezicht”, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands
2006 — “Recent acquisitions / Nieuwe aanwinsten”, Fotomuseum Den Haag, Haag, Netherlands
2006 — “The Photographer’s Contract // Der Kontrakt des Fotografen”, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany (curator — Markus Heinzelmann, Matthias Flügge)
2006 — “Tokyo – Berlin / Berlin – Tokyo”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (curator — David Elliott)
2006 — “Toucher l’indicible”, Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain Occitanie, Sète, France
2006 — “Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour”, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain
2006 — “UPPENBAR(A)T // Revelation. Representations of Christ in Photography”, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel (curator — Nissan N. Perez)
2007 — White Space gallery, London, Great Britain
2007 — “A Poem about an Inland Sea”, as a part of 52nd International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Pavilion of Ukraine, Palazzo Papadopoli, Venice, Italy (curator — Petro Doroshenko)
2007 — “Der Kontrakt des Fotografen”, Museum Morsbroich Leverkusen, Germany (curator — Markus Heinzelmann, Matthias Flügge)
2007 — “F/Stop — Erstes Internationales Fotografiefestival in Leipzig”, f/stop festival, Leipzig, Germany
2007 — “Fotografierte Landschaften”, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
2007 — “Heimat — ein Verdacht”, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany
2007 — “Hot + Bothered: Looking at the Landscape/Thinking about the World”, Pace / MacGill gallery, New York, USA
2007 — “What does the jellyfish want?”, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
2008 — “After Eisenstein”, Lunds konsthall, Lunds, Sweden
2008 — “Are you close enough? Hommage to Peter Martens”, West gallery, Hague, Netherlands
2008 — “Faces. Ritratti nella fotografia del XX secolo”, Fondazione Ragghianti, Lucca, Italy (curators — Walter Guadagnini, Francesco Zanot)
2008 — “Familienangelegenheiten. Eine Ausstellung anlässlich des Donaufestes”, Kunstverein Ulm, Ulm, Germany
2008 — “Fotografie aus der Sammlung Deutsche Bank”, Deutsche Bank, Berlin, Germany
2008 — “Grey matters – photography is thinking”, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland
2008 — “Man Ray bis Sigmar Polke. Eine besondere Fotografiegeschichte”, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany
2008 — “Real Fotografien aus der Sammlung der DZ Bank”, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2008 — “Stripped Bare . Der Entblößte Körper. Fotografien aus der Sammlung Thomas Koerfe”, C/O Berlin gallery, Berlin, Germany
2008 — “SWITCHER SEX: Video works and photography from the Teutloff Collection”, Slought foundation, Philadelphia, USA (curator — Osvaldo Romberg)
2008 — “Weltstars der Fotografie. Die Preisträger der Hasselblad Foundation”, Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim, Germany (curator — Claude W. Su)
2009 — Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France
2009 — “1968. Die große Unschuld”, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany (curator — Thomas Kellein)
2009 — “1989 Ende der Geschichte oder Beginn der Zukunft? Anmerkungen zum Epochenbruch”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria (curator — Oliver Rathkolb)
2009 — “Printed Matter: Set 6 from the Collection of the Fotomuseum Winterthur”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curator — Thomas Seelig)
2010 — “Photo I, Photo You”, Calvert22 gallery, London, Great Britain
2010 — “Do or Die / Auf Leben und Tod”, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, Germany
2010 — “Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe”, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2010 — “Realismus — das Abenteuer der Wirklichkeit”, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany (curators — Christiane Lange, Nils Olsen)
2010 — “Realismus – das Abenteuer der Wirklichkeit”, Kunsthalle Munich, Munich, Germany (куратор — Nils Olsen)
2010 — “Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection”, FotoFest 2010 Biennale, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA (curator — Yasufumi Nakamori)
2010 — “Selections from the Hara Museum Collection: Tales of Art. Hara Museum of Contemporary Art”, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2011 — Photography Frieze art fair, London, Great Britain
2011 — “Arbeit / Labour – Set 7 aus Sammlung und Archiv des Fotomuseum Winterthur”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curator — Thomas Seelig)
2011 — “Beispielhaft 3”, галерея “Koeln-Art”, Cologne, Germany
2011 — “Breaking News. Fukushima and the consequences”, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (curator — Leiko Ikemura)
2011 — “Der zweite Blick / The Second – Glance Zeitgenössische Fotografie / Contemporary photography”, Kunstverein Villa Streccius Landau, Landau, Germany
2011 — “Double Sun”, Shugoarts gallery, Tokyo, Japan (curator — Leiko Ikemura)
2011 — “The Eye is a Lonely Hunter: Images of Humankind”, as a part of Fotofestival Mannheim_Ludwigshafen Heidelberg, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany (curators — Katerina Gregos and Solvej Helwig Ovesen)
2011 — “ ‘Афган-Кузьминки’. Человеческая оратория”, 4th Moscow Biennale of contemporary art, “Виктория” gallery, Moscow, Russia (куратор — Андрій Паршиков)
2012 — “August Sander/Boris Mikhailov: German Portraits”, Pace / MacGill gallery, New York, USA
2012 — “DURCHSUCHT, FIXIERT, GEORDNET: Zeitgenössische Fotografie in der Sammlung Rheingold”, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany
2012 — “Everything Was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s”, Barbican gallery, London, Great Britain (curator — Kate Bush)
2012 — “Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop”, MET Museum, New York, USA (curator — Mia Fineman)
2012 — “Heimatkunde. 30 Künstler blicken auf Deutschland”, Jüdischen Museum Berlin, Germany (curator — Inka Bertz, Margret Kampmeyer, Cilly Kugelmann, Martina Lüdicke)
2012 — “Perestroika, Liberalization and Experimentation (1980s-2010)”, в рамках FotoFest 2012 Biennial, Houston, USA (curators — Irina Chmyrova,Evgeny Berezner, Natalia Tarasova)
2012 — “Photography: New Documentary Forms”, Tate Modern, London, Great Britain (curators — Simon Baker and Shoair Mavlian)
2012 — “PHOTOGRAPHY CALLING! Fotografie und Gegenwart”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
2012 — “Underground : Russian Photography 1970s-1980s”, Nailya Alexander gallery, New York, USA
2013 — “Faking it: Manipulated photography before photoshop”, National gallery, Washington, USA (curator — Mia Fineman)
2013 — “Knowledge is Power”, as a part of “PHotoEspaña 2013” festival (PHE13), Royal Botanical Garden, Madrid, Spain
2013 — “Primrose: Russian Colour Photography”, Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands (curator — Olga Sviblova)
2013 — “Strangers in a Strange Land:Photographers’ First Impressions”, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, USA (curator — David Little)
2013 — “THE FACE OF FREEDOM”, Teutloff Museum, Bielefeld, Germany (curator — Klaus Honnef)
2013 — “Young People / Junge Menschen | Set 9 from the Collection of Fotomuseum Winterthur”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curator — Thomas Seelig)
2013 — “Украина: Экспроприация / Ukraine: Expropriation”, “Гринберг” gallery, Moscow, Russia (curators — Vasilisa Nezabarom and Julia Drozdek)
2014 — Eurean Biennale of contemporary art “Manifesta 10”, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburgh, Russia
2014 — “Consumption”, Prix Pictet”, Prix PictetPrix 2014, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain, Bernheimer Fine Art Photography gallery, Munich, Germany
2014 — “MANNSBILDER”, Art Foyer DZ BANK gallery, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2014 — “Primrose: Russian Colour Photography”, The Photographers’ gallery, London, Great Britain (curator — Olga Sviblova)
2014 — “This Infinite World”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (curator — Paul Graham)
2014 — “Unbeugsam und ungebändigt: Dokumentarische Fotografie um 1979”, Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany (curator — Barbara Engelbach)
2015 — “35 + 15, Celebrating 50 Years of Niels Borch”, Jensen Niels Borch Jensen gallery, Berlin, Germany
2015 — “Consumption”, Prix PictetPrix, 8Q SAM of Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Malasia, Dublin Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland
2015 — “Faces now: European Portrait Photography since 1990”, Centre For Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium (February 6— May 17 2015), Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands (May 30— August 30 2015), Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Greece (September 11 2015 — February 28 2016) (curator — Frits Gierstberg)
2015 — “Prekäre Felder: Gewalt und Zerstörung”, as a part of the 6th Fotofestival Mannheim Ludwigshafen Heidelberg, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany
2015 — “Sinnliche Ungewissheit. Eine private Sammlung”, Kunsthaus, Zürich, Switzerland (curators — Thomas Koerfer, Kathrin Haag)
2015 — “The problem of God”, K21 – Ständehaus, Düsseldorf , Germany (curator — Isabelle Malz)
2015 — “Über Wasser”, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, Germany (curators — Ortrud Westheider, Ulrich Pohlmann)
2016 — 5th International Çanakkale Biennial, Merkez Çanakkale, Turkey
2016 — PHotoEspaña 2016 festival, Madrid, Spain
2016 — “A Photo Rarely Comes Alone”, Museum für Fotografie, Berlin, Germany
2016 — “Das sind wir. Portraitfotografie 1996-2013”, Berlinischce galerie, Berlin, Germany
2016 — “Indentations”, Niels Borch Jensen gallery, Berlin, Germany
2016 — “Land und Leute”, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
2016 — “Performing for the Camera”, Tate Modern, London, Great Britain (curator — Simon Baker)
2016 — “Sexe au logis. UNIQUE IN THEIR GENDERS”, Christophe Gaillard gallery, Paris, France
2016 — “Traces of Disorder”, Deutsche Börse photographic foundation, Eschborn, Germany
2016 — “Transitions. Ten years that transformed Europe”, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Мадрид, Spain (curators — Alexis Fabry y María Wills)
2016 — “Unterwegs / Hit the road”, Conrads gallery, Düsseldorf , Germany
2017 — “Dancing with Myself”, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2016 — “Дослідницька платформа: Провина / Research Platform: Guilt”, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Tatiana Kochubinska)
2017 — “Don’t You Think It’s Time For Love?”, MMOMA, Moscow, Russia
2017 — “Fotos aus der Von der Heydt-Sammlung”, Von der Heydt-Kunsthalle, Wuppertal, Germany
2017 — “Jan Hoek ♥ Boris Mikhailov”, RON MANDOS gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (curator — Paul Kooiker)
2017 — “Representing the Figure”, White Space gallery, London, Great Britain
2017 — “You want truth or beauty?”, Nexus gallery, Salzburg, Austria
2017 — “Місто ХА. Kharkiv Авангардний: Проект-дослідження / The city of Kha. Kharkiv Avant-garde: Research project”, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Kharkiv (curators — Tatyana Tumasyan and Sergey Bratkov)
2018 — “1938. GEBURTSTAGSFEST MIT GÄSTEN”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
2018 — “Another Kind of Life. Photography on the Margins”, Barbican gallery, London, Great Britain
2018 — “The Juggler”, Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst, Delmenhorst, Germany
2018 — “Permanent revolution”, Museum Ludwig, Budapest, Hungary (curators — Alisa Lozhkina, Julia Fabényi and Konstantyn Akinsha)
2018 — “Extreme. Bodies”, as a part of RAY 2018 triennale, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2018 — “Points of view”, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (curator — Demet Yıldız)
2018 — “25 Years! Shared Histories, Shared Stories / 25 Jahre! Gemeinsam Geschichte(n) schreiben”, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
2019 — “30 Jahre Barbara Gross Galerie Teil 2”, Barbara Gross gallery, Munich, Germany
2019 — “We love Photography!”, Deutsche Börse photographic foundation, Eschborn, Germany (curator — Martin Parr)
2019 — “30 Years of Dutch Courage”, Cokkie Snoei gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019 — “OSMOSCOSMOS”, Centre de la Photographie, Geneva, Switzerland (curators — Alexandra Schüssler and Joerg Bader)
2019 — “Selbstsicht”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany (curator — Olga Nevzorova)
2020 — “Beyond the image”, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Photobooks
Mikhailov, Boris. Am Boden / By the Ground / У Земли. Die Dämmerung / At Dusk / Сумерки. Cologne: Oktagon, 1996.
Mikhailov, Boris. Arles, Paris…and. Paris: Suzanne Tarasieve gallery, 2015.
Mikhailov, Boris. äußere Ruhe (Drucksache N. F. 4). Дюссельдорф: Richter, 2000.
Mikhailov, Boris. Boris Mikhailov. Ed. by Brigitte Kolle. Штутгарт: Oktagon, 1995.
Mikhailov, Boris. Bücher Books. Structures of Madness, or Why Shepherds Living in the Mountains Often Go Crazy / Photomania in Crimea. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013.
Mikhailov, Boris. Case History: Homeless People in Ukraine. Scalo Verlag Ac, 1999.
Mikhailov, Boris. Crimean Snobbism. Tokyo: Rat Hole Gallery, 2006.
Mikhailov, Boris. Diary. Cologne: Walther König, 2016.
Mikhailov, Boris. Die Dämmerung / At Dusk / Сумерки. Cologne: Oktagon, 1996.
Mikhailov, Boris. I am not I. London: Morel Books, 2015.
Mikhailov, Boris. Japan. Геттінген: Steidl Photography International, 2017.
Mikhailov, Boris. Krymskaja fotomanija. Cologne: Walther König, 2013.
Mikhailov, Boris. Look at Me I Look at Water. Göttingen Steidl; London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.
Mikhailov, Boris. Maquette Braunschweig. Göttingen: Steidl, 2010.
Mikhailov, Boris. Parliament. Kyiv: Родовід, 2017.
Mikhailov, Boris. Salt Lake. Геттінген: Steidl, 2002.
Mikhailov, Boris. Suzi et cetera (Part 2). Palermo: 89 books, 2019.
Mikhailov, Boris. Suzi et cetera. Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter König; New York: D.A.P., 2007.
Mikhailov, Boris. Tea Coffee Cappuccino. Cologne: Walther König, 2011.
Mikhailov, Boris. Temptation of Life. Berlin: Holzwarth Publications, 2020.
Mikhailov, Boris. The Time is out of Joint. Berlin: Distanz, 2012.
Mikhailov, Boris. The Wedding. Essay by Adrian Searle. London: Morel Books, 2011.
Mikhailov, Boris. Unfinished dissertation. Zürich: Scalo, 1998.
Mikhailov, Boris. Yesterday’s sandwich II. Tokyo: Super Labo, 2019.
Mikhailov, Boris. Yesterday’s sandwich. New York: Phaidon, 2009.
Teller, Juergen. The Master IV: Boris Mikhailov. Göttingen: Steidl Verlag, 2018.
Exhibition catalogues
Another kind of Life: Photography on the margins. Ed. by Alona Pardo. London: Barbican, 2018. Published for the exhibition Another kind of Life: Photography on the margins at Barbican gallery, London.
Berlin-Tokyo / Tokyo-Berlin: Die Kunstzweier Städte. Ed. by Angela Schneider. Berlin: National galerie Staatliche Museenzu Berlin, 2006. Published for the exhibition Berlin – Tokio / Tokio – Berlin. Die Kunst zweier Städte at Neue Galerie, Berlin.
Boris Michailov: Les misérables: Über die Welt. About the World. Ed. by Thomas Weski. Hannover, 1998. Published for the exhibition Boris Mikhailov. Les Misérables (About the World), Sprengel Museum, Hanover.
Boris Mikhailov – Look at me I look at water. Essay bu Nicolas Bourriau. Paris: Suzanne Tarasieve gallery, 2008. Published for the exhibition Look at me I look at water at Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris.
Boris Mikhailov, Kaiserringträger der Stadt Goslar 2015. Гослар: Музей сучасного мистецтва. Published for the exhibition “BORIS MIKHAILOV” at Mönchehaus Museum Goslar, Goslar.
Boris Mikhailov. Series of Four / Serie von Vier. Cologne: Walther Koenig, 2019. Published for the exhibition The Space Between Us, Державний кунстхалле Баден-Бадена, Баден-Баден.
Boris Mikhailov: A Retrospective. Zürich: Scalo, 2003. Published for the exhibition Boris Mikhailov: Private Freuden, lastende Langeweile, öffentlicher Zerfall, eine Retrospektive у фотомузеї Вінтертуру, Вінтертур.
Contemporary photographic art from Moscow/ Zeitgenössische Fotokunst aus Moskau. Ed. by Alexander Tolnay. Мюнхен / New York: Prestel, 1995. Published for the exhibition Zeitgenössische Russische Fotografie und Videokunst at Akademie der Künste / Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin.
Danser avec la caméra. Paris: Suzanne Tarasieve gallery, 2018. Published for the exposition of Suzanne Tarasieve gallery at Paris Photo Fair 2018, Paris.
Erosion/Эрозия. Soviet Conceptual Art and Photography of the 1980s. Helsinki: Amos Anderson Art Museum Publications, 1990: 78–123. Published for the exhibition Eroosio: 1980-luvun käsitteellistä kuvataidetta ja valokuvaa Neuvostoliitosta at Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki.
Fotografia verbal : Ilya Kabakov, Boris Mikhailov e o Arquivo de Moscovo da Nova Arte = Verbal photography : Ilya Kabakov, Boris Mikhailov and the Moscow Archive of New Art. Essays by Margarita Tupitsyn, Victor Tupitsyn. Porto: Museu Serralves, 2004. Published for the exhibition Fotografia Verbal: Ilya Kabakov and Boris Mikhailov at Serralves Museum, Porto.
Jacob, John and Salzirn, Tatiana. The Missing Picture: Alternative Contemporary Photography from the Soviet Union. Cambridge: MIT List Visual Arts Center, 1990. Published for the exhibition The Missing Picture: Alternative Contemporary Photography from the Soviet Union at MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge
Paris Photo – Boris Mikhaïlov. Paris: Suzanne Tarasieve gallery, 2017. Published for the exposition of Suzanne Tarasieve gallery at Paris Photo Fair 2017, Paris.
Performing for the Camera, ed. by Smon Baker, Fiontán Moran. London: Tate, 2016. Published for the exhibition Performing for the Camera at Tate Modern, London.
Photo I, Photo You. London: Calvert22, 2010. Published for the exhibition Photo I, Photo You at Calvert22 gallery, London.
The Hasselblad award 2000: Boris Mikhailov. Foreword — Gunilla Knape, essay by Boris Groys. Гьотеборг: Hasselblad Center, New York: Scalo, 2001. Published for the exhibition Boris Mikhailov. 2000 Hasselblad Award Winner at Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg.
Tillimans, Wolfgang, Mikhailov, Boris та Dayanita Singh. Architektur der Obdachlosigkeit. Cologne: Dumont Buchverlag, 2003. Published for the exhibition Architektur der Obdachlosigkeit у Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.
Wenn ich ein Deutscher wäre. Ed. by Inka Schube. Дрезден, Базель: Verlag der Kunst, 1995. Published for the exhibition Wenn ich ein Deutscher wäre at Brotfabrik gallery, Berlin.
Books, dissertations, monographs
Cotton, Charlotte. The photograph as contemporary art. London, New York: Thames & Hudsonб 2004.
Groys, Boris. “Boris Mikhailov: The Eroticism of Imperfection”. In History Becomes Form: Moscow Conceptualism, 135-144. Boston: MIT Press, 2013.
Laurel Ptak. “Boris Mikhailov”. Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, 1046-1049. London: Routledge, 2015ю
Milova, Liliana. Painting photography: Erik Bulatov, Boris Mikhailov, and Soviet underground art, 1970–1985 [Dissertation in History of Art]. Чарльстон: BiblioBazaar, 2011.
Misiano, Wiktor та Eric A. Peschler. Die zeitgenössische Fotografie in der Sowjetunion. Edition Stemmle, 1988.
Narušytė, Agnė. The Aesthetics of Boredom. Lithuanian Photography 1980 – 1990. Vilnius: VDA leidykla, 2010.
Neumaier, Diane та Jane Voorhees. Beyond Memory: Soviet Nonconformist Photography and Photo-related Works of Art. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004.
Stiegler, Bernd. “Boris Mikhailov ein Photographischer Soziologe”. In Photographische Portraits, 129-145. Мюнхен: Fink Wilhelm GmbH + Co.KG, 2015.
Stigneev, Valery. “The Text in Photographic Space”. In Poetics of space : a critical photographic anthology, 57-66. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.
Teboul, David. Boris Mikhailov: I’ve Been Here Once Before. Munich: Hirmer Publishers, 2011, 476 p.
Tupitsyn, Margarita. About Early Soviet Conceptualism. Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin 1950s-1980s, 99-107. Queens: Queens Museum of Art, 1999. https://monoskop.org/images/9/9d/Tupitsyn_Margarita_1999_About_Early_Soviet_Conceptualism.pdf.
Warner Marien, Mary. “Convergences”. In Photography: A Cultural History, 387-486. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2006.
Williams, Gilda. Boris Mikhailov (55). London: Phaidon, 2001.
World Images, essays by Andreas Fiedler and Simon Maurer. Nuremberg: Verlag für Moderne Kunst, 2006.
Гройс, Борис [Groys, Boris]. “Фотография в контексте текста”. В Советская власть и медиа, 217-227. Saint Petersburg: Академический проект, 2006. https://monoskop.org/images/b/bf/Guenther_Hans_Haensgen_Sabine_eds_Sovetskaya_vlast_i_media.pdf.
Гройс, Борис [Groys, Boris]. Борис Михайлов. Moscow: Ad Marginem, 2015.
Злыднева, Наталия [Zlydneva, Nataliya]. “Нарратив городской окраины в фотографии Бориса Михайлова: к проблеме модальности изображения”. In Визуальный нарратив: опыт мифопоэтического прочтения, 63-75. Moscow: Индрик, 2013.
Павлова, Тетяна [Pavlova, Tetiana]. Авангард в образотворчому мистецтві Харкова ХХ ст.: дис. на здобуття наукового ступеня доктора мистецтвознавства. Lviv, 2018. https://lnam.edu.ua/files/Academy/nauka/specrada/Rozklad/26.03/Pavlova%20Dissertation%20Text%20%20Albom.pdf.
Павлова, Тетяна [Pavlova, Tetiana]. Фотомистецтво в художній культурі Харкова останньої третини ХХ ст. (на матеріалі пейзажного жанру): лис. на здобуття наукового ступеня кандидата мистецтвознавства. Kharkiv, 2007.
Смирна, Леся [Smyrna, Lesia]. Століття нонкоформізму в українському візуальному мистецтві. Kyiv: Фенікс, 2017.
Тупицын, Виктор [Tupitsyn, Viktor]. Коммунальный (пост)модернизм. Moscow: Ad Marginem, 1998.
Наукові статті
Beshty, Walead. “Toward an Empathic Resistance: Boris Mikhailov’s Embodied Documents”. Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry, no. 12 (2005), 80-88.
Choi, Jong-chul Photo-Graphy. “«The Shadow In The Cave». Its Pain And Love: The ethics of photography”. photographies, vol. 11 (2018): 95-111. https://doi.org/10.1080/17540763.2017.1399286.
Christen, Matthias. “Symbolic Bodies, Real Pain: Post-Soviet History, Boris Mikhailov and the Impasse of Documentary Photography”. In The Image and the Witness, 52-66. Trauma, Memory and Visual Culture. London: Wallflower Press, 2007.
Eerikäinen, Hannu. “Boris Mihailov & Roman Pjatkovka: Neuvostoruumis”. Image, no. 2 (1988): 62-67.
Efimova, Alla. “Photographic Ethics in the Work of Boris Mikhailov”. Art Journal, no. 2 (1994): 63-69.
Jacob, John p. “After Raskolinkov: Russian Photography Today”. Art Journal, no. 2 (1994): 22-27.
Misiano, Viktor, and Anna Pilkington. “The Ethics of a View: Notes on Boris Mikhailov”. Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry, no. 12 (2005), 72-79.
Nordgaard, Ingrid. “Documenting/Performing the Vulnerable Body: Pain and Agency in Works”. Boris Mikhailov and Petr Pavlensky”. Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture, vol. 05 (2016): 85-107. https://doi.org/10.5195/contemp.2016.184.
Petrovsky, Helen. “Lost in Time: Boris Mikhailov and His Study of the Soviet”. У Ruins of Modernity, 439-458. Дарем: Duke University Press, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822390749-025.
Sartori, Rosalinde. “No More Heroic Tractors: Subverting the Legacy of Socialist Realism”. Aperture, no. 116 (1989): 8-17.
Sotiriadi, Tina. “Ukrainian Realities”. Third text, no. 15 (2001): 98-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528820108576949.
Spieker. Sven. “The Homeless Symptom: Archive and Trauma in Boris Mikhailov.” In The Imprints of Terror. The Rhetoric of Violence and the Violence of Rhetoric in Modern Russian Culture, 191-212. Vienna: Wiener Slawistischer Almanach, 2006.
Tupitsyn, Victor. Boris Mikhailov. Third Text, vol. 25 (2011): 291-300. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2011.573313.
Михайлов, Борис [Mikhailov, Boris]. “Подытоживание советского”. Переломные восьмидесятые в неофициальном советском искусстве, 391-402. Moscow: Новое литературное обозрение, 2014.
Павлова, Татьяна [Pavlova, Tatiana]. “Арт-акции харьковской ‘Группы быстрого реагирования’ в украинском искусстве 1990-х годов”. Четверті Платонівські читання. Kyiv: Національна академія образотворчого мистецтва і архітектури, 2017, 66-67.
Петровская, Елена [Petrovskaya, Elena]. “[Борис Михайлов]: аффект времени”. Антифотография. Moscow: Три квадрата, 2003.
Скляренко, Галина [Skliarenko, Halyna]. “«Пунктир концептуалізму». До картини українського мистецтва другої половини ХХ сторіччя : [авторські версії концептуального мистецтва в Ураїні]”. Сучасне мистецтво : наук. зб.. Kyiv: Фенікс, Академія мистецтв України, Інститут проблем сучасного мистецтва, 2010.
Chekh, Nataliia. “Філософські наративи в фотосерії Б. Михайлова «Незакінчена дисертація»”. VII Уйомівські читання. Odesa: Одеський національний університет ім. І.І.Мечникова, 2019.
Publications in periodical resources, interviews, reviews
“Boris Mikhailov: A simple question a simple answer”. Gomma Magazine, vol.3 (2007): 117-119.
“Boris Mikhailov: Yesterday’s Sandwich and Other Life Stories.” Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, no.3 (2007): 131-140.
Dykstra, Jean. “Boris Mikhailov: Salt Lake”. Art on Paper, vol. 7, no. 1 (2002): 110-111.
Gnyp, Marta. “Boris Mikhailov On Photography, the KGB and Staying Alive in the Soviet Union.” Zoo Magazine, no. 34 (2015). https://www.americansuburbx.com/2015/09/boris-mikhailov-on-
photography-the-kgb-and-staying-alive-in-the-soviet-union.html.
Hamilton, Peter. “Boris Mikhailov: Case History”. Art on Paper, vol. 5, no. 1 (2000): 88.
Harris, Larissa. “Boris Mikhailov”. Art forum International, vol. 43, no. 4 (2004): 199-200.
Lechowicz, Lech. From Documentation to Staging: The photographs of Boris Mikhailov. 1997. http://www.galeriaff.infocentrum.com/mikhailovgb.html.
Mikhailov, Boris, and Sergei Anufriev. “Excerpts from Conversations”. Third Text, vol. 13 (2003): 427-434.
Petrovsky, Helen. “Boris Mikhailov: A New Metaphysician.” American Suburb X, April 6, 2012. http://www.americansuburbx.com/2012/04/boris-mikhailov-boris-mikhailov-new.html.
Respini, Eva. “A Conversation with Boris Mikhailov MoMA PS1”. MoMA PS1 (blog), June 1, 2012. http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2011/06/01/a-conversation-with-boris-mikhailov.
Алексеев, Михаил [Alekseyev, Mikhail]. “Украинское кольцо”. Советское фото, no. 5 (1979): 13-17.
Аронсон, Олег, та Елена Петровская [Aronson, Oleg, and Elena Petrovskaya]. Что остается от искусства. Moscow: Институт проблем современного искусства, 2014.
Викулина, Екатерина [Vikulina, Ekaterina]. Игра в фотографию, July 31, 2008. https://www.photographer.ru/cult/person/3287.htm.
Виленский, Дмитрий [Vilenskiy, Dmitriy]. “Борис Михайлов: «Теперь и мы хорошо живем»”. Художественный журнал, no. 32 (2000). http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/82/article/1802.
Деготь, Екатерина [Degot, Ekaterina]. “Борис Михайлов — художник участия и стыда”. Коммерсант, March 23, 2000. http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/143155.
Деготь, Екатерина [Degot, Ekaterina]. “Кольцо горизонта”. Художественный журнал, no. 19-20 (1998).
Жеребкина, Ирина [Zherebkina, Irina]. “«Голая жизнь» как «vita activa»: философия Бориса Михайлова”. Syg.ma, April 29, 2020. https://syg.ma/@sygma/golaia-zhizn-kak-vita-activa-filosofiia-borisa-mikhailova.
Кабаков, Илья, та Виктор Тупицын [Kabakov, Ilia, and Viktor Tupitsyn]. “Паника и негативность”. Художественный журнал, no. 32 (2000). http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/82/article/1803.
Кривенцова, Анна [Kriventsova. Anna]. “1995. Запрет выставки Бориса Михайлова “Я – не я” в Харькове”. Запрещенное искусства. 18+. http://artprotest.org/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=1218.
Лаврьентьев, Александр [Lavryentyev, Aleksandr]. “«Непосредственная фотография»”. Советское фото, no. 9 (1988): 31-33.
Леонтьев, Михаил [Leontyev, Mikhail]. “Фотографика и творчество”. Советское фото, no. 11 (1978): 31-33.
Михайлов, Борис, та Дмитрий Виленский [Mikhaylov. Boris, and Dmitriy Vilenskiy]. “Борис Михайлов — Дмитрий Виленский: этика взгляда”. Художественный журнал, no. 57 (2005). http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/32/article/589.
Михайлов, Борис [Mikahilov, Boris]. “Лекция (Фрагмент)”. Синий диван, no. 6 (2005): 173-186. http://intelros.ru/pdf/siniy_divan/2005_06/14.pdf.
Павлова, Татьяна [Pavlova, Tatiana]. “Веер в кулаке”. Галерея, 2005. http://soviart.com.ua/artjournal/arch/num21/a16_u.html.
Павлова, Тетяна [Pavlova, Tatiana]. “До історії харківської школи фотографії: група ‘Время’ ”. Korydor: журнал про сучасну культуру, June 30, 2019. http://www.korydor.in.ua/ua/context/11657.html.
Петровская, Елена [Petrovskaya, Elena]. “Борис Михайлов — новый метафизик”. Синий диван, no. 06 (2005): 189-196. http://intelros.ru/pdf/siniy_divan/2005_06/15.pdf.
Петровская, Елена [Petrovskaya, Elena]. “Изображение и образ”. Теории и практики. https://theoryandpractice.ru/posts/7978-izobrazhenie-i-obraz/.
Петровская, Елена [Petrovskaya, Elena]. “Материя и память в фотографии”. НЛО, no. 117 (2012). http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2012/117/p20.html.
Поздеева, Анна [Pozdeyeva. Anna]. “Почему Михайлова считают гением в мире. И не любят на родине”. Bird in Flight, July 2, 2019. https://birdinflight.com/ru/vdohnovenie/critika/20190701-boris-mikhailov-pac.html.
Раппопорт, Александр [Rappoport. Aleksandr]. “Человек без определенного места”. Художественный журнал, no. 42 (2002). http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/91/article/2019.
Ридный, Николай и Анна Кривенцова [Ridnyy. Nikolay and Anna Kriventsova]. “Борис Михайлов: ‘Концептуализм для меня – это аналитическая позиция’ ”. Художественный журнал, no. 70 (2008). http://xz.gif.ru/numbers/70/mihailov/.
Рифф, Давид [Riff, David]. “Борис Михайлов, или Судьба свободного времени”. Openspace.ru, August 19, 2008. http://os.colta.ru/art/events/details/2478/.
Сандуляк, Алина [Sanduliak, Alina]. “Харьковская школа фотографии: Борис Михайлов”. ArtUkraine, November 26, 2011. http://artukraine.fitel.io/a/kharkovskaya-shkola-fotografii–boris-mikhaylov-/#.XsD79cBS9GA.
Советское фото, no. 04 (1990): фото на обкладинці.
Стигнеев, Валерий [Stigneyev. Valeriy]. “Концептуальная фотография”. Советское фото, no. 9 (1989): 30-32.
Тупицын, Виктор [Tupitsyn. Viktor]. “Разговор с Борисом Михайловым”. У Бесполетное воздухоплавание: статьи, рецензии и разговоры с художниками, 247-266. Moscow: Новое Литературное Обозрение, 2018.
Фоменко, Андрей [Fomenko. Andrey]. “Спорные вопросы”. Art 1, June 16, 2014, https://art1.ru/2014/06/16/spornye-voprosy-38949.
Projects
Artworks
