Francesco Bonami to lead Moscow's GES-2 House of Culture

Italian-American curator Francesco Bonami has been named artistic director of the GES-2 House of Culture in Moscow.

The appointment was reported on 16 October 2026 by The Art Newspaper. Bonami is Italian and also holds United States citizenship. An artistic director sets the programme, the exhibitions and events the public sees.

In GES-2's press release, Bonami said his job is to "catalyse artistic energy" and "search for the best projects". The statement gives no specific shows or dates. It describes the role as finding and supporting work by others.

GES-2 opened in 2021. It was created by the V-A-C Foundation, an arts organisation set up by billionaire Leonid Mikhelson. The venue sits inside an early-20th-century power station directly opposite the Kremlin, in central Moscow.

He knows the place. Bonami has worked with the V-A-C Foundation since 2010, a relationship stretching back more than a decade before the Moscow building opened. He previously led the 50th Venice Biennale in Venice in 2003 — the Biennale is a large international art exhibition held every two years — and he spent nearly a decade as senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, where senior curators select artists and shape exhibitions.

There will be a handover. Alisa Prudnikova has overseen programming at GES-2 since 2022. She will stay until December this year, then continue as an independent project curator, working on individual exhibitions rather than running the full programme.

Ownership of the building changed in 2023, when Mikhelson transferred it to his daughter Victoria. Bonami also has recent history with the site itself. He co-curated the exhibition Square and Space. From Malevich to GES-2 with Zelfira Tregulova, according to the V-A-C Foundation.

For visitors, this means continuity rather than a fresh start. A long-time collaborator takes charge of the programme as the previous lead steps back, and the next season will show what his search for projects brings to the former power station.