Image: Aili Vint, "Composition squared II," 1977. Gouache on paper. Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union.
The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University opens "The Beast of Joy: Women Artists from Soviet Republics" on 2 September 2026, the day its galleries reopen after an August closure for installing the fall season. The exhibition runs until 18 July 2027 at the museum's New Brunswick building at 71 Hamilton Street, where admission is free and no tickets are required.
The exhibition gathers artists from Ukraine, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia who worked in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s. Long underrecognised, they built distinctive practices out of local traditions, modernist legacies and persistent experimentation. The works are shown in dialogue with poetry from the same regions and period, a pairing the museum uses to stress the multivocal character of the material. Everything on view is drawn from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union, and the selection foregrounds women's contributions to Soviet nonconformist art.
Works announced for the presentation include Aili Vint's gouache "Composition squared II" (1977), an undated oil on canvas by Helena Heinrihsone, and an untitled gelatin silver print by Lialia Kuznetsova, photographed in 1979 and printed in 1989.
The exhibition is organised by Olena Martynyuk, associate curator in the museum's Department of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union and Arts of Eurasia, which is headed by Julia Tulovsky and also includes Jane A. Sharp as research curator of Soviet nonconformist art and arts of Eurasia. The poems in the installation are read by Julija Fomina, Dora Graham, Susan Hwang, Liisa Kaljula, Sophia Kavtaradze and Svitlana Kosolapova. Leadership support comes from the Avenir Foundation Endowment Fund, with additional support from the Dodge Charitable Trust - Nancy Ruyle Dodge, Trustee, and bilingual text support from the Art Bridges Foundation's Access for All program.
A related concert programme, "Rediscovered Voices: Women Composers from the Soviet Republics", takes place at the museum on Saturday 5 December 2026 from 2.30 to 5pm.
"The Beast of Joy" is one of four new exhibitions the Zimmerli is opening this autumn, alongside "Japan In/Out of View" (9 September 2026 to 14 February 2027) and two Hank Willis Thomas projects, "Hank Willis Thomas Selects the NJ Arts Annual" and "Hank Willis Thomas: LOVERULES - From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation", both running 17 September to 20 December 2026. A conversation between Thomas and the collector Jordan D. Schnitzer, followed by a reception for all four shows, is set for Thursday 17 September from 5 to 8pm.
