Continuing its 2025 program, the NovoRiznica Gallery presents the project "Third Rome" by contemporary Russian artist Anton Ketov, whose work serves as a metaphorical reflection of an era of global upheaval and transformation. The world is witnessing the decline of old orders and the painful birth of new ones, and it is within this context that Anton Ketov creates his project, emphasizing the seeming inviolability of imperial structures. "Third Rome" is a visual narrative about the fragility of power and the inevitable collapse of what once seemed eternal.

In Ketov's project, the empire is not a static monolith but a dynamic system subject to erosion and decay. Using the language of graphic symbols, the artist shows how geometric shapes, representing power, lose their strength and detach from their foundations. This movement, slow and relentless, begins at the periphery and gradually undermines the heart of the empire, leaving behind empty pedestals—silent witnesses to past grandeur. Familiar symbols, stripped of their usual context, stand in complete isolation, as if awaiting oblivion. The loneliness of the symbols in "Third Rome" becomes a metaphor for the loss of meaning and the presence of an ideological vacuum.

Equally important in the project is the theatrical metaphor, close to the artist due to his background. "Third Rome" appears as the remnants of the set of a grand performance that has lost its relevance. What once filled entire halls has now turned into a pile of unnecessary forms awaiting recycling. The set pieces, having lost their function, symbolize the devaluation and replication of ideological constructs. However, the artist also sees the other side. His experience in theater shows that the remnants of past productions often become material for new, sometimes more intimate, profound, and sincere works. This hints that something fundamentally different, possessing greater artistic value, can emerge from the ruins of the old world.

"Third Rome" is an act of artistic foresight that touches not only political realities but also the universal laws of history, reminding us that within decay lies the potential for the birth of something new.