The Defense is a series of desktop exhibitions inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s novel of the same name. It is a joint effort of the graphics cabinet WöD and the Nabokov Museum, which share similar make-ups (small, intimate settings), interests (art, literature and chess) and their adjacency on one and the same street – Bolshaya Morskaya, at numbers 45 and 47 respectively. Published in 1930, after Nabokov had already emigrated to Berlin, the novel tells the life story of a genius chess player who is somewhat autistic and estranged from those around him. Time and again, this figure has been compared to that of an artist, both by the author and by literary scholars. Artists who are featured by the graphics cabinet WöD are taking part in the project. Each of them proposes their own “defense”, prompted by the plot of the novel or the ideas contained in it – and also by their own creative trajectory. The surface and the drawers of the big desk in the exhibition room of the museum will be used for all of the exhibitions in this series. If you come to an exhibition, you will easily find this desk by making an “L-shaped move” through the museum’s permanent display. On your way there, don’t miss the case (we have marked it with a sticker) in which there is an original copy of the first Russian edition of the novel. During the opening day of each exhibition, beverages will be provided at WöD, and you will have an opportunity to play chess with the artist whose exhibition is being presented at that time.
