Artyom Ryzhkov

Art director of the ZARYA cinema, founder of the Kvartira art space

My name is Artyom Ryzhkov. I live in Kaliningrad, but it's on the Curonian Spit that I breathe. I write books, run the Kvartira art project, programme the ZARYA cinema, host "Life on the Moon" on Radio Maximum, and put together the programmes of the EU Film Festival and the Koroche short film festival. I started out in Maternity Hospital No. 1, won the national ping-pong championship at 13, studied in Ireland, Germany and Sweden, but ultimately graduated from the Immanuel Kant Russian State University, as it was called back then. I wrote a dissertation on the features of conceptual metaphor in film discourse but never defended it. I created the "KinoBogi" project for KP, the "Left Channel" programme for the Premier TV channel and the "Camera Obscura" programme for the Kaskad TV and radio company, and wrote "Notes of a Film Gourmet" for ozon.ru and film.ru. I have written and published four novels: "Where the Balloons Fly Away", "The Apartment", "My Best Friend's Girl" and "146,000,000". I walk to work along Mira Avenue and come back along Dmitry Donskoy Street.