After a week in Moscow, we spent four days in St. Petersburg to attend the forum THIRD REALITY. The city, formerly known as Leningrad, has a charming Baroque center,and an active contemporary art community. We find to be very European, except for the phone lines, which are a challenge to every networker.

The THIRD REALITY has provided us with a focus on the current Russian new media art scene. Curators, critics and artists from Russia --as well as a few international guests-- crowd into the old Planetarium theater - which in great need of restoration. Between 11.00 - 23.00 daily, we have had the opportunity to learn about the networking situation here, and discuss our project ideas with Russian artists.

At *Gallery 21*, we talked with Irena Aktuganowa, who started the space with her husband in 1994. She originally comes from Novosibirks! After working in a commercial gallery called 1010, on Pushkin Square, she opened her own gallery on Nevsky Prosket in 1991, and for two years built up her resources to begin *Gallery 21.* The area around Puschkinskaja 10 is the site of many galleries, artists studios and alternative record shops. The buildings were occupied by artists at the end of the 80s, and held as a squat for many years. But now, the residents have organized into an official organization called "free culture foundation" - no one pays rent, but on the same hand, they do not get any government support.

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