Anna Kabisova and Evgeny Ivanov’s project The Museum as Presentiment is dedicated to legendary Ossetian sculptor Soslanbek Yedziev (1865–1953), an important representative of naïve art. He is known first and foremost as the creator of traditional Ossetian funerary steles (tsyrts) with the outline of human figures. A number of his works—monumental, memorial, indoor, and decorative sculpture—can be found in the M.S. Tuganov Museum of Fine Art, Vladikavkaz, although they are not part of the museum’s permanent exhibition. Located in various locations outdoors, Yedziev’s tsyrts are slowly eroding and many of them are now known only from photographs. Kabisova and Ivanov have made an art historical study of Yedziev and his circle. Their project touches on the problems of regional museums and cultural heritage, and also looks ironically at the idea of the “virtual museum.” They have created a website for a future museum of Yedziev’s work (edzievmuseum.ru), which “opened” in 2020. Exhibitions, lectures, and seminars are held in the virtual museum. The artists’ video interview with Yedziev specialists depicts the problems they face in trying to preserve Yedziev’s work. The discordant voices of the specialists, whose efforts have so far achieved minimal results, symbolize the difficulty that people working toward the same goal often have agreeing with each other.

Anna Kabisova (b. 1984, Vladikavkaz, Russia) lives and works in Vladikavkaz. She graduated from the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia, Moscow (where she studied with Igor Mukhin) in 2013. She was awarded a grant by the Governmental Program for the Support of Young Artists from Russian Regions (2015–2016). Kabisova runs the Alanika children’s art studios at the Vladikavkaz branch of the National Center for Contemporary Arts. Group exhibitions include: The Collective Conscious: Dialogues with the Classics, Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2016); 5th ART Caucasus NEXT Forum of Young Artists of the North Caucasus, Vladikavkaz (2016); Tomorrow: Art in the Imaginary Future, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Exhibition Center, Moscow (2015); Happy End, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (2013); and Communauté, VOST, Arles (2013).

Evgeny Ivanov (b. 1983, Moscow, Russia) lives and works in Vladikavkaz. He graduated from the Mossovet Polytechnic College, Moscow in 2003. Group exhibitions include: The Collective Conscious: Dialogues with the Classics, Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2016); 5th ART Caucasus NEXT Forum of Young Artists of the North Caucasus, Vladikavkaz (2016); and Tomorrow: Art in the Imaginary Future, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Exhibition Center, Moscow (2015).