Yana Payusova

THE REAL UNREAL: MEOW WOLF Installation, 2022-2023

Kunstkamera is a large-scale sculptural installation inspired by the improvised shops that appeared throughout St. Petersburg following the collapse of the Soviet Union. These stores often brought together improbable combinations of goods - underwear, books, caviar, household supplies—reflecting the instability and improvisation of a society rapidly transitioning from a state-controlled economy to capitalism.

In Kunstkamera, this logic of exchange extends beyond material goods. Emotions, experiences, and abstract qualities become commodities: envy, courage, ambition, and flattery are sold by weight, while truths, lies, and secrets are available à la carte. Among the shop’s customers are a woman literally green with envy, a schoolgirl who has purchased a dose of spunk, and a tattooed man who has traded for experience.

Humor and absurdity function as ways of examining the cultural and psychological transformations of the post-Soviet period. The installation considers what happens when systems of value change abruptly - when identities, desires, memories, and even personal qualities become subject to new forms of exchange.

Visitors can move through the densely stocked environment and step behind the counter, collapsing the distinction between observer and participant. Conceived as a three-dimensional drawing, Kunstkamera extends my use of narrative, figuration, and accumulated imagery into an immersive sculptural space.

Kunstkamera was commissioned for Meow Wolf’s The Real Unreal in Grapevine, Texas, where it has been permanently installed since 2023.