FC Zenit’s history is a series of resounding victories on the pitch. In May 2023, Zenit won the tenth champions title in their history, the fifth in a row, and gained the coveted second star on their emblem. And in 2025, the legendary club will celebrate its centenary — a century together with several generations of players and fans. Their destinies and the stories associated with their beloved team inspired Russian media artists to curate this exhibition at the Zifergauz Gallery.

The title Number 12 refers to the expression "the twelfth player": many clubs assign this number to their supporters, just as they assign numbers to outstanding players in recognition of their achievements. We have re-examined the club’s long-standing relationship with its fans, the traditions and culture of the "blue-white-and-sky blue", and Zenit’s place in the urban space and cultural code of 21st century St Petersburg.

The exhibition focuses on new, mediated forms of communication between fans and the club: stadium performances, citywide campaigns, graffiti, clothing and even chants. The unique sound and visual elements found at stadiums around the world provide a rich palette for artistic expression.

This exhibition will let you discover personal stories of Zenit players, hear the sounds of the Gazprom Arena and dream of the football of the future. And, of course, you will be able to make a Mexican wave or kick a virtual ball.

Exhibition curator: Olga Vad (NADO Curatorial Agency)

Can digital technology bring us closer to understanding how memory works? The personal archives of FC Zenit players are presented here for the first time in the form of artistic video reconstructions.

This interactive installation offers a glimpse into the dreams the players had when they were young and an insight into how the future athletes would get their break and earn their first fans. The project offers a novel way for visitors to interact with the athlete’s stories, which literally come to life as the visitor approaches. AI algorithms allow the artefacts of memory to transcend their usual static nature, not just by adding dynamism to archive images, but through an original form of interaction between the storyteller and his past.

Sports imagery is traditionally narrated by sports experts, and this is how the viewer makes contact with the person portrayed. The German philosopher Gunter Gebauer calls this "juxtaposition", a phenomenon which enables the viewer to see themselves in the image of the athlete.

The project was created using photos from the archives of FC Zenit players Mikhail Kerzhakov, Daler Kuzyaev, Malcom, Gustavo Mantuan and Dmitry Chistyakov.

* Stand on the mark to start the installation.

Zenit’s colours have become an integral part of St Petersburg’s identity, while the blue, white and sky blue graffiti drawn by Zenit fans are part of the urban landscape. Anya Mokhova’s project is a poetic interpretation of this phenomenon.

The video makes use of the trompe-l'iœil effect, common in classical painting, to create the illusion of a round window in the dome of the gallery, opening up a view of the starry sky and the façades of St Petersburg intertwined with blue, white and sky blue graffiti. This project recalls the zenith, from which the football club gets its name, which in astronomical terms refers to the highest point of the celestial sphere directly above the observer. At the zenith, celestial bodies and constellations glide above the city. Images of a lion, the team’s symbol and ancient archetype of strength, soar across the sky surrounded by planets and satellites, accompanied by the dates of the team’s championship victories.

Sound design by: OMMA

Balls of wool knitted together into a single landscape forming a soft, tactile interactive installation in the gallery space. This textile sculpture, a warm analogue centrepiece to this digital art exhibition, reflects a story of the connections and relationships formed between fans, both on an individual level and across the generations. The installation is executed in the colours and patterns used in the football club’s paraphernalia.

Scarves hold a special place in the culture of Zenit fans. There is no simpler way to show your passion for the team and fill the stands with blue, white and sky blue than wearing a Zenit scarf. These scarves first appeared in the 1970s, often knitted by the mothers and grandmothers of the fan club’s founders. In 2010, the scarves were used in a nice publicity stunt. After Zenit won the Russian Premier League, fans tied the scarves to dozens of sculptures across St Petersburg depicting lions, a symbol strongly associated both with the team and the city itself.

Is it possible to convey the emotional intensity of a football match through sound alone? And can we find aesthetic value in sound recordings of the game? This project explores the sonic atmosphere of the stadium and offers an immersive experience in five different situations: Waiting for the game, Behind the goal, Support from the stands, Scoring a brace and Penalty shoot-out.

The soundscape of each football match is unique and structurally complex. There are the sounds of the pitch, the roar of the fans, the voice of the announcer and the sound of the ball. Sound is not just a physical phenomenon; it is also about the cultural and social interpretations associated with it. In other words, the sounds we hear are not neutral, but are informed by cultural and social context. The meanings we attach to sounds can vary depending on the local culture or an individual’s background. The project explores the effect the sounds of a football match can have outside of the stadium.

The work was created using field recordings made at the Gazprom Arena between March and May 2023.

The effect known as metachronal rhythm is a natural phenomenon whereby the successive movement of a series of elements creates the effect of a running wave. An example of this is the stadium wave (or "Mexican wave"), one of the most popular activities among football fans: it is achieved in a crowded stadium when the spectators stand up and raise their arms one after the other across the stands.

An interactive installation that reacts to movement makes it possible to create a wave outside of the stadium. Abstract particles move on the screen as a metaphor for this phenomenon. By interacting with the image, you can feel your wave phases synchronize and amplify the wave triggered, feeling part of the event.

In a stadium environment, it takes several dozen fans to trigger a wave, and its speed may reach 12 metres per second. In the gallery space, we alter the physical parameters of this phenomenon, creating a new way to feel the value of unity and the joy of harmony which are felt both by the team as an organism on the pitch and the fans and the players during a match. The resulting metaphor emphasizes the universality of this rhythmic action.

* Stand on the mark to start the installation.

What will football look like in the metaverse? Will the spectator be able to influence the course of the game? The project explores the future of virtual football and the possibilities of conveying the essence of the game within digital space.

The metaverse enables us to portray the position of the players on the pitch and the dynamics of the game in a completely different way to what we are used to. By immersing ourselves in a non-physical space, we can view the game from inside and out, walk among the players or be present at any point in the stadium, slow down the game or speed it up.

By using the coordinates of the players and the ball during a match and encoding this data as a digital sculpture, we can convey the mathematical beauty of the game. Data on ball trajectories, player movements and acceleration can translate team tactics and logic into visual forms. The architecture of the stadium can also illustrate the dynamics of the game: in virtual space, architectural forms can come to life.

The work was created using data from a Zenit vs. Spartak match on 27 November 2022.

The project Out of Bounds is a visual gaming tool that allows you to create abstract graphics on a digital canvas while playing virtual football. The generative graphics algorithms change throughout the day, producing a unique style of image every minute.

It is very rare to find mixed teams in football, where men and women or children and adults, play together at the same time. At the Zifergauz Gallery, you can play a virtual match with any line-up. Balls can be kicked using a reflection of your own body in a digital environment. A sound canvas adds an extra dimension to the immersive experience in this curious abstract world.

* Stand on the mark to start the installation.

An artist, lecturer and researcher, Fedor graduated from Central Saint Martins (London) in 2013 with an MA in Photography. He is the founder of the sports photography agency Eye Traffic. His artistic output deals with the concepts of place, memory and landscape through the method of reconstruction and conservation.

He has participated in the exhibitions Process. Work. Continuation (Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, 2022), Yaroslavl Biennale of Modern Art (Yaroslavl, 2021), UALARM (Powerhouse, Moscow, 2015), CSM Art Auction by Sotheby’s (Lethaby Gallery, London, 2013) and Oblivion (Fork Lift Gallery, London, 2013).

An artist, designer and lecturer, Anya received an MA from Chelsea College of Art & Design in London. Her works incorporate sculpture, installations, graphic art and interactive devices using a mix of traditional and modern techniques and a variety of materials including gold, brass, copper and beeswax. Inspired by classical frescos and sculpture, her works aim to challenge the boundary separating the real from the metaphysical through visual, sensatory and imaginary interactions between the viewer and the pieces and spaces created by the artist.

Her works have featured at the exhibition Impossible is inevitable (Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre, Moscow, 2018), 7th Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art (Moscow, 2017), Heritage Open Days festival (Brighton) and the Dyson Gallery (London).

Through sculpture, light installations and photography, Margo explores metaphor and ways of communicating with the world around us. She examines environmental issues through the lens of a person’s experience of their body and the aesthetic interpretation of this experience, resulting in the creation of hybrid sculptures and ‘living' installations.

She attended the Royal College of Art (London), Chelsea College of Art and Design, the Institute of Contemporary Art (Moscow) and studied journalism at Moscow State University. In 2015, she was a finalist for the Broomhill National Sculpture Prize in the United Kingdom. She has participated in the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2007, 2013), and her works have been exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery, Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow), as well as at the Cosmoscow Art Fair and other venues.

A musician, sound artist, and associate professor at St. Petersburg State University and ITMO whose primary research interests include the development of models for solid mechanics and their application in sound synthesis.

He works in the field of improvized music, incorporating techniques of data processing and analysis in his projects. Beside his solo works, he is known for collaborations with 1999Q, Ilia Belorukov, Alexei Borisov, Peter Bosch and Simone Simons, Alexander Zaitsev, Rutger Zuydervelt, Jason Kahn, Kurt Liedwart, Tim Olive, and many others.

Stain
Founded in 2009, the Stain studio (Sergey Titov and Alexandra Gavrilova) creates audiovisual spaces and light installations with the use of new media. The studio has participated in the exhibitions Art for the Future (Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, 2022−2023), Future Lab. Kinetic Art in Russia (State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, 2021).

Sergey is also curator of the art association ArtDialekt, and works with electronic music and explores issues related to art in the infosphere.

Alexandra conducts courses and master classes on creative programming and new media art both at festivals (Circle of Light, Synthposium) and at educational institutions (ITMO University, Far Eastern Federal University and the School of Advanced Studies (SAS) at the University of Tyumen).

Daria Smakhtina is an interdisciplinary artist, architect and co-founder of the studio ἐphemera ONE, which creates spaces for metaverse art projects straddling the boundary between physical and virtual realities.

Vadim Smakhtin is a creative engineer working at the interface of art, the environment and web3. He is a PhD candidate and visiting lecturer at the University of Innsbruck (Synthetic Landscape Lab, Institute of Urban Design).

Luna Park
An interactive media studio which creates immersive spaces allowing viewers to interact with the digital environment.

Misha Grigoriev
Creative developer and new media artist who has worked for over a decade at the intersection of contemporary music and visual and interactive art. He has participated in a number of festivals, including Circle of Light, Intervals, Efest and Fields. Since 2015, he has created the visual components for live performances by Samoe Bolshoe Prostoe Chislo, AIGEL and Maria Teriaeva, primarily through the use of real-time generative motion graphics, shaders and neural networks.

Maria Teriaeva
A musician and composer of electronic music whose work centres around the Buchla modular synthesizer, combining it with acoustic instrumental and vocal lines. Previously, she performed as a guitarist in a number of Russian indie groups (Naadya, Dub i prosto derevo, Sound Dab, Moremoney). She has given concerts in Russia, Europe and Japan. She also conducts master classes on sound synthesis and creates music for installations and exhibitions. She is a member of the Keen Association in Moscow which creates innovative musical instruments.