In October 2024 Cooltsalon turned 10. Although our activities have been on pause lately, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate all that’s been achieved since our very first curated art exhibition in 2014, and to find a way to mark the occasion.

We extended invites to previous collaborators to join the making of a co-created poster: each part of it to be designed by a different person, starting with our founder providing the layout. The final result will be offered in our online pop-up store as a limited 10-copies print run, with all sales proceeds being donated. Stay tuned for more details and updates!

We also wanted to use the opportunity to relaunch ourselves – turning towards more activities dedicated to print and publishing. Without becoming a publishing house (not yet anyway), our new output will be more tangible than before – zines, photobooks, alternative editions, and anything in-between. We are maintaining the collaborative nature of our work and seeking out partners and contributors, but also keeping our eye out for existing works that we could share with wider audiences – through local translation and adaptation, securing distribution opportunities, opening new markets.

We will still occasionally produce events and remain open to curatorial opportunities.

New focus that you will see from our output will involve fighting colonial narratives especially russian colonialism and debilitating soviet legacies, with research, lived experience and intersectional care as a base. The principle of giving platform to underrepresent voices and shedding light on the obscured remains.

Most importantly, we want to heal collectively and cherish the core that brought us here: united we create.