A major exhibition featuring 17 new works by leading British sculptor Antony Gormley has opened in the State Hermitage, Saint-Petersburg, alongside his 'intervention' into one of the Hermitage’s most prestigious and revered collections. 
 
Gormley has placed nine ancient statues in a loose constellation directly on the ground of the Museum so that these idealised and sexualised bodies share the same conditions as the viewer. It is the first time that a living artist has engaged with the Hermitage’s classical Greek and Roman galleries.
 
The exhibition, which runs till 15 January 2012, is curated by Dr Dmitry Ozerkov, Head of Contemporary Art Department, and by Dr Anna Trofimova, Head of Antiquity Department, The State Hermitage Museum, in association with Antony Gormley.
 
The exhibition is supported by the Hermitage Foundation UK, White Cube and the British Council.
 
The commission forms part of the Hermitage 20/21 project, an ambitious programme aimed at showcasing the best of contemporary art in the Hermitage and expanding the display of 20th century art.