“Russia is a country with an unpredictable past,” goes the joke. This is the decade when exhibitions worldwide – benefiting from research not possible until the 1990s – are revealing the dynamic, unique story of Russia’s 20th century, which in turn changes perceptions of the nation’s older heritage. The Royal Academy show discussed above is unmissable; the following are concurrent international highlights for early 2008.

Moscow-New York = Parallel Play (Chelsea Art Museum, New York, February-May) is the first western showing of parts of the unrivalled Kolodzei Collection. Founded by Tatiana Kolodzei in Moscow at the height of the cold war, when it took courage and optimism to buy art at all, this collection recounts half a century of non-conformist work in the Soviet Union, and its surprising links with western culture. All the names that have since achieved superstar status are here, including Komar and Melamid – their 1970s wood, metal and string construction “Corporation for Buying and Selling Souls” at once references installation art and Gogol, Eric Bulatov and Ilya Kabakov.