The museum exposition presents works of alternative and modern noncommercial art with the aim of preserving and promoting it.
The alternative (nonconformist) art that developed in the USSR in the 1950s — 1980s went beyond the ideological framework of developed socialism and  therefore was forced out by the authorities from public life of the society. Due to its "underground" existence it developed separately from the world underground culture and thus gained its unique style, which is now highly estimated by art collectors all over the world. Unrecognized masters created their own subculture, which gave special taste to their art works that are in great demand nowadays.
Sergey Kovalsky and Yevgeny Orlov were at the roots of the museum foundation. In 1998 its founder — the Free Culture Association – got premises in the Pushkinskaya 10 art centre, where works created by independent artists of St. Petersburg (Leningrad) in the second half of the 20th century were collected. One year after the museum foundation The Petersburg Archive and Library of Independent Art was opened on its base. The new department included information on informal devotees of the art world of Leningrad from the 1940s to the 1990s. It embraced a "self-published" collection of underground authors' works, a great number of posters, letters, clothes and personal paraphernalia of independent artists. The Archive holds a valuable collection of photoworks by modern masters.
The Nonconformist Art Museum is an exhibition center aimed at popularizing and studying the informal art of Russia, the countries of the American continent and the Old World.
Independent experts work at the museum and The Club of Independent Researchers of Modern Visual Art successfully functions there. The exposition takes the area of 620 sq.m. The museum is annually visited by around 5600 people. The museum keeps 1400 units of storage.
The museum takes an active part in conceptual exhibition projects of young artists and cooperates with representatives of modern art technologies (video mash and media art), advances new artistic ideas and exposition strategies.
Tickets to the large and small halls of the museum cost 70 rubles.
The open hours are from 4 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and Saturday is the vernisage day.
Nonconformist Art Museum is located at the address:  10, Pushkinskaya Street, near to Ploschad Vosstaniya, Mayakovskaya and Vladimirskaya metro stations.
 The Official Site of the Nonconformist Art Museum