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   The Manifesta will Go beyond
Europe for the First Time Next year Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, well
be held; St. Petersburg is chosen to be its Host City. - Is it true that Manifesta was initiated by the Hermitage? - Manifesta has never been held at such a level before. Do you agree that this is a challenge of some kind? - It is indeed a challenge, but it involves the fact that Manifesta has never been held outside Europe. The entire existence of Manifesta is connected with the Fall of Berlin Wall, so it was always held in one of the EU countries. This will be the 10th Manifesta and the first held outside the EU. Notwithstanding that the press release issued by the organisers highlights that to them St.Petersburg is still part of Europe. To some extent they are right, today the State Hermitage Museum symbolizes Europe. However, you are right in that Manifesta has never been held in a classical museum like ours. And this is our policy - to go beyond what usually happens in other museums similar to ours. I don’t think it is a challenge, it is rather commonplace with contemporary art, and started as far back as Catherine the Great. - Aren’t you afraid that too radical contemporary art can be censored? - I believe that being afraid of censure is a provincial approach. It is an excellent idea to hold a great festival in St.Petersburg. I’m sure everything will be alright. The Hermitage Manifesta will be no worse than in any place. Works chosen by us are not going to be censored. However, it does make sense that some social groups, especially those that are active and marginal, should be censored. I’m not speaking about our exhibition, but about some other festivals which are held in cellars, in places which gather supporters of a “real” contemporary art and people who neglect any form of contemporary art. However, today we all live in such an environment and it is normal, or more precisely, has become normal in the last twenty years. I believe Manifesta in St.Petersburg will help to improve the global image of Russia. - You sometimes use the notion of provinciality both regarding St.Petersburg and the general thinking of Russian people. Do you think this is a symptom of the times? - Sure. Even in the USSR St. Petersburg retained its position of a great city, which gave birth to conflicts, ideas and great people. And thank God Moscow was the capital. Thus all the best in politics and culture stayed in St. Petersburg so that the city by its inner nature remained quite elite. But now, it is changing. - What exactly do you mean by saying “now”? - I mean the last fifteen years. At this time a kind of an escape took place all around the country, a kind of weakness appeared which didn’t exist either in the USSR or during Perestroika. It can be called a fear of complexity and transparency. I’m inclined to consider such psychology to be completely provincial, but it is not connected with any actual province. And St. Petersburg itself is a self-contained city, completely calm and self-confident. - Do you think a reconciliation of contemporary art with conservative audiences is possible? - Firstly, I can say that during the 20th century contemporary art has not led to any considerable revolution. I’m completely sure that contemporary art is an absolutely natural continuation of trends in classical art. Perhaps, language is a bit different, but language has changed throughout the entire history of mankind. Compare, for example, language expressed by an awfully painted Greek sculpture with language of modern neo-classicism. These are completely different things. However, there is another side expressed by people’s conviction that they do not understand contemporary art, but are convinced that they do understand classical art. Such a point of view is rather naive. For example, what do you think: how many visitors realize the meaning of the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception? Are they aware of disputes, which were held around it and how it was accepted? And by the way, Murillo’s painting tells us everything about this. Do the spectators understand El Greco’s painting The Apostles Peter and Paul? Do they know the story that it hides? The story was, at first, that Peter refused to sit at the table with the Jews, then with the Gentiles, and the painting shows the moment when Paul comes and proclaims that there is “neither Jew nor Gentile”. It actually only seems that everything is simple. Rembrandt’s Danae was often kept in attics as it was considered too obscene. It is actually a rather erotic painting. In fact, classical art is no clearer to a viewer than Kandinsky with his Composition VI. The museum’s mission is to combine old and new artistic devices, classical and contemporary art. We are also involved in coming up with new approaches for Manifesta in order to show contemporary art from different ages. It is necessary to open up people’s understanding. - Your stance is that art should obligatory be educational. But you must admit that edification to some extent curtails freedom of creativity. - That is true. Surely, when there is a task, there will be limits. Art is not intended to bring up a patriot, it is aimed at refining good taste which is the most important thing in any society. If a person has good taste and he/she is intelligent, he/she is able to think big, understand big and to be profound. All those strong attacks that we suffered from last year were connected with a low cultural level. It is always necessary to talk and debate, but it is absolutely impermissible to yell as this demonstrates lack of culture. A logical conclusion is the following - a person’s conduct is usually regulated, not by the prosecution office or the police, but by the person’s good taste. And good taste is often defined precisely by art. - And again about provincialism. What do you think was the reason for the rejection of Dominique Perrault’s project for Mariinsky Theatre-2? As a result a strange structure appeared, though a beautiful and ambitious building could have been built. - This is a terrible story connected first of all with overestimation of general public role. That is where democracy brings us. The customer plays the major role in construction of architectural structures, the building’s fac,ades depend on his decisions. Gergiev should make the decisions for the Theatre and the State Hermitage Museum should make the decisions for the Museum. - The Okhta Centre was also in its time commissioned by Gazprom. - Of course, Gazprom is also free to make commissions, but its taste is absolutely predictable. The actions of society in both cases were dictated by political factors. In the case of the Mariinsky Theatre it was the construction companies that didn’t want to let foreigners into St. Petersburg. It was specifically this moment that they started to spin things, from here they got public support. Gergiev ended up in a blind alley, it was necessary to choose something simple and cheap while simultaneously there was no time to hold the tendering process. With the result that they ended up building what they built. The main thing is that the inside of the theatre is good. But in truth it is just a typical parochialism - to refuse all options not thinking about the relevant situation. This is a habit from the Soviet Union, say “no” to everything that’s new: “I don’t like myself, therefore we won’t have it”. In this way the building for the second stage of the Mariinsky Theatre has become a lesson for all of us. - And what should we learn from this lesson? - It doesn’t follow that we should leave such important things to society. It is necessary to act using mechanisms that work effectively. From my point of view we need to start using again the old regulations that have served St. Petersburg for centuries. I suggest that we remember how a lack of rules destroyed Moscow and how St. Petersburg architects wept bitter tears because they weren’t allowed to build something greater than the eaves of the Winter Palace. I think such constraints are very good. - However, the historical precinct is not without its architectural errors. For example, you yourself have said that you do not like the Saviour on the Blood. - True, it is constructed in the Moscow style which is completely out of place. In truth, it is a complete copy of St. Basil’s Cathedral, which we know is itself an echo of Indian, Islamic architecture. And in the end, this purely Moscow style is displayed right in the middle of Griboedov Canal. This building is a typical example of not following the cityscape. Similarly, I cannot tolerate Singer House, for political reasons, as there is an American eagle there. It looks down on Kazan Cathedral, a monument to the victory of 1812. There is much that I do not like, however this doesn’t mean that we must tolerate everything. It happens, as things do. What we must do is learn the lesson. Manifesta is a European forum for contemporary art which is held every
two years, each time in a new European city. In July 2014 it will open
its 10th biannual exhibition in St. Petersburg which will go through to
the middle of autumn. http://www.moneyjournal.ru/media/kultura/manifesta-vpervie-viberetsya-za-predeli-evropi-6691.html |
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