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An artistic approach to historical
material. Experience drawn from the exhibition Memory of the Body. On 31 March 2005 Julia Borisovna Demidenko, art historian and Deputy Director for Scholarly Work at the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg, delivered a public lecture and answered questions from the audience at the Youth Center on Moyka, 45 in the framework of the educational program entitled Topical Art in Petrograd, Leningrad, Petersburg. 20th and 21st Centuries. Julia Demidenko has been a curator of modern art exhibitions and is master of ceremonies of the popular show Fashion for Everything which is broadcast on the Petersburg television channel. Her lecture was devoted to the exhibition Memory of the Body. Underwear during the Soviet Age, which took place in the Peter and Paul Fortress in 2001 and evoked considerable public interest at the time. During the first two days, the exhibition was visited by more than 8,000 people and by the time it closed there were two and a half volumes of visitor comments, both negative and positive. The exhibition toured a number of different cities around Russia and was taken also to Vienna and Helsinki. Julia Demidenko explained to the audience how the project came about. She talked about the display items, which it would seem were rather remote from art but which over time have also been transformed into art objects. She also discussed the creative ideas which are put into effect by modern artists, photographers and designers. With help from the author of the exhibition’s concept, the student audience made an unusual trip back into history. The discussion which followed touched upon not only the exhibition but more generally the history of articles of male and female apparel which, however essential they may have been, were not customarily talked about during the Soviet era. Young people naturally have a number of questions. These range from the simple “What is a combo outfit?” or "Which underwear existed in this or that age?" to questions which address the very logic of the project, its goals and the organizers’ plans for the future. Nearly every week the Youth Center is host to gatherings like this devoted
to popular exhibitions dealing with the projects of contemporary artists,
the history of 20th century art in general and the most important masters
of the last century in particular. The program entitled Topical Art
in Petrograd, Leningrad, Petersburg. 20th and 21st Centuries was developed
at the start of the 2004-2005 academic year by the St Petersburg branch
of the State Center of Modern Art, with S.V. Kudryavtseva and M. Koldobskaya
as curators. The lectures for students are delivered by well known Petersburg
art historians, critics, journalists, and personalities active in contemporary
art who have substantial curatorial experience. This year’s project consisting
of 18 lectures and 6 master classes is already coming to an end, but thanks
to its particular popularity with young people it will be continued next
season.
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
