Andrey Kovalev. Winner's Parade

Winner's Parade
Andrey Kovalev

Publication date: May 6, 2005

X art reviewers of almost all publications found themselves in a rather difficult situation at this historical stage. Without exception, all museums and other art and non-art institutions considered it necessary to celebrate the upcoming celebrations. At the same time, as Vadim Nesterov claims (Gazeta.Ru, April 21): “The celebration of the Victory this year raised especially a lot of silt.” However, he writes, not without a hint of surprise, about the exhibition “ Victory 1945 ” in the Exhibition Hall of the Federal State Archives: “It’s a strange thing: it seems like the most official thing, but it’s catchy.” In this case, it is important to record the formation of a new officialdom, which appeals, of course, to the most sublime feelings of a person and a citizen. But in this new officialdom, a new plot also emerged: “Unwittingly, the organizers of the “Victory Parade” project gave military history a religious touch (after all, the war was “Sacred”): just as devout Christians protected the relics and put them in golden caskets, so modern historians collected prayer objects of recent antiquity" (Sergei Solovyov, " Stalin's Discreet Charm ", "Novye Izvestia" dated 29.04). Naturally, simple front-line soldiers have nothing to do with this new (forgotten old) cult, like the hero of the Lianozov group and nonconformist Nikolai Vechtomov, who “Still lives in the village of Severny and does not like to remember the war too much - “let those who have medals they walk and remember" (Vadim Alekseev, " Kolina's War, or the Lucky Star of the Partisan Vechtomov ", "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" dated 29.04).

We all know very well what the name of the cult object was, therefore we can conclude that “Gradually, the “nationality” disappears from history along with the participants in the war, and its place is taken by leaders. Victory in the war is poeticized in the Hollywood manner: there must be a hero on a white horse " (Sergei Solovyov, " Stalin's Discreet Charm ").

For some reason, these processes do not cause any particular rejection in our country (see, for example, “ All links in the story “Restoration of monuments to I. Stalin” ” to “Regnum.Ru”). Only individual dull comrades are indignant: “The icon of Pontius Pilate is unimaginable, a monument to Hitler in Berlin or Eichmann in Jerusalem is impossible. No self-respecting nation will glorify the ruler who destroyed itself” (“ Restalinization will become a trump card for “Russophobic” policies .” Statement of the OOD "For Human Rights"). Official people who understand the real situation respond much more carefully, like Archbishop Anthony of Krasnoyarsk and Yenisei, who, on the one hand, believes that “Stalin is a hero of his time,” and on the other, recalls that “After this victory, the neglect of spiritual values ​​began again , churches began to be closed, the triumph of atheistic ideology continued. This contrast speaks against erecting a monument to him.”

But foreign correspondents were somehow worried:

“In today’s Russia, Stalin is a kind of advertising brand for those who advocate a strong state and are angry about the loss of guaranteed employment and state-paid social benefits in the post-Soviet era.” (David Hawley, “ Stalin Climbing to the Pedestal Again ,” Los Angeles Times, 5/3).

“The resurrection of Stalin, regardless of the motives, is fraught with new conflicts in a society that has not yet come to its senses from the horrors of the Stalinist regime” (Nick Allen, “ Why Stalin is revered in Russia again ,” The Daily Telegraph from 20.04).

"The myth of the 'Great Patriotic War' is the only unifying idea that survived perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, a collapse that Putin recently called the greatest catastrophe of the twentieth century" (Ralph Georg Reuth, " Longing for Stalin ", Welt am Sonntag from 02.05).

“The scandal over the sculpture highlights a problem that arises in Russia whenever it commemorates historical dates: its past includes unpleasant moments that the country and its leaders would prefer not to remember.” (Stephen Lee Myers, “ Victory Day Reopens Old Wounds ,” New York Times from 04.05).

I’ll say right away that I personally am much more concerned about the re-Stalinization processes carried out in connection with such significant dates than my Western colleagues - in the end, in the new virtual Kolyma it will be me, not them, who will have to rot. Although my personal opinion on this matter is not even considered, it can still be noted that not everything is so advanced yet. The fuss with the Stalin monument was muted: “The Kremlin could hardly go so far as to greet the leaders of the main powers of the world at the celebrations in Moscow with one hand, and with the other to give the go-ahead for the construction of memorials in honor of an anti-Western symbol” (Yuliy Gorbuntsov, “ The False Coming of Joseph Victorious ", "Political Journal" from 03.05). What is most pleasing is the fact that this important political gesture was given not an ideological, but an exclusively monetarist justification - “The transfer of Tsereteli’s sculpture to the museum in Volgograd costs 2 million rubles, the reconstruction of the museum - 800 thousand.” It is possible that this kind of decision was made out of petty human revenge - the master of monumental curiosity once again made the authorities look extremely stupid: “When at the beginning of the year Putin unexpectedly agreed to visit Israel, an unexpected problem arose - men on the monument are depicted naked , were uncircumcised. Then the authorities turned to the author, who cut off everything unnecessary from the victims" (" Putin's Gift was circumcised ", "Dni.Ru" from 29.04). True, the maestro’s mood has long since deteriorated - “ Because of Stalin, Tsereteli stopped communicating with journalists ” (“New Region √ Crimea” dated 03.02).

Nevertheless, it is too early to rejoice. The victorious procession of monuments can no longer be stopped; big people with big saws are sawing big funds. However, one should listen to such an excellent and progressive business plan: “Time will speed up to such an extent that monuments will be blown up and in a moment pre-fabricated exact copies will be erected in their place. Life will turn into a continuous happening of destruction and restoration.” Vladimir Paperny, “ Do it as it was ,” “Ogonyok” # 15, April 2005).

However, such total deconstruction is a matter of a distant and bright future. For now, we constantly have to live in the eternal past. Olga Kabanova visited the “military exhibition” at the Tretyakov Gallery and traveled fifty years ago. Nothing has changed: “No matter how you show the official painting of the war years, it still makes a terrifying, simply terrible impression” (Olga Kabanova, “ Nothing Human ,” Vedomosti, 04.05). Or rather, something has changed - Stalin's ideological apparatuses are no longer perceived as tools for dangerous intellectual games. Everything looks as if Groys and the Tupitsyns were still toiling around as pioneers, so it turns out that “Loud and deceitful official painting about the war is of purely academic interest today; on ordinary days, hardly anyone would want to look at it. But the graphics that complement the exhibition, provides the opportunity for sincere empathy (ibid.). That is, our time is rapidly moving backwards, just recently it seemed that we were in stagnation, now there is a feeling that things are already heading towards a thaw, and totalitarianism can only be opposed with the lyrics: “Today we have retained real relevance. only documentary evidence of eyewitnesses and rethinking of war stories by sixties authors, like Viktor Popkov with his “Father’s Overcoat” (Sergei Safonov, “ Frau Pipper Sends Greetings ,” “Gazeta” dated 04.05).

It’s even more funny that the main aesthetic paradigm of the sixties - the opposition of “sincerity” to “officialdom” - is now being projected onto the phenomena of contemporary art without any reservations. Speaking about the small exhibition in the Krokin Gallery, the only one that responded to the festive theme, almost all observers consider it necessary to emphasize that the project is “devoid of false pathos” (Sergei Safonov, “ Let’s note without pathos ”, “Newspaper” from 21.04). So, here we are such times when the message no longer means anything, the meanings are encrypted in shades of gentle vibrations: “Intonation is the shade of the spoken words. The tactful intonation of speech was synonymous with a delicate, calligraphic technique that conveyed ideas and themes that were gentle on feelings and memory. <...> The exhibition marathon for the anniversary of the Victory has just begun. It’s good that contemporary art had such a worthy start in it” (Sergei Khachaturov, “ Calligraphy of Victory” , “Vremya Novostey” dated 22.04). Let us also note the appearance of another important, but long-forgotten aesthetic category of antiquity - “worthy”. But the problem is indeed new, as Irina Kulik points out: “The exhibition turned out to be extremely ideologically consistent. The artists coped with the “state order” that was inevitable in the year of a large-scale celebration with great dignity. It would be indecent to shirk from it: if you insist on your right to be not some kind of underground, but a full-fledged and recognized part of modern Russian culture, if you please, participate in protocol programs" (" Artists have reached Berlin ", Kommersant from 04.05). The historical moment has come such that we have to repent of the past postmodernism: “To carry out elegant reflection, bypassing mockery, grins, literaryism and the ideological grip of historical cliches is not an easy task” (“ Anniversary without oil ”, ARTICulation # 43 with Dmitry Barabanov, “Artinfo” .Ru from 25.04).

However, residual manifestations of the ability to analyze what is happening are still preserved - “Although you cannot write a dissertation on the material of the exhibition “Discourse of the Second World War in the art of the 1900-2000s”, the contours of the phenomenon can be discerned. From somewhere came the love for the style of the early Soviet nomenklatura. They began to be baptized on Stalin's high-rise buildings, and Vasily Terkin turned into party organizer Dunaev. So the grandfathers went into hand-to-hand combat, and the grandchildren - oh, it’s a shame to say - deconstructors" (Anton Gorlenko, " Project Pobeda ", "Afisha" from 18.04). But even on this path, completely unexpected pitfalls arise: “The current heirs of unofficial art are left not so much to search for authenticity as to be nostalgic for the powerful layer of military mythology created in Soviet times” (Irina Kulik, “ The Artists Reached Berlin ”). The technique of critical writing also takes on the features of a delicate calligraphic technique - Moscow critics are somehow not ready to discuss where the aforementioned “hero of his time” comes from in such a new ethical system. The curator of the exhibition at the Krokin Gallery, Alexander Petrovichev, had to interpret this strange phenomenon only in front of the international community: “History has no subjunctive mood. They do not sing songs of praise to Stalin. They deal with the themes of the time. Yes, there was Stalin. Yes, such things happened events. This is reality" (Stephen Lee Myers, " Victory Day opens old wounds ", New York Times, 04.05).

In general, the time has come for all people of good will to lay low and go to the village. And no simulacra: “Masters of art are sitting by the fire and talking for sure about lofty things, about new sincerity in art. Everything is like 40 years ago - just look at Okudzhava will be dragged in...” (“ TimeOut-Moscow ”, # 24). What should critics do in this case? It’s simple - look for subtle differences while wandering around the newly built model of the Manege, where, without any psychedelia, you can discover that “Master Andriyaka is wonderful, and his watercolor technique is perfected to an indecent brilliance. But the most vivid works are the early ones, from the 1970s” (Igor Chuvilin, “ The same melons, only in profile ”, “Gazeta.Ru from 27.04).

Forward, in general, guys, to the Past! Let's remember everything!