Daria Zhukova was banned from launching a floating cinema on the Grand Canal

89 countries take part in the 54th Venice Biennale, which significantly increased the social activity of this event. Every second palace on the Grand Canal was given over to exhibitions and parties. And visitors from Russia watched with interest the development of near-cultural intrigue: the grand dames of Russian contemporary art Daria Zhukova and Stella Kesaeva were vying for the right to be the first at this art festival.

The owner of the Moscow gallery Stella Art Foundation, Stella Kesaeva, came to Venice for the first time this year not as an organizer and patron of parallel programs, but as a commissioner of the Russian pavilion. Therefore, the right to receive Russian Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev and organize a dinner on behalf of the country belonged to her.

Even at the beginning of the evening, while the guests were gathering in the university courtyard of the Ca` Foscari palace, there was a feeling that Mr. Avdeev and other guests were not at a dinner in honor of the opening of the national pavilion, but at a private reception with Stella Kesaeva and her husband, co-owner of the group of companies "Mercury" by Igor Kesaev (although the Ministry of Culture in all official documents of the biennale is listed as the main organizer of the pavilion). And after the owner of Capital Group, Vladislav Doronin, and his friend Naomi Campbell appeared in the palazzo, even the main characters of the Russian pavilion—curator Boris Groys and artist Andrei Monastyrsky—began to seem like outsiders. For some reason, they were located at a distance from the central table headed by the Minister of Culture.

Taking the floor, Mr. Avdeev thanked Mrs. Kesaeva and her husband for supporting art, noting that the position of the Ministry of Culture in this case is simple: the department does not interfere with anyone and does not impose anything, guaranteeing complete freedom from censorship. But the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, two days before the opening of the Azerbaijani pavilion, personally inspected the exhibition at Palazzo Benzon and gave the order to cover with cloth two works by Aidan Salakhova, which, in his opinion, promoted Islam (because of this episode, the reception in honor of the opening of the Azerbaijani pavilion was spoiled at the Metropol Hotel). Having finished his speech, Minister Avdeev turned to Ilya Kabakov, who was present at the dinner, calling him the artist Zverev. The tension that arose in the hall was deflated by Emilia Kabakova, who said that she and her husband had long been accustomed to this kind of thing.

Previously, Russian delegations held receptions either at the nouveau riche palace Vendramin Calergi or at the mafia hotel Cipriani. The University of Ca` Foscari turned out to be a discreet and authentic place. Among the guests that evening were collector Pierre Brochet, director of MMSI Vasily Tsereteli, socialite and friend of Stella Kesaeva Ulyana Tseytlina, TV presenter Sati Spivakova, vice-president of Global Culture Asset Management Nick Ilyin, director of the Multimedia Art Museum Olga Sviblova, general director of Sotheby` s - Russia and the CIS" Mikhail Kamensky, curator of many world exhibitions Jean-Hubert Martin, director of the Center for the Study of Russian Culture in Venice Silvia Burini (the center was opened this year on the initiative of the wife of the President of the Russian Federation Svetlana Medvedeva), former honorary consul of Russia in Venice Alberto Sandretti , Director of Information Policy at Alfa Bank Leonid Ignat.

Mr. Doronin waited for the start of the Maroon 5 concert in the university courtyard, talking with Messrs. Avdeev and Kesaev all this time. As soon as the musicians entered the stage, the guests began to leave Ca` Foscari. By that time, the party of the owner of the Garage center, Daria Zhukova, was already in full swing at the Bauer Hotel. One could guess about her appearance in the city from the yacht Luna, owned by Roman Abramovich. The authorities, as an exception, allowed its parking, closing part of the embankment from tourists with metal fences and posting two policemen. The Venetians were terribly unhappy that the 115 m long Luna blocked the view of the most beautiful lagoon in the city - San Marco. And the local newspaper La Nuova Venezia noted that it does not remember a case “that such a large yacht as Abramovich’s was ever moored so close to the Biennale venue.”

Daria Zhukova appeared unaccompanied by her common-law husband, but with their common son Aaron. True, the city did not make another concession to Abramovich, banning the Garage art event with a floating cinema barge on the Grand Canal. Allegedly, the video art contained in the videos violated the Venetian advertising law and could seem shocking to many tourists. As a result, it was decided to show the videos on the terrace of the Bauer Hotel. The style of Ms. Zhukova’s party turned out to be the complete opposite of Ms. Kesaeva’s style. And since neither the owner of the Garage nor her team were invited to the Russian dinner, the cocktail at Bauer was perceived as a protest.

Long before the start, the entrance to the hotel was attacked by a crowd that included the architect Rem Koolhaas and the artists Hans Ulrich Obrist and Vik Muniz. To get to the hotel terrace, guests passed through two security cordons. To avoid a crush, the guards even had to create a human corridor, and those arriving from the water side climbed over the fence and immediately found themselves in the VIP box. There, near Daria Zhukova, singer Courtney Love, Francesca Versace, artist Marina Abramovich, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, her daughter Charlotte Casiraghi, Margherita Missoni, head of the Missoni fashion house were seen. The Russian guests included co-owner of the Triumph gallery Dmitry Khankin, promoter Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich, and owner of the Li-Lu showroom Oksana Bondarenko.

A DJ and videos banned from showing on the Grand Channel were intended to entertain the guests. Cocktails based on Beluga vodka, as usual, were in high demand among foreign stars. Daria Zhukova herself willingly took pictures that evening and demonstrated what it means to be a Global Russian. The evening of "Garage" broke the record for duration: long after midnight, when all the cocktails had already died down even on the islands neighboring Venice, music was still thundering on the Bauer terrace and the traffic jam from the boats was not clearing.

Anton Zhelnov

To Venice with your barge