There will be nothing illegal at the Manifesto

The work of participants in the Biennale of Modern Art “Manifesto 10” in the State Hermitage tested for compliance with the norms of Russian legislation. There are no violations.

This was announced today, June 26, General Director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky at a press conference on the opening of Biennale. “We held consultations with lawyers. Everything that is presented on the Manifesto does not violate the laws of the Russian Federation, ”Piotrovsky ITAR-TASS quotes.

We decided to check the work that might seem too bold and frank in order to avoid incidents and proceedings. The Hermitage has already encountered cases when the works of modern authors at museum exhibitions were interpreted by some representatives of the public as a challenge or violation of moral standards.

In 2012, more than a hundred residents of St. Petersburg turned to the prosecutor with complaints about the exhibition of British conceptualists of the brothers Jake and Dinos Chapmens “The End of Fun” in the Hermitage. They asked to bring to justice the leadership of the museum and authors of the exhibition for extremism in connection with a demonstration of the image of a defiled cross, according to their assessment.

The prosecutor's office did not reveal the facts of the desecration of Christian shrines at the exhibition in the Hermitage. In turn, the director of the museum Mikhail Piotrovsky then turned to the Russian Prosecutor General with a request to "protect the museum from the pressure of religious activists."

The European Biennale of Modern Art "Manifesto 10" will be held from June 28 to October 31. Mostly the Biennale project, the site of which will be the Hermitage, are attended by 54 artists and creative teams.

Against the holding of “Manifesto” in St. Petersburg, due to Russian politics in relation to Ukraine, artists from around the world protested , the creative platform “What to do?” She refused to participate in Biennal.