Translated material
Kalyaka-Malyava
Students and professors of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg opposed the exhibition convicted for the fraud of the ex-official of the Ministry of Defense Evgenia Vasilyeva
Recall: in the case of Oboronservice, Evgeny Vasiliev was sentenced to 5 years in prison in a general regime colony. But she spent only 34 days in the colony, freed on parole. The court estimated the damage caused to the state at 647 million rubles. ”
An attempt by Evgenia Vasilyeva, who speaks under the creative pseudonym EVA, was not to instill their artistic values in the cultural capital without complications. The opening of the Vesna exhibition at the Museum at the Academy of Arts was accompanied by unflattering reviews: “Shame”, “Horse in the Senate” and “Act of Vandalism”.
More than 350 students, graduate students, professors and teachers of the Academy made an open letter, urging Vasilyeva’s work from the walls of Alma Mater.
The Honorary Academician (along with Vladimir Putin, Yuri Chaika, Mikhail Kovalchuk, etc.) Evgenia Vasiliev became last autumn-Vasily Tsereteli, vice president and grandson of the President of the Russian Academy of Arts Tsereteli, introduced her candidacy.
The title of Honorary Academician served as a formal basis for the placement of the Vasilyeva exhibition in the halls of the Research Museum at the Academy (MAH). In any case, this is explained by the director of Mach Alexei Mudrov. Under the “works of Eve” several museum halls and spaces adjacent to the front staircase were taken. But the most outraged was caused by the placement of rabbit paintings in a gypsototex - a collection of casts from ancient monuments, the space of which from time immemorial serve students with drawing halls.
- This is the apple of the Academy. There are no such museums anywhere, not in any university, ”the architect Alexei Sholokhov is convinced. -It is necessary to understand absolutely nothing in the teaching method, and in the culture of the museum as a whole, and to be a complete ignoramus, so that there is only terracotta walls and white gypsum-something else to hang on the walls. Moreover, hang such a rare [...], as presented funny pictures.
This is the first time that the scientific curator of the exhibition is not indicated on the museum website. The art critic Elizabeth Plavinskaya, promoting Evgeny Vasiliev since 2014, this time recognizes only the role of the “accompanying curator”.
“This whole exhibition is a total installation made by Vasilyeva specifically for the Academy of Arts, precisely for this architecture,” Mrs. Plavinskaya explained to the new “new”. - Eugene built the whole exposition herself. This is generally its practice - to control everything itself, it is very reverent not only to the composition of the exposition, but also to the fact that, how and where it is located. Here in the blue hall - it became yellow, there is monumental yellow canvases, with the inclusion of Mapping elements. And here - a media installation ( at the front staircase under a murmuring musical accompaniment, they rush along the walls, touching the wings of the genitals of ancient heroes, red light birds ). Well, who else will launch birds in ionic columns! - the curator is touched.
The question of how to her the result of such introducing into a classical environment, and does it interfere with an hour, to evaluate the dignity of the creations of her ward, causes a new storm of delight:
- I'm shocked! - rolls the eyes of Elizabeth. - This combination only enriches both sides. According to Mrs. Plavinskoy, Eva is mowing and selecting her works, making up an original story for each city. But the exposition of such complexity did not happen, because Petersburg is especially important for Evgenia Vasilyeva:
“She always said that her most serious, adult and responsible statement would be in her hometown.”
The pupils of the Academy, who got into a picket at the gypsumtext with portraits of classic-living rooms, did not see anything “adult and responsible” in the works of the ex-official.
“There is no artistic value in them, they do not carry either artistic or semantic load,” snapped the student of Alexander. - Vasilieva probably hoped that her "masterpieces" would ride for primitivism. But in order to be a real primitivist, great talent and professionalism are required. And the color decisions of her work are absolutely helpless, like an attempt to hide the lack of meaning with a wide smear.
The young man who stood nearby expressed his position without words, only by the inscription on the protective mask: "This is not art."
When Vasilyeva appeared with the retinue of the crown "Shame!" They became louder.
Students tried to besiege the museum lady who met guests: "Do not scream, we must speak quietly, this is a cultural institution."
- We scream because no one hears us! - the students retorted.
The rector of the Academy Semen Mikhailovsky in a conversation with the “New” admitted that it was with his students for the first time: “So far they have not participated in any protests at all, but this story was touched by the living.”
As the “disgrace”, the rector was not appreciated by the campaign of students, but by the Vasilyeva exhibition itself within the walls of the Academy, simultaneously comparing this story with a much more ancient - the appearance of a horse in the Senate. The rector is convinced that if she had imagined her “creations” in the experimental exhibition space, like the Gallery “Pork Ryl”, this would not have been crumbling.
The museum is an independent legal entity, its founder is the Ministry of Culture, he does not obey the academy, and is only located in its historical building on the university embankment. The leadership of the university is not entitled to form a summons of the museum expositions. According to Semyon Mikhailovsky, he learned about the exhibition of Vasilyeva and was categorically against - “Because it is an educational institution, students here from morning to evening, work in these halls and are brought up on the fact that art is a great serious work, and not such ... what they see here now.” But his objections did not play a role. “I warned that the scandal is inevitable. They only told me in response - we heard you. Of course, Evgenia Vasilieva is a beautiful woman, an effective manager, she apparently always behaved very correctly, including during the investigation and the trial ( her chief, Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov, remained in the case of Oboronservice only a witness . - T. L. ), retained the resource of serious connections. Now she, a novice artist with a extinguished criminal record, lives in his imaginary world, longs for a different glory. And to satisfy her vanity, there are influential friends. The level of their capabilities can be appreciated by yourself: they assure me that there will be no exhibition, but in two hours they say - it will be. That is, someone in these two hours made one call. ”
The opening of the exhibition "Vesna" was closed - only for the invited Vasilyeva herself.
They did not let the stairs and the press and the press convened for this event, offering to “take a walk” for a couple of hours along the street, until the tolerable comes out for a press conference.
Communication with journalists came out short -lived. Evgenia Vasilieva talked about her scientific research - "all her life worked in the field of rational knowledge, now it became interesting what irrational knowledge is, and how they work at the junction." She was explained in love “to everything related to Russia”, expressed admiration for “our very talented people” and gratitude for what he herself could do in Russia.
Questions about whose initiative the fruits of this work were within the walls of the Academy and on commercial conditions, EVA redirected an anonymous benefactor. Like, there are connoisseurs of her works that take on all organizational and financial tasks. And her very money is not interested - she is just a creator. A certain collector, who had previously become the owner of several of her works, asked to provide work for this exhibition - she provided. But he considers to reveal the name incorrect without his consent. Mrs. Vasilieva expressed particular gratitude "to all the highest forces that help."
The presence of higher forces at the exhibition could not be detected. But among the guests one could see businessman Curie Usmanov, a “collector and philanthropist”, as he positions himself. Recently, Usmanov acquired for 400 thousand dollars a picture of David Datuna "All -seeing V." (Portrait of President Putin). There are several works by Evgenia Vasilyeva in the collection of Usmanov. Mr. Usmanov sold photographs of three of them last fall at a charity auction at a price of $ 1,800.