Evgenia Milova about the social events of the week

The closer to the tree, the less this column pretends to look at the entire social week: the author is not given such a breadth of view. The last one, for example, began simultaneously with the TSUM Fashion Show at the Maly Theater and with a party in honor of the 30th anniversary of the communication company Mikhailov and Partners. In the first case, dressed people walked around the stage, in the second – next to it. Five years ago, Mikhailov and Partners celebrated its previous significant date with an exhibition in the New Manege. The company then analyzed the memology of modern reality and, in collaboration with the Triumph gallery, allowed contemporary artists to ennoble jokes from the Internet with art. I then remembered a sawn-off shotgun on which it was written: “What is the strength, brother?” – “In post-truth.” Five years later, if you can laugh at anything, it’s at your own carelessness. So the Mikhailov and Partners holiday was most similar to a normal corporate event: dressed up employees, snacks, a VIP area for management guests. For entertainment: a concert by Leonid Agutin, which even an emergency operation to remove a blood clot could not cancel, as well as the “PRobka” award, which is awarded to wineries and winemakers for achievements in the field of communications and marketing. The award was hosted personally by Marianna Maksimovskaya, and from the VIP box she was applauded by Sergei Mikhailov and Yuliana Slashcheva, Konstantin Ernst, Andrei Vavilov, Andrei Sharonov, Konstantin Remchukov, Boris Titov. The latter, however, came down to go up on stage and personally receive the “Most Recommended Brand” grand prix for “Abrau-Durso”.

Next up was the Catalog art fair, which was organized by the Association of Galleries (AGA), which opened (but closed last night). The AGA includes 23 galleries from different cities of Russia, so they also plan to hold the new fair not only in Moscow. The initiators of the project were the founder of the astra gallery Alina Kryukova, the co-founder of the Triumph gallery Dmitry Khankin, the founder of the 11.12 gallery Alexander Sharov, as well as the founder of the Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art Sofia Trotsenko – all of them are on the board of the AGA. A year ago, they held a “Little Winter Fair” at Winzavod, but were not entirely satisfied with the number of buyers. So now the fair has moved to the building of Sytin’s printing house on Pyatnitskaya Street. One nice thing: already during the preview, Ms. Kryukova led a tour of the fair for novice collectors. There were also a lot of aspiring artists at each stand – this was one of the conditions for participation. On Sunday evening, it turned out that approximately 6 thousand people visited the fair, and about 50% of purchases from galleries were made by new clients. That is, this year we managed to convey it.

Closer to the end of the week, Konstantin Bogomolov gave the premiere in his theater. Five years after the premiere of the play “Glory” based on the play by Viktor Gusev at the Bolshoi Drama Theater, Mr. Bogomolov presented “Glory. Youth” based on the same work. Here, as in the case of the Mikhailov and Partners holidays, the life that had passed over these five years was felt quite clearly. And the promise of the protagonist’s mother to “equip her sons” if the enemy approaches the border sounds like it has already come true. However, the guests, among whom were Vladimir Pozner, Lyudmila Narusova, Artem Karisalov, Victoria Manasir and Sofya Trotsenko, simply praised the director’s skill. And this premiere was in the news due to the fact that singer Elena Vaenga, who came at the invitation of Mr. Bogomolov, fainted during the performance.

Evgenia Milova, Kommersant columnist