Socialite diva Polina Askeri frightened the residents of Zaraysk with an expensive exhibition

In the Moscow region, the first attempt to integrate contemporary art into history failed

The first damn thing is lumpy. This proverb perfectly reflects what happened in the city of Zaraysk with a cultural initiative called the festival of contemporary art “Between the Past and the Future.” Right now, an ancient town near Moscow is being put in order, and it’s time to create new points of cultural attraction and revive old ones. However, in fact, the “festival” resulted in a single exhibition without a concept, several master classes, one mural and an art object without authorship, which was hastily created by the team of event curator Marisabel (Marina Glukhova). The opening of the event turned into an absurd chaos, which was witnessed by the MK art observer.

The main point of the event was a historical house, which was almost in disrepair. The two-story building with intricate carved frames, built in the first half of the 19th century, is recognized as an architectural monument and has protected status. In 1891–1895, the revolutionary populist, poet Grigory Machtet, the author of the famous poem “Tortured by Heavy Bondage,” which became a popular song at the end of the 19th century, lived here. However, the organizers of the event did not bother to write about who lived in the house, by whom and when it was built. Two weeks before the opening of the “festival”, which was planned to be held in the summer, cosmetic renovations began at an accelerated pace in the historical house, which were completed at the last moment. Ex-model and now gallery owner Polina Askeri strived to fill the rooms with art. She was unable or did not have time to come up with any special concept for the exhibition. I simply hung the artists’ works throughout the halls, not forgetting, however, to indicate their prices. The number of zeros shocked local residents with meager salaries.

It seems that Polina confused Zaraysk with Cosmoscow, where she was not allowed this year, and brought to Zaraysk everything that she usually shows at fairs. The works are mostly pop and interior, some are funny and have a bit of spice. Thus, Alexey Golovin presented paintings made from screws, and Vladimir Ivanov presented bright Cheburashkas and the kitten Gav. The day after the opening, these artists held master classes for children, who were a little stunned by the images of nudity and a squirrel with a grenade presented by other authors. For the vernissage itself, the gallery owner brought six busloads of her friends from Rublyovka, who yesterday were partying at the club, and today they went to Zaraysk to have some fun. This is a good thing, especially since there are such winds here that it blows away. But isn’t the exhibition aimed at local residents and ordinary tourists, who can hardly shell out 700 thousand rubles for a painting? But, it seems, not for them, but for a select few, two haystacks were placed at the entrance to Machtet’s house, which disappeared the next day, and velvet curtains with ruffles in the style of a circus tent were hung.

The presence of the “festival” could be noticed in another place on Sovetskaya Street. A mural by Evgeniy Ches appeared on the 60-meter facade of a residential building. True, it turned out that the artist did not work alone, but in a group that decided to remain in the shadows. Each of the team members had his own view, so it turned out that part of the drawing was in one style, and part in another. The central part of the graffiti depicts running bison, which reminds us that it was in Zaraysk that an animal figurine was found, skillfully made by the hand of an ancient master 23 thousand years ago. The Paleolithic sculpture became a sensation and is kept in the local museum on the territory of the Kremlin. The mural, which was created as quickly as the exhibition in the Machtet house, is at least connected with the history of the place and was created by artists. But who made the giant stack of books with Dostoevsky’s name near the Kremlin remains a mystery. The object looks more like an element of landscaping than an installation. Fyodor Dostoevsky spent his childhood on the Darovoye estate, 25 km from Zaraysk. It would be worthwhile to involve modern authors, and not just anyone, in understanding this historical circumstance.

The trace of Dostoevsky in Zaraysk can also be seen on the trees that surround the water tower. The stylish architectural building of the early 20th century has not been used for its intended purpose for a long time; now you can go up there to see the entire ancient town from above. The trees near the tower were wrapped in red cloth with a quote from the novel “The Teenager.” By the way, contemporaries considered this novel a failure of Dostoevsky and criticized it for being “formless” and “chaotic,” which can also be said about the current attempt at a cultural reboot of Zaraysk.

Unfortunately, many historical places where we would like to add life remain unused. The halls on the floors of the water tower are empty. We passed by the house-museum of sculptor Anna Golubkina, who was born and died in Zaraysk. The art school named after her has an exhibition hall that could have been included in the program, but was not. The branch of the Bakhrushin Museum, which is in desperate need of restoration, which is why original things cannot be shown there, could become one of the sites, but no. Over the past couple of years, the city has already changed a little, and now the churches are being restored, the embankment and streets are being improved. There are more than 646 historical buildings in the city, and 90 of them have monument status. Modern art could fill them with new life. But the integration of modernity into history should be appropriate and large-scale, and not crumpled down to a private party for a Moscow gallery owner.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29132 dated October 10, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Rublevka on Zaraysk