galerist (maratguelman) wrote,
galerist
maratguelman

интервью на FRANCE 24

Marat Guelman is the former director of the PERMM modern art museum.
During my career, several exhibitions I worked on have run into trouble with the authorities – especially during this past year and a half [Editor’s Note: since president Vladimir Putin’s re-election]. One example is the exhibit “Rodina” (“The Homeland”) in the Siberian capital Novossibirsk in May 2012. The city’s mayor first decided to ban it from a local museum, and then put pressure on the owners of a private gallery where it was exposed. We finally were able to hold the exhibit in a third venue. There was a similar situation in St Petersburg, where we were pressured to shut down the exhibit “Icons” [which portrayed religious icons, and drew the ire of many believers]. But we still managed to go through with it and it was a great success.
In Perm, we have exhibited some much more satirical work than Slonov’s in the past. So I get the impression that the authorities see the Olympic Games as almost sacred, despite the numerous political scandals that have already emerged. Recently, Russia adopted a law to protect the feelings of believers. In Perm, people joke that we might soon have a law protecting the feelings of those who believe in the Olympic Games!
The authorities don’t care about local residents’ feelings; the only thing that matters is Putin’s feelings. And the Olympic Games are his favourite toy.
You can still see Slonov’s work at the PERMM museum. I may have been fired, but the authorities didn’t shut down the exhibit for a second time. Being persistent paid off. It was worth it. Now, the entire world knows about this exhibit. If I were in the authorities’ shoes, I would be careful before banning art exhibits, because in the end, doing so gives them publicity.
http://observers.france24.com/content/20130626-joking-russia-olympic-games-slonov
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