RUSSIA: 'Museum of Everything' travels across Russia, collecting art work from amateur Russian artists to display in an exhibit on wheels
Record ID:
573002
RUSSIA: 'Museum of Everything' travels across Russia, collecting art work from amateur Russian artists to display in an exhibit on wheels
- Title: RUSSIA: 'Museum of Everything' travels across Russia, collecting art work from amateur Russian artists to display in an exhibit on wheels
- Date: 23rd August 2012
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 23, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE GATE TO GORKY PARK VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO GARAGE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE SIGN ADVERTISING 'MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING' EXHIBITION MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING EMPLOYEES TALKING NEAR EXHIBITION WAGON SIGN ON SHIRT READING 'THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING' FOUNDER OF 'MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING' JAMES BRETT TALKING TO JOURNALIST BRETT HOLDING FOLDER MUSEUM WORKERS NEAR WAGON BRETT AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF 'MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING' JAMES BRETT, SAYING: "What's apparent to us, after going to all these different cities, is there's a big silent majority. There's all these people who have something to say, and they don't have the opportunity to say it - particularly artists. In England or America, there's more opportunity, there are more galleries, there are more museums, and more curators who are open to these ideas."
- Embargoed: 7th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA63IUGNQXVDK3WUYO4O462YZQ3
- Story Text: 'The "Museum of Everything" opened its doors to amateur Moscow artists on Thursday (August 23) in an attempt to expand a curated exhibit of art work from across the former Soviet country.
Founded by filmmaker, entrepreneur and artist James Brett, the Museum of Everything, which was started in the U.K., has been travelling to major Russian cities for the last few weeks, to collect works by amateur artists to display.
Two large red trucks with attached wagons form the mobile exhibition space that the Museum of Everything is housed in. The travelling art halls have already been to St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg. Moscow is the final stop in the museum's Russia tour.
The philosophy behind the project is to allow artists unrecognised by mainstream galleries and curators to have a chance to display their work.
In Russia, Brett said, there was an unusually large number of unrecognised artists.
"What's apparent to us, after going to all these different cities, is there's a big silent majority. There's all these people who have something to say, and they don't have the opportunity to say it - particularly artists. In England or America, there's more opportunity, there are more galleries, there are more museums, and more curators who are open to these ideas," Brett told journalists at a news conference at Moscow's Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture.
The artwork collected by the museum on wheels had a distinctly Russian flavour, according to Brett.
"Russian artists are much more Russian, and you see it in everything they do. I mean, there's a history of, there's a different history of Christianity here - you see that. There's a history before Christianity - you see that. There's a history of craft, of more naive painting - you see that, but also you see the conflict of modern society coming in the way that it only does in Russia. You see violent imagery because there's a lot of violence here in Russia. You see nature because of the nature here," Brett said.
The Museum of Everything tour across Russia is a joint project between Brett and the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture - a sleek modern gallery set up by Dasha Zhukova, the girlfriend of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
Brett told Reuters that the project intentionally chose to come to Russia in 2012 because of the series of political protests in the country ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency in March for a third term.
"One of the reasons we came this year was because of the (political) protests. You know, both Garage and I felt that this mood of vocalising, this spirit of wanting to say something actually was a great time to see if there was also a creative version of that," Brett said.
What the art curators have found, however, is that a majority of artists seemed to be afraid to voice political opinions.
"We do see politicised art, but we don't see that much because people don't feel as free to express it," Brett told Reuters.
The exhibit has had no shortage of amateur artists eager to submit their work for curation.
In Moscow amateur artist Nataly Titovskaya brought several paintings to show to Brett and other curators.
"Because I don't think of myself as a professional artist - I've never studied anywhere - all this (artwork) is purely from my imagination; what I make from what I have in my head, I decided to try (to submit my paintings). Maybe someone besides me will like them," Titovskaya told Reuters.
The Museum of Everything is set to stay in Moscow until early September before continuing on from Russia for an international tour, making stops in Paris, London, New York and Los Angeles.
Participating artists will have their work displayed at the local exhibition, and pieces chosen by the museum's jury will be included in an exhibit set to go on display in 2013. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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