Programme of the Pushkin Museum at the Festival «Intermuseum 2018»

25 May 2018
Afiliación

Place: All-Russian exhibition centre VDNH (pavilion № 75), booth 137

Dates: May 31 – June 3 2018

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts will participate in the Jubilee XX Festival «Intermuseum 2018», which will take place at the All-Russian exhibition centre VDNH from May 31 to June 3 and will bring together almost 400 museums from Russia, and the countries of near and far abroad. Theme of the Festival this year is «Museums and Society». The Pushkin Museum will literally «open eyes» to the current problems of contemporary society, and to the role of a man in museum space. Jury of the competition programme of the Festival this year is headed by Irina Antonova, President of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

Museum’s projects will be represented with the mobile application with augmented reality ARTEFACT: the Museum’s booth will be decorated with a collage from multiple photos of real people’s eyes, who are connected to the Museum. The eyes will «come to life» when you direct a smartphone to the image. The application will open on the phone and will tell you about various initiatives of the Museum, which are connected to the theme of the Festival. Among them there is an inclusive project «Accessible Museum», which aims to create a comfortable environment for all visitors, including adults and children with special health needs. The application ARTEFACT allows finding out more about this developing initiative and will show a video message from the staff members in Russian sign language, as well as the video tours of the blockbuster shows and of the main exhibition of the Museum.

Visitors of the Festival will be able to see the video project «From the Museum point of view», presenting thoughts of contemporary artists about classical art. A series of short videos offers an alternative interpretation of famous art works from the Pushkin Museum’s collection. The project features Erik Bulatov, Yurij Norshtein, Arseniy Zhilyaev, AES+F group, Boris Orlov, Francisco Infante-Arana, Irina Nakhova, Recycle Group, Dmitry Gutov, Andrey Bartenev, Georgy Frangulyan, Savva Saveliev, Alexander Ponomarev,  Leonid Tishkov and Irina Zatulovskaya, author of the project is Evgeniya Kiseleva. Presentation of the first episodes of «From the Museum point of view» was held on May 31 2017 – on the day of 105th birthday of the Pushkin Museum. Since this day, the series is constantly updated with new episodes on the video channel of the Museum.

The Museum’s booth will also include information about other programs, for example, about «Volunteers of the Pushkin Museum» - a freelance network of the Pushkin Museum, which nowadays consists of more than 400 people. Although the participants of this program work in various spheres, they are united by their love for the Museum and a wish to participate in its life. Main duties of volunteers include carrying out technical functions and interacting with visitors. As an expression of gratitude for their work, the volunteers can visit exhibitions, lectures and guided tours of the Museum for free.

Another major activity of the Museum, represented at the Festival is additional education at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Since 2006, the Museum has its own Center of Esthetic Education for Children and Teenagers «Museion», offering art history clubs and creative studios for children aged 5 to 18 years. At these classes young visitors get to know the history of art, learn to differentiate artistic styles and movements, find out more about the permanent exhibition and temporary shows of the Museum. Also it is possible to apply for drawing studio, pottery and graphics workshops. Teenagers from 13 to 18 years come to the Museum not only to learn, but also to teach. Once or twice a year on Sundays the Pushkin Museum runs an event «I’ll show you the museum», where the pupils of the Club of Young Art Historians (CYAH) tell the visitors about the Museum’s collection. Alongside the educational programme, there is also an entertaining part: the children have quizzes about art, play with the Museum’s guests in intellectual games, organize performances and concerts.

The Pushkin Museum takes part also in the competition programme of the Festival «Intermuseum 2018». This year, a record number of applications were submitted: 500 projects from 322 institutions. 173 museums were selected for the second round, in which the jury reviewed 265 proposals and presentations. The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts was shortlisted for the final of the competition in the category «Best museum research project» with a project by Vasilij Rastorguev, Senior Research Officer of Old Master Painting Department, which examines sculpture of Italian Renaissance from the Foundation of looted art, and in the category «Best museum educational project» for the project by the Club of Young Art Historians «Lab of museum professions», lead by Nataliya Gomberg, Senior Methodologist of Educational Activities at the Museum.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on July 3 (All-Russian exhibition centre VDNH, Main stage of pavilion № 75, starting on 3 pm).

 

Speakers from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts will take part in public discussions and round tables of the Festival «Intermuseum 2018», dedicated to the issues of inclusivity, functioning of museum in the digital age, educational cultural initiatives, and also to the questions of restoration and conservation. The Pushkin Museum will be represented by Bakanova I.B., Deputy Research Director of the Museum; Opredelenov B.B., Deputy Information Technology Director of the Museum; Miloserdova I.A., Deputy Development Director of the Museum; Borodin I.B., Head of Restoration and Conservation Department of the Museum; Abbasova G.E., Senior Methodologist of Popular Science Department of the Museum; Kiseleva E.I., Head of the Department of Inclusivity Programs; Dreznina M.G., Head Research Officer of the Children's Educational Center.

25 May 2018