Statue “Europe”, 400 m, project Zurab Tsereteli, 2010
Meters
400
Peter The Great statue, 98 m, Moscow Zurab Tsereteli, 1997
300 London Tower, 120 m, Olympic park Anish Capoor, 2012
Lenin, 100 m, project Merkurov, 1938 Palace of the Soviets, 200 400 m, project B. Iofan, 1930s
100 72
2.6 MOSCOW PUBLIC ART XXth Century Statue “Europe”, 400 m, project Zurab Tsereteli, 2010 by Daria Nuzhnaya
What is Moscow public art?
Methodology As the method I found it essential to establish the frames of the term itself. The core of my countries. I concentrated on comparison of the different historical periods in Moscow, analyzed leaps that happened in the installation of the memorials during the 20th century and found the prerequisites why this happened. Focusing on periods of transition from one historical period to Meters 400
Peter The Great statue, 98 m, Moscow Relevance The topic of public art in Moscow has been widely discussed for the past 15 years (1997 – the Zurab Tsereteli, 1997 because of its installation produced great discourse about whether it should be standing in Mos- cow or it should be demolished.
Conclusion 300 The history of Moscow public art had his own different way of developing. But what is the stage London Tower, 120 m, Olympic park public art in Moscow is standing now? Does the today's strategy in public art so different from Anish Capoor, 2012 strategies in Europe or USA? What are the tendencies and who are the contemporary artists in Russia?
Lenin, 100 m, project Merkurov, 1938 Palace of the Soviets, 200 400 m, project B. Iofan, 1930s
100 73 PUBLIC SPACE
Image caption
There are different interpretations of the term qualitatively – contemplating the art, talking From left to right.
“Public art”. Some cultural critics say that about it and debating it. Art enabled people to Alexander Calder "La Grande Vitesse", Grand not every piece of art displayed publicly can explore the city in a different manner. Rapids, Michigan, 1951 actually be treated as a form of public art. Does this mean that public art should always Pablo Picasso, Untitled, Chicago, 1967 be discussed and always create social activity Valie Export " Aus der Mappe der Hundig- keit", Vienna,1968 random monuments that were installed in pub- and social debate? I’m sure that it does. Public Altman, design for decoration of Palace lic spaces with regard to history or historical art could have every form of appearance, any Square for the 1st anniversary of the Revolu- personalities. It is also not merely a statue or tion, Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, Saint-Peters- burg, 1918 sculpture in a park. PA is a dialog. It is also an embodiment, the main thing is – once it comes Alexander Brener, performance with Oleg indicator of a city’s creativity. Art aims at com- to the public space and people notice it, this Kulik "Wild dog", 1994 munication between the city and its residents. form of public life immediately captures atten- Monuments of Soviet Leaders, hall in Krasno- It should be a provocation that inspires dialog tion and becomes a topic for discussion. That presnenskaya metro, 1935 between a person and art, calling forth ideas is what happened with gigantic Peter the Great and reactions. Therefore, an individual’s reac- monument, the Sholokhov monument on the tion could be called a contemporary art piece. Boulevard Ring and many other art pieces in During my research, I understood that it is Moscow. These monuments have provoked - lic space as “Public art”, because this term they be installed to begin with - that they im- usually means something more than a banal "Peter The Great Sculpture created the con- sculpture. There were no art movements, as for social attention, becoming hot topics. there were in European countries in the late From this point in my research I will refer to in a form of public discussion." Boris Grois 60s, when artists went outside the museums every “art” piece or activity that was displayed to public spaces, to address city residents. or had occurred in a public space, be it a This movement was a conscious step toward monument, a park sculpture or any forms of the appearance of new forms of activities in social art activity, as “Public art”. the city. People started to pass their free time
From this point in my research I will refer to every “art” piece or activity that was displayed or had occurred in a public space, be it a monument, a park sculpture or any forms of social art activity, as “Public art”. MOSCOW PUBLIC ART 74
Public art Career
The oldest forms of art appeared in ancient times. Public art transformed through history, rep- resenting different forms of religion and authority. Then there was a transition process when art Performances initiated by artists in public spaces became independent from these aspects. This began taking place even earlier, starting with happened in Europe and the USA. In Europe in “dada” performances in Zurich during the First the 1960s, there was an art movement, when World War and continuing with Joseph Beuys artists came from the museum halls to the city and Valie Export performances after the Second spaces – they started to exhibit art on the streets. World War. This movement was initiated by such artists as A bit later, in 1974 Russia, the well-known Richard Serra, Henry Moore, Jean Tinguely, Niki Buldozer exhibition took place. The intention of Saint de Phalle etc. The sculptures were incorpo- artists that organized this exhibition was to have rated into the environment and, therefore, created an opportunity to exhibit their art and show it to a cultural identity for the place. the public. It ended unsuccessfully, but years later, the artists got the chance to exhibit their art and for a city itself appeared in the USA with at the Izmailovskiy pavilion. From the 1976, the such programs as the Art-in-Public-Places group CD, a.k.a. “collective actions,” appeared. Program, commissioned by the National That was the start of Moscow conceptualist art. CD held performances outside of the city in appeared in Chicago that was not dedicated suburban areas. to historical personalities was a Picasso cubist - sculpture. Once it appeared, there were a lot of tion and performances in public space in Mos- proposals to replace it with a traditional statue. Another example was Alexander Calder’s “La the beginning of changes in society, in this case Grande Vitesse” that immediately became an – the beginning of the end of the authoritarian identity sign for the city of Grand Rapids. The political regime and appearance of democracy. logo of this sculpture was even printed on rub- Richard Serra, Titled Arc, 1981 bish bins. The earlier period of public art is very the installation the propagandistic art pieces. 75 PUBLIC SPACE
Dzerjinskiy Demolished in 1991 Gagarin Kalinin 6 installed 3 installed 1 demolished Karl Marx Lenin Kirov Gertsen 5 installed 80 installed 5 installed 4 installed 3 demolished 18 demolished demolished 2 demolished 1000 Chaotic process of memorials installation. Frunze 800 7 installed app number - unknown
600 app. number of memo- rial installed: 800
400
200 Lenin’s monumental Start of the “Leniniana” propaganda
1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Standing in public Demolished
Timeline shows the censorship from soviet Installation - demolishing process perestroika
During the Soviet period in Moscow, propagandist art. And the art pieces display history, lessons of ideology appears in every sign in the city. It started nature and politics. We have to keep this lesson to with the 1st Soviet National Commissars decree introduce in to Moscow. Let’s call it – monumental about monumental propaganda. The program propaganda”. Monumental propaganda consisted had strict propagandistic censorship - it consisted not only of monuments, but also visual art, mosa- of two parts: 1) Getting rid of old monuments ics, and memorial boards on buildings. (all signs of Tsarist times and Orthodox religious In 1924, after Lenin’s death, there were huge “iconoclasm”– to promote atheism); 2) New monu- debates about the installation of the monuments. ment strategy. The list of monuments that should be installed in public space consisted of famous there should be Lenin monuments in public revolutionaries (Spartak, Brut, Gertsen), writers and spaces or not. poets (Lermontov, Pushkin, Gogol’), philosophers Suddenly the process began – chaotically so. (Scovoroda, Mendeleev), artists, composers and Lenin memorials were built and installed eve- actors. rywhere in the country. Every sculptor had to Therefore, there was a proposal to install 66 produce them. The he authorities had to stop put monuments dedicated to historical personali- an end to it, mostly because the quality of the ties, but only 33 were installed during the years Lenin memorials was in most cases awful. Here, of Lenin’s monumental propaganda in Moscow. the process of demolishing and the creation of the Before the 1918th there were 11 monuments About 7 monuments from the time of the Tsars control apparatus began. The decree from 1925 installed. During the Lenin's monumental propaganda 7 were demolished. about the “installation of Lenin memorials” created monuments from Tsar time were demolished The monuments were installed randomly, ignoring a special body that would control the quality and the sculptors’ work, highlighting the start of the the Tverskaya square alone. The city was covered “Leniniana” – another period of Lenin memorial During the Lenin's monumental propaganda 33 monuments were installed. 3 monuments in propaganda art pieces. installation, which lasted for 60 years. During the from this program are still standing in public space Where did the idea of putting ideological art pieces Soviet period, approximately 81 Lenin monuments everywhere in the city come from? were installed. The new body controlled the list of During the 1918-1991 there were 389 monu- There are records that Lenin talked with Lunacha- future memorials. Persons who performed great ments installed rskiy about the Moscow city space. He said: “Do services to the Soviets also had their memorials you remember the Campanella’s Sun City? He made and installed in public spaces. The process wrote about the ideal socialist country and talking of installation was quite predictable, there were about that, in an ideal socialis city every street, about 2-3 monuments put in each year. every square, every space should be covered with MOSCOW PUBLIC ART 76
Period of monument installation 1720 1740 1760 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Period of monument dedication
1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 Memory world map: Part of the world where a person (who has a monument in Moscow) lived.
Miguel de Cervantesi monument Indira Gandi monument Ho She Min monument
Diagram caption: Connection between period of installation Memory and period of monument dedication. What kind of memory were people keeping? French president, European composers and From the diagram it is clearly seen that dur- writers who lived in the 18th-19th centuries. ing the 20th century, monuments were mostly Art pieces in Moscow memorialized different installed in dedication to several periods: cultures. It is clear why other communist coun- 1) 1812 - the Patriotic War against the French tries that were friendly with the Soviet Union Invasion. were represented. The intent behind monu- 2) 1905 - The 1905 Revolution ments to Beethoven, Charles de Gaulle, etc. 3) 1917 - October Revolution was perhaps different. 4) 1941-1945 - Great Patriotic War. A number After the Soviet Union’s collapse - there were of soldiers and partisans had the monuments monuments built in dedication to the Russian dedicated to their military feats. Tsars and historical personalities that lived From 1950 - the monuments were installed before Soviets. That could be explained by the dedicated to great doctors, scientists, academ- the course that Russian national identity took – ics, writers and composers – those who con- by referencing the history of Russia in the Tsars’ tributed to the development of the Soviet Union. time. Monuments were dedicated not only to Soviet people, but also to foreign politicians, revo- lutionaries and writers from India, Nicaragua, Cuba, Georgia, etc. Also for the last 20 years monuments were installed in dedication to the 77 PUBLIC SPACE
Stage 1: Application stage Who can send the application? Anyone Stage 2: Meeting Memorial committee meeting Stage 3: Final agreement National budget Final agreement with Moscow City Council, Formation: Cultural committee, Moscomarchitecture, Mayor Private investments
t ep cc List of the proposals about the a n c o ti si installation of the memorials in a ci m de ? the city to r ? n Au o e io ay te ic M it es m d m ee co it m on ti om ~ 1 meeting per month na c i al ~ 10 application on the installation of memorials m ri xa o ~ 50% of application on the installation approved e em m ~ 60 memorials installation per year
Mechanics of application process and deci- sion making system on public art.
Public art administration
1991-1996 - No law or control body for After the Soviet collapse and cancellation of the ists and cultural critics such as Prigov, etc. public art in Moscow. previous laws about public art, art pieces began The law is limited to the installation of public art - 13.10.1998 - Moscow City Law "About the to spring up everywhere in the city. Moscow was only monuments dedicated to the historical per- procedure of installation the art pieces of the overcrowded with art of any kind. “Monument sonalities or events can be put in public space. fever” began. Commercial organizations, private Therefore, the process of chaotic installation 156 monuments preserved although not all of them are in charge of Moscow committee on companies, political parties – everyone started Cultural Heritage to install something in public space. Monuments despite the law and the committee, and many of 54 monuments are in charge of Moscow Committee on Cultural Heritage appeared unexpectedly. Here someone put in the committee’s recommendations were ignored. 46 monuments are in charge of State a monument dedicated to cheese, there - to a guarding dog. The number of monuments that were put art, he befriended sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, who in during this period is in the thousands. Public started to install his art all over the city with the protest against this chaotic process of installa- Mayor’s blessing despite the law. The numbers tion reached its culmination in 1997 when the of monuments installed differ from one expert to gigantic sculpture of Peter The Great appeared another, and no one can say the exact number. in the city. The committee still worked on the selection pro- Therefore, in 1997 a new law was passed, es- cess – deciding which monument should be put tablishing the rules for the process of applying to in the space, and which should not. They had install a monument and a public body to oversee approximately 12-15 applications for installation the process. The public body controlled the ap- each month. 50% were usually accepted. The plications and chose what kind of monuments chaotic process of memorial installation has ta- Total amount of monuments in public space should be installed in a particular space . In 1998 pered off somewhat today, when compared with in the world - 86 the monuments committee started to work as Total amount of monuments in public space in Moscow - 31 a control body for art installation in the city. The but the mechanics and system are still the same. Productivity in public space in Moscow - - 2 monuments per year MOSCOW PUBLIC ART 78
IMAGE
Tsoy wall, Stary Arbat, Moscow regime. Every performance of the group was in the late 1980s. I consider that the most inter- - esting example of it as a social phenomenon to Illegal and informal movements: be Tcoi’s Wall on Stary Arbat in Moscow. On the 2010 the group won a prize in the Innovation 1974, Buldozer exhibition day when musician Victor Tsoi died, someone -