Where did the billions of rubles go, allocated for the construction of the second stage of the new storage facility for the most famous museum in the country worth 3.6 billion rubles?
On the evening of January 31, it became known that FSB officers were seizing documentation from the State Hermitage. Investigative measures may be related to the desire of the authorities to check where the billions of rubles allocated for the construction of the second stage of the new Hermitage storage facility on Shkolnaya Street went. Work on this facility has been stopped since the summer of 2016.
FSB officers visited the Hermitage on Tuesday - however, they did not come for a tour, but in connection with investigative actions. Law enforcement officers seized documents related to the state contract for the construction of the second stage of the new Hermitage storage facility on Shkolnaya Street. The Ministry of Culture and the press service of the Hermitage are trying to distance themselves from what is happening. The first say that the museum itself concluded contracts that interested the FSB. The latter claim that museum employees are not allowed to participate in the seizure process. Life figured out what was happening.
In the premises of the Restoration and Storage Center "Staraya Derevnya" an operational event is being carried out to inspect one of the premises of the administrative and economic service. The State Hermitage does not have any documents at its disposal, says a message on the museum’s website.
Glass cube for library
The construction of a storage facility on Shkolnaya was first reported in 2013. According to the General Director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, after the purchase of the sculptures, there was no room left for books in the existing collections. It was to house the books that it was decided to build an additional storage facility. The project was scheduled for completion in the fall of 2018.
Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky.
Photo: © RIA Novosti / Anatoly Medved
“Because we started buying sculptures, there is not enough space for books. Therefore, the library that opens will house books that could not be shown before. There will be a large electronic collection - of course, not as large as in the Yeltsin library, but still” - Mikhail Piotrovsky
For the sake of the new building, a three-story car dealership built in 1973 had to be demolished. The building was planned to house an exhibition hall, an open storage facility, two libraries - a public one and one for specialists, a cafe and play areas for children.
The project was designed by the bureau of the Dutchman Rem Koolhaas and involved the construction of a 13-story glass cube, which was planned to be connected by a pedestrian crossing to the museum storerooms on Zausadabnaya Street. It was planned to house a conference center and a center for the study of costume and fashion in the passage.
Collage © L!FE Photo: © skyscrapercity.com
In October 2015, the Hermitage won a government contract for the construction of a storage facility worth 3.6 billion rubles. In December, a contract was signed with the Moscow construction company Mekhstroytrans. In 2014 and 2016, the company had few orders - only four government contracts worth about 500 million rubles, which is not so much for a construction company. There were no “cultural” tenders among them. In 2015, the company had only one contract - with the Hermitage, but for the amount of 3.6 billion rubles.
As of August last year, work on the construction of the funds had only been completed in the amount of about 73 million rubles. Two months after the conclusion of the contract, Mekhstroytrans was included in the register of unscrupulous suppliers. The reason was an unfulfilled contract for the construction of a mental health clinic in the Kaliningrad region. In July 2016, the license of the bank that provided a guarantee for the contract with the Hermitage was revoked. However, at that time the company had already received an advance from the museum in the amount of one billion rubles.
As of September last year, the construction site of the future storage facility was surrounded by a fence, and work on it had not been carried out since the beginning of summer. In the territory where 395 people were supposed to work under the contract, only a few workers are working.
It is likely that the authorities’ visit to the Hermitage may be connected with the active development of the so-called “Ministry of Culture case,” which began actively in March 2016, when the FSB arrested Deputy Minister Grigory Pirumov and several other high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Culture. They were detained on charges of embezzling government funds during the restoration of architectural monuments. Director of the Property Management Department of the Ministry of Culture Boris Mazo, director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Tsentrrestavratsiya Oleg Ivanov, director of the Baltstroy company Dmitry Sergeev and its manager Alexander Kochenov, as well as adviser to the general director of the Linnit-consult company Nikita Kolesnikov were taken into custody.
The total damage in the case was initially estimated at 600 million rubles: 300 million were stolen from the budget during the restoration of the Izborsk fortress in the Pskov region, 100 million during the renovation of the A.S. Pushkin in Pskov and 200 million during the restoration of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow. However, later, when some of the accused made a deal with the investigation, information began to appear about other episodes, including the theft of money during the construction of the Cosmonautics Museum in Kaluga and during the reconstruction of the Kronprinz Tower in Kaliningrad.
When communicating with the investigation, Mazo and Ivanov, in particular, gave confessions regarding episodes related to the restoration of monasteries, and Kolesnikov entered into a pre-trial agreement, and therefore the case against him was separated into separate proceedings. At present, the investigation into him has been completed, he is familiarizing himself with the case materials.
Scandalous construction projects
This is not the first time that the largest museum in Russia has been in the spotlight of auditors. In June 2016, when the investigation into the “restorers’ case” was already in full swing, the Accounts Chamber, based on the results of the audit, made a statement that the Hermitage had found violations amounting to 140 million rubles during the restoration of objects by the company ZAO Baltstroy.
The agency stated that it was this amount that the company inflated the estimate documentation: complex work was included, which was eventually replaced with simpler ones, and expensive materials were also indicated, which no one actually thought of purchasing.
Baltstroy twice concluded very large contracts with the Hermitage. The first - at the end of 2012 for 1.1 billion rubles. These funds were supposed to carry out restoration work and adapt the building of the Reserve House of the Winter Palace for modern use. The Laboratory, Storage and Administrative Building is located there.
Angry Internet users launched the hashtag #shame on the Hermitage to express a negative opinion about the exhibition “Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty” by Jan Fabre, which opened at the State Hermitage at the end of October. The exhibition features animals suspended on hooks.
“Complete trash and degradation! Why all these rallies against flayers?! Let people and children go to such exhibitions and look. And then it will be in their heads that THIS is normal. Ugh. Shame on the Hermitage,” writes one eyewitnesses (spelling and punctuation preserved - note "360").
The corpses of dogs, cats, hares and other animals are displayed against the backdrop of paintings by Flemish artists. At the same time, Fabra himself claims that the event is aimed against consumerism towards animals, and he picked up their bodies on the highway.
“The whole of Russia is fighting against the flayers, such a difficult moment for all of us, the Hermitage spits right in our faces by opening an exhibition by Jan Fabre called “the carnival of dead tramps”! Where the corpses of animals are crucified, suspended on hooks, cats, rabbits, dogs with festive caps on head! Where are we going if THIS is now called art?! There are no words," wrote one of the network users.
In addition, indignant account owners compare Fabre with the notorious Khabarovsk knackers and demand the closure of the shocking exhibition.
However, oddly enough, some Internet users spoke out in defense of the Belgian and his strange art.
“Jan Fabre has repeatedly told journalists that the dogs and cats that appear in his installations are stray animals that have died on the roads. Fabre is trying to give them a new life in art and, thus, defeat death,” noted Ekaterina Dorofeeva.
The Ministry of Culture has distanced itself from the scandalous exhibition of dead animals in the Hermitage.
The Hermitage urged people to look at dead animals on hooks as if they were a soft toy."
The head of the Hermitage’s contemporary art department, Dmitry Ozerkov, commented on the scandalous exhibition of the contemporary Belgian artist Jan Fabre, “The Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty,” where visitors could see stuffed dead animals hanging on hooks.
It is difficult to guess what the author wanted to say when looking at the paintings on the Internet. Need to come intkbbee to the exhibition and understand what this exhibition is about. The author wanted to say a lot of things, a conversation about the meaning of old art, a conversation about the Hermitage collection, a conversation about social problems that exist all over the world. It’s better to see once than to hear a hundred times, as it always happens. The thing is, when you say "corpses," you're immediately telling a different story. There is the word "stuffed animals", there is the word "soft toy" and completely different words. When you say "corpses", you bring some context. The word "corpses" is not true. If you come to Peter's Winter Palace, you will see a stuffed pet dog, Peter, which is on display. Why doesn’t the stuffed dog Peter bother anyone, but stray dogs do,” Ozerkov told Life in an interview.
According to him, “the corpses of tortured animals” are presented to children as “modernity.” The deputy also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that “individual people” manage the museum “as they want,” but did not give a clear answer to the question of whether visitors should boycott the high-profile exhibition or the organizers should close it.
“This is not a garage or a bathhouse for individuals. This is a state museum. This means that the exhibition should serve the interests of the state,” Milonov believes.
Jan Fabre's exhibition “Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty” created a lot of noise in St. Petersburg. The exhibition, where the main exhibits were the corpses of animals on hooks, literally split the Northern capital into two camps. The passions subsided in April, when the controversial exhibition left the Hermitage. But, as it turned out, not for long. Another scandal is breaking out on social networks. This time, Fabre’s theatrical production “Mount Olympus” caused a stormy protest.
“WILL NEED A BASH FOR VOMIT”
Political analyst Ruslan Ostashko published a provocative post on his Facebook page. In his message, he insists that an obscene performance with blood, guts, strange dancing and licking of the intergluteal space was shown to St. Petersburg youth. And not somewhere on the outskirts of the Universe, but in the main museum of the country.
How do you feel about this “art” that is shown in the Hermitage as part of youth educational programs? - Ostashko asked his friends on social networks.
He attached a candid photo to the post depicting two naked men: one of them is bending over, the second is pressing his tongue to his butt. To be honest, it’s hard to believe that such footage could be shown in a museum.
And if it were only a matter of one, albeit nasty, but isolated anti-cultural sabotage. But this is a system. The Hermitage Youth Center had a whole “educational program” aimed at introducing the younger generation to the art of Jan Fabre. The list of topics on the program page is impressive because it includes, among other things, Fabre’s famous performance “Mount Olympus”, which is famous for its vivid scenes of a homoerotic nature. I warn you: in this case you will need a basin for vomiting,” Ostashko wrote.
Screenshot of the recording of the play "Mount Olympus"
"NOT BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN"
In just one day, the message received hundreds of comments from outraged users. And they all have approximately the same content.
The Hermitage Youth Center has been operating at the museum for almost twenty years. The main target audience is students. For them, the center creates educational and cultural programs where young people get acquainted with the history of art, architecture, painting, sculpture and design. Classes are conducted free of charge by museum staff.
You understand that we do not live behind the Iron Curtain. Art can be different, and young people see this. But they cannot understand and figure it out on their own. That's why they come to us for help. And we are ready to help and explain this to them,” the head and creator of the Hermitage Youth Center Sofia Kudryavtseva shared with KP.
She also said that the Center was actually preparing for the screening of Fabre’s extravagant performance. True, avoiding provocative and nasty scenes.
We have received permission from Jan Fabre's team to show a few excerpts from his 24-hour production of Mount Olympus. It was supposed to be the final stage of the educational program as part of the exhibition “Jan Fabre: Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty”. Only the viewing did not take place, there was not enough time in our program for this,” Kudryavtseva told KP.
Instead, the Youth Center staged its own performance. Students conducted a documentary research on the topic: “How modern people react to Fabre’s exhibition.” The Hermitage guest book helped them with this.
The educational program for the temporary exhibition of Jan Fabre ended with the performance "Interlude: Circles on Water". The performance took place on April 7. Photo: Hermitage Youth Center.
There are a lot of both negative and positive responses. Based on them, the script for the play was written. The plot is based on the trial of Fabre. The actors who passed the casting took part in it. They gave different arguments - accusing and justifying the artist. This helped the course participants take another look at Ian’s work from different angles,” insists the head of the Center.
BY THE WAY
The premiere of the performance “Mount Olympus” took place in Berlin in 2015. The performance lasts 24 hours, and all this time there are no intermissions. 27 artists take part in the production. The plot is based on 15 famous ancient myths telling about incest, infanticide and sacrifice. The performance is based on experiments - the actors test their bodies for endurance, jump with metal jump ropes, get dirty in meat and strip naked.
Egor Russak/TASS
Exhibition of the famous Belgian Yana Fabra“The Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty” opened at the Hermitage on October 22 in buildings on Palace Embankment and premises in the General Staff Building. Opponents of modern art found a weak point in the exhibition. They turned out to be cats and dogs: in the paired installation “Carnival of Dead Mutts” (2006) and “Protest of Dead Stray Cats” (2007), located in the General Staff Building and occupying one of the enfilade halls, the artist used stuffed animals against the background of classical Dutch and Flemish painting , including still lifes with killed game. The museum immediately explained: Fabre picked up corpses on the sides of the highway, where animals thrown out by their owners had been knocked down. The corresponding exhibition halls are marked with an age marking of 16+.
However, this story continued: on November 10, at exactly 15:00, a network attack on the museum began - massive reposts with the hashtag #shame on the Hermitage. As always in such cases, these posts are dominated by aggressive statements using profanity. People who were not at the exhibition (as evidenced by the photo attached to their complaints with a crucified kitten, which is not in the exhibition) and are not able to write the name of the museum director without errors, called for the closure of the exhibition, the dismissal of the director, voices were heard in the same crowd about physical violence against the artist and museum workers.
The singer was predictably among the uncompromising critics of contemporary art Elena Vaenga and deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vitaly Milonov.
Fabre's outrage at the exhibition is shared by Liana Roginskaya, the artist's widow Mikhail Roginsky, known for her fanatical love of animals. “In my opinion, this has nothing to do with art, but it is an excellent example of the vileness to which narcissism and exhibitionism, combined with a lack of talent, can reach. One question: if the corpses were not dogs, but human ones, would you also applaud this? Hurst for the poor? — declares she.
On November 11, opponents of the exhibition created a petition on the change.org portal to the Minister of Culture demanding that the exhibition be closed. It is characteristic that the text itself again mentions the “crucified cat,” which “shocked the believers, deeply hurting their feelings,” although, we repeat, there is no such work in the exhibition. To date, the petition has been signed by almost 10 thousand people.
In response, the Ministry of Culture posted a comment on its website, declaring that it did not consider it necessary to interfere in the exhibition policy of the museum: “The State Hermitage, like other Russian museums, having fairly broad independence and freedom, independently determines the priorities of exhibition activities, their thematic focus, artistic solution and design."
Head of the Department of Contemporary Trends at the State Russian Museum Alexander Borovsky, who is very critical of Fabre’s work, wrote: “I think, regarding this particular petition, it’s not about the animals at all. I’m ready to apologize to simple-minded lovers of living things - I’m not talking about you. I would simply urge you not to take art literally - otherwise it will be difficult to find anything completely neutral and pleasing for yourself. Especially in contemporary art. So take care of yourself. Or try to take a slightly broader view. I'm talking about the authors of the petition. And comments on networks - I was not too lazy to look through them. They are written in surprisingly angry, uncompromisingly accusatory language. In such an intolerant tone that you understand: dislike for people exceeds the love for animals, allegedly trampled upon by the artist and his Hermitage curators. If you care about living things, they don’t write about people like that. Demands to apply the highest measure were written in this tone in ancient times.”
Fabre's side is a St. Petersburg animal rights activist Anna Kondratieva, wrote on his Facebook account: “And in order to show (tell - TANR) kind and impressionable viewers about those thousands and thousands of abandoned animals that died under the wheels and were brought to be euthanized. Fabre seems to be taking skeletons out of closets and presenting them to the public. IMHO, fur coats and fur boas on the shoulders of fashionistas are much less appropriate than stuffed animals in the halls of the Hermitage.”
St. Petersburg artist and volunteer at the Sirin Center for Wild Animals Alexandra Garth exactly noted on his Facebook page: “In connection with the latest outbreak of zooschizoid activity in the feed, the following thought came to mind - and Hirst is a great guy, a smart guy. No one feels sorry for the pigs and sharks, even though they were killed specifically for his works. And the evil, bad man Fabre stuffs cats and dogs, even though they are already dead, to hang him on hooks!”
On November 12, the Hermitage launched a response hashtag #catszafabra and received support, in particular, from the museum and cafe “Republic of Cats,” where cats taken from the Hermitage live, among others. “Not a single cat was harmed during the preparation of the Jan Fabre exhibition, no matter how the authors of the hashtag #shamethehermitage might have wanted it,” he wrote on Facebook. Dmitry Ozerkov, head of the contemporary art department of the Hermitage.
The Hermitage is the only museum in the world that has had an entire team of cats on its staff for decades and even holds an annual “Cat Day” holiday.
General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky in his article for the newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti he wrote:
“An exhibition of a wise artist has opened in the Hermitage Yana Fabra. Everyone is looking at still lifes Snyders and think how beautiful they are. But cut fruits and killed animals are reminders of death. It’s worth imagining for a second what Snyders’s “Game Shop” or “Fish Shop” smells like. His still lifes have a second meaning. Looking at them, a person should see the artist’s skill and think that life is passing by.
That's why Fabre inserts skulls between the paintings. Remember! Opposite he places a stuffed peacock held by a skeleton. Remember! He places his image close to the picture so that blood “flows from his nose.” Getting too close to art is dangerous. Fabre has complex meanings everywhere.
His installations with stuffed cats and dogs in the General Staff building are shocking. But this is a reminder of the barbaric attitude towards animals, as even the name indicates. We should not be indignant, but think about what the artist is talking about.
Yes, very sharply. But art should not always provide only aesthetic pleasure. Fabre “screams” about what is happening in the world. Uncomfortable? Yes, but remember what is happening.
I have a stack of protests on my desk. They write like a carbon copy: “remove Fabre from the Hermitage” (this, they say, is “lack of culture”). They reproach: how can you show this now, when the country is agitated by the story of the Khabarovsk knackers. Right now it sounds special. Horrors are characteristic of our time, as is intolerance.
There is a lot of deep meaning in Fabre’s “cry”. If you don't want to hear, don't listen. He is flawless, as if he stops on the edge beyond which there is horror and dirt.
Contemporary art is a challenge. By provoking, it makes people think. We should be happy about this, and not snap at it. If someone doesn’t like this kind of art or not everyone understands it, that’s normal.”