Evgeny Gerasimov: “Real change demands will and imagination”

– Evgeny Lvovich, the Russian Museum opened an exhibition associated with the 75^th anniversary of lifting the siege of Leningrad, “Siege Graphics by Solomon Yudovin”. Some pieces are known to belong to your collection. Was it your idea to arrange the exhibition?

– It was. We proposed to the Russian Museum to collaborate and organize an exhibition associated with this important anniversary together with one of the curators, Ildar Galeev, a gallerist from Moscow specializing in Leningrad art of 1920s-1930s. The Museum was enthusiastic about our offer. We worked in a close collaboration with the Engravings Department of the Russian Museum for a year to arrange the exhibition. I developed the display design. It was implemented by Interform-Design, the company also having covered the expenses, for which I am especially grateful. Many caring people honorably took part in this work. We created the exhibition together, and I am content with the result.

– The city lingers over the decision, whether to create a new Siege museum at the Smolnaya embankment or to renovate the existing one in the Solyanoy lane. What do you think would be the right thing to do?

– The Siege Museum was, is and should be in the Solyanoy lane. First of all, this location bears memories. The Museum was created by people of Leningrad, all evidence of the Siege was brought there. The Museum was destroyed in 1952, as part of the so-called Leningrad Case. We are obliged to put the historical record straight. This is our legacy and a responsibility our generation bears.

– You are one of the co-founders of the Dostoevsky’s Petersburg Fund. There is an announcement that as part of the mid-February biennale Architecture of St. Petersburg you were going to talk about the project of the new Dostoevsky museum building. Why did the project emerge? Is there a need to bring new life to the old literature museum?

– Unlike for instance the Siege Museum, the Dostoevsky Museum leads a very modern and active life, which simply doesn’t fit into the space. The capacity is not enough. The task of the Dostoevsky’s Petersburg Fund co-founders is not to do the Museum’s work, but to provide it with a possibility to implement its programs. The entrance area needs a renovation, a modern multifunctional auditorium is required, as well as a modern space for lectures and a library. The traditional library where you receive books from an old lady through a window is out of date. Look at the Oodi library in Helsinki, which functions as a multifunctional platform for various activities.

We sure do not aim at the Finnish scale, but any modern museum needs a cloakroom, a WC, a café, a giftshop. Today Dostoevsky Museum has no café at all, the giftshop is just a corner at the staircase between floors, and to enter the Museum, you need to go nine steps down, which is simply impossible for someone with limited mobility.

– Still, your project was widely criticized. Are you going to change the basics?

– I don’t mind criticism, but you have to offer something instead. The Dostoevsky Petersburg Fund is a group of enthusiasts eager to spend their own money to enhance the Museum. And this group has discovered that the city government does not want to do anything. But we do not give up. Real change demands will and imagination. There is an agreement between the city and the Fund to implement the project, signed at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum 2018. We hope that it will not be forgotten. The Fund has already spent some money to free up one of the three apartments sharing the staircase with the Museum (having helped the inhabitants to move to a new place), and the space will be given to the Museum. But unfortunately, even if we manage to do that with all the apartments, the major task will be the same, as the main problem is the entrance area. To enhance the Museum, all we ask from the city is 500 square meters. Moreover, if the city cannot provide the plot for a specific purpose, the Fund is willing to buy it.

You can read the full text of the interview at the site (in Russian).