Портал Молодежь Петрозаводска

Boats are floating silently through the night, carrying their prey of precious artworks carefully across dark waters to take them to unknown, lonely islands somewhere in the north-western part of Russia.

There, a group of mysterious young people haul the precious goods out of the barges... Art Theft? No. Piracy? Njet. But: An action of modern art, made in Karelia. 

There, German artists were invited to Petrozavodsk to bring their heavy sculptures of stone and metal as well as other art objects, squeeze them into tiny boats and expose them on some uninhabited islands in Karelia. No audience, yet exceptional objects, such as a piece of wood symbolizing Goethe's favorite tree, the Ginkgo Biloba. Furthermore, they exhibited paintings in Karelian basements. Their owners learned about their houses' being chosen for an exposition by postcards that had been audaciously sent by the artists. A year later, Russian artists brought their works of art along to the German town of T?bingen. And this is just one example of the approach between German and Russian art.

There's nothing too absurd than not counting as modern art!

More than ten years after the art transit, there are still differences between European and Russian modern art, knows Terentyev. According to him, European art shows problems and predicts the evil. Modern art from Russia, on the contrary, wants to cure the anxieties. Moreover, European art appears well-organized in Russian eyes; sometimes too organized so that artists from Petrozavodsk once were desirous of destroying the neat German structure and therefore brought the works of art into wild nature. Or they put Russian metal garbage next to a proper German piece of art - et voil?, a perfect masterpiece of German-Russian modern art!

Terentyev and his team from the cultural center in Petrozavodsk perpetually come up with new ideas to create a dialogue of cultures. Their work is not restricted by Russia's borders. Since its opening in 1998, the center has successfully realized several international projects.

Remix: Mozart meets folklore

A milestone in the German-Russian art dialogue, the Bauhaus project took place in Germany in 2001 as well as in Russia in 2003. To help Alexander Pushkin to great popularity in Europe and because his poetry had lost its power in the German translation, his little tragedy "Mozart and Salieri" was restaged with an alteration:

A German actor recited extracts. A small Russian string orchestra played Mozart's Requiem and Karelian folk music while the folklore group "Rosynka" was dancing to the untypical German-Russian music mix. The performance resembled a funeral feast at a German restaurant, involving the audience. The combination between classical art and literature with folk music and the scene's being shifted to a non-theatrical place might appear disturbing at first sight. Yet, it was once again a creative ceremony of combining traditional and modern art as well as European and Russian art.  

Art connects cultures

The Center of Cultural Initiatives in Petrozavodsk supports and postulates the understanding of foreign art. For this, Terentyev points out, there is no need for words: "The language of art is a universal language." Art enables to overcome borders on the map and boundaries in mind. Thus, art connects cultures. And he who speaks the language of art, will understand all cultures of the world.

Authors:

Anna Varfolomeeva, 21, studies English and Literature at Petrozavodsk State University and works for the International Youth Club Solveig.

Sabrina Flursch?tz, 26, studies English and Spanish Culture and Literature at the University of W?rzburg. She writes and translates for www.vietnam.com and works for the Academic International Office in W?rzburg.