Archi.ru:
Irina, one of the most anticipated events timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Museum of Architecture, undoubtedly, is the creation of the State Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikovs, which will become a branch of the State Research Institute of Architecture named after A. V. Shchuseva. Does this step mean that a compromise has finally been found in the long history of the proceedings around the famous Melnikov house?
Irina Korobyina:
We really hope to open a branch this year, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation has already issued an order to amend the charter of our museum. The branch will have a two-part structure, and at first only that part of it, which is located on Vozdvizhenka, will open its doors. Let me remind you that the son of the great architect, Viktor Melnikov, bequeathed to the state both his ownership of the House and a unique collection of documents and works of art, but this heritage can be introduced into cultural circulation only if an important condition is met: a state museum of the Melnikov father and son must be created and additional premises should be allocated for it near the Melnikov House. Vozdvizhenka, where it was possible to find and select a building of suitable parameters, is located from Krivoarbatsky lane in a 15-minute walking distance: in the conditions of modern Moscow, it is certainly close. The branch will show the works of Konstantin Melnikov, there will be a permanent exhibition dedicated to the great architect and his era, the history of the creation of the legendary House, and there will also be a separate section telling about the work of Viktor Konstantinovich. And I want to emphasize that this section will appear not only because the son of Melnikov so bequeathed. After all, he was both the keeper of the House, and the artist who was born, raised and creatively formed in this House. His work is part of the identity of the unique building, and it seems unfair to ignore this fact. The House itself will become the main subject of the show, but, naturally, only after scientific restoration has been carried out.
Is it already clear when the restoration can begin?
So far, it is only clear that government guarantees have finally appeared that sooner or later this will happen. Unfortunately, the conflict between the heirs continues, and this incredibly slows down the whole process, since funding cannot be opened in a situation of litigation. Without this, it is impossible, unprofessional, and even illegal to start developing a project for the scientific restoration of the monument. The timing of the rescue of the monument and its museumification will begin from the moment of providing unhindered access to it for specialists. After an inventory of the memorial situation and all the necessary examinations, a scientific restoration project will be developed, which must go through all the approvals, and only then the restoration process itself will begin, which, of course, will require huge funds and the involvement of the best specialists in the world. It is possible to say that business has moved off the ground only after conditions have been created for the normal work of specialists and, first of all, for the staff of the Museum of Architecture, which today is the only legitimate and responsible representative of the only legal owner - the Russian Federation.
After all, there are other objects of Konstantin Melnikov, to the solution of the problems of which the museum plans to join? For example, a garage on Novoryazanskaya Street. At one time you even said that the garage could become a branch of GNIM
I said that this would be a strategically competent and very effective decision. Back in May last year, the architectural community turned to the Government of Russia with the idea of converting the garage of the architect Melnikov on Novoryazanskaya Street into a branch of our museum, which would house our funds for the avant-garde and Soviet architecture of the 20th century. Firstly, in this way we would save a unique monument of the epoch of constructivism, secondly, we would give the museum the opportunity to show fantastic collections, and thirdly, we would be able to create a full-fledged center of avant-garde architecture, attractive to the whole world. Finally, this would allow the Moscow authorities to fulfill their promise and compensate the Museum of Architecture. A. V. Shchusev alienated together with the Donskoy Monastery 8500 square meters. I also believe that the transformation of the garage on Novoryazanskaya into a powerful world-class cultural center would give an impetus to the development of the entire surrounding area. Remember how the marginal area of the south bank of the Thames was transformed with the advent of the Tate Modern. Moscow already has and is actively promoting the project of creating an "Art Quarter", a kind of London Soho. The Melnikovsky garage is also included there, along with other existing and planned art spaces. But its transformation into the center of the Russian Avant-garde is still only a dream. Although, as you know, "thought is material" …
Does the museum participate in the preservation of the non-Moscow building of Konstantin Melnikov - a club in Likino-Dulyovo?
Some time ago, the head of the Likino-Dulyovo administration approached us and asked to help create a museum space in the Melnikov club. According to the administration's vision, it will occupy only part of the building, but it can become an important cultural center of the Moscow Region city. To implement this idea, the city administration needs to resolve issues of ownership, financing, etc. If everything "grows together", we will be happy to help - with materials, architects, curators. In general, I confess, I am inspired by this story - the fact that such an initiative comes from officials inspires optimism.
And, completing the theme of the avant-garde, I would also like to ask about the famous building of the kitchen factory in Samara, which was recently transferred to the Samara branch of the NCCA, and it was GNIMA who became the curator of that part of the permanent exhibition, which will be devoted to the architecture of the building. How is this work progressing?
There is an order from the Ministry of Culture that our museum should create there an exposition dedicated to the history of the building and its author, the architect Ekaterina Maksimova. Currently, we are waiting for a clear task, including clear parameters of the space allocated for the exhibition, and are ready to start working. When will this exhibit open? First, the building itself needs to be cleaned up. But it is gigantic and was greatly rebuilt in the 1930s. The reverse process, I think, will take years. But I have no doubt about the ability of the NCCA to bring it to mind. I hope that in the foreseeable future this partner platform will appear in Samara, where we will send our exhibitions dedicated to the avant-garde. And that the Samara center will become a partner of our branch - the Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikovs, which, in turn, will eventually turn into a global hotbed for broadcasting avant-garde culture, which I firmly believe.
What is the fate of the Museum Cluster near the Kremlin?
We initiated a competition for the concept of the development of several neighborhoods around the building of our museum. This decision suggested itself: after all, on the one hand, here, near the walls of the Kremlin, the historical environment itself is an "open-air museum of architecture", and on the other, it is not at all a friendly territory, where you do not even want to walk. In other words, the territory has a colossal cultural potential, which is completely ignored today. Having organized a competition for its development concepts, we received 30 projects. This in itself is worth a lot: the competition was free and, in particular, showed that many architects are not really indifferent to the fate of the Moscow center. We presented the results to the Ministry of Culture and the Moscow Government. Now it is up to the fateful decisions and the ability of the cultural community to achieve them. If the idea takes possession of the minds, we are ready to volunteer to promote it further, since it has a huge synergistic effect. It is also important that the public consciousness is ready for its correct perception. I remember when I presented the idea of a museum cluster for the first time, someone saw in it an attempt to privatize the nearby underground passages. On the one hand, it's funny, but on the other, you know, every time I go to the Kremlin, I involuntarily remember the Louvre and the entrance to it from the metro through the Carousel de Louvre subway. Why are our museums worse? Why not really transform these colossal spaces into social and cultural ones? Of course, not a single museum is capable of managing them - this requires specialists of a different profile. But if their cultural transformation begins, all museums that fall into the "zone of influence" and the city as a whole will benefit from this. And with the museum cluster, by and large, the situation is the same: we give the idea to society and the authorities, and then it's up to you … By the way, the Polytechnic University of Milan is very interested in this subject: last year I gave a lecture there about the development strategies of the Museum of Architecture, in particular, about the idea of a cluster, and now they are doing several graduation projects at once on the theme of a museum cluster in the center of Moscow.
Please tell us about the projects that the museum is preparing specifically for its anniversary
Of course, we have prepared a rich exhibition program, but it seems to me even more important in the context of the anniversary to optimize the use of museum spaces. This also includes updating the museum interface: reconstructing our site, creating a corporate identity, navigation. We already have our own typeface, designed by Tagir Safayev. This year we hope to implement a long-standing idea - to make the main entrance to the museum not from Vozdvizhenka, but from Starovagankovsky Lane. Taking into account the multi-part structure of the museum, this would be logical, because a person who first comes to us from Vozdvizhenka sometimes does not even realize that there is also the Ruina wing and the Aptekarsky Prikaz. And the entrance from the street itself is completely unfriendly: a narrow sidewalk, a powerful flow of traffic, in bad weather, splashes fly directly to visitors. We are working to transform the courtyard of the museum complex into a "sculptural courtyard" - a multifunctional open-air distribution foyer with city and garden sculptures from our funds. The authors of this project, the Narodny Architect bureau, also developed a color-coded navigation for the entire museum space: the courtyard will be equipped with red signs, the main manor house - white, and the ruin - black. There, in the courtyard, in the spring there will be an exposition rack (a project of the Fast bureau) for fragments of cast iron from the Arc de Triomphe, the implementation of which was financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. An important stage in the optimization of the museum space was the transformation of the suite of the main building. Today, few people realize that in fact the suite is looped: the halls overlooking the courtyard have always been used as a warehouse. Now we have cleared them and are planning to open a permanent exhibition there. Already now we are showing a model of the Grand Kremlin Palace in the permanent exhibition mode, and we intend to allocate the entire vacated area (which is 600 square meters) for the demonstration of Russia's great projects.
In other words, will the permanent exhibition of the museum be of a general educational, if not to say, populist character?
We believe that the museum should give a general idea of the architecture of Russia, and not to professionals, but to the entire population. Raising the level of the architectural culture of the entire Russian community is an important mission of the museum, declared at one time by its founder, the greatest architect of the 20th century. Alexei Shchusev. This message will never lose its relevance, because our general level and way of life largely depends on it.
And what exhibitions has the museum prepared specifically for its anniversary?
A series of jubilee expositions has actually already begun. The program of the jubilee year was opened on February 18 by the exhibition "Under the Arches of a Russian Temple", dedicated to the sculpture of the capital and provincial temples of the 17th – 19th centuries. For us, it is symbolic, because under the arches of the Great Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery, the Museum of the All-Union Academy of Architecture began in 1934, from which we are counting the anniversary date. Also, among the promising projects starting in the fall, I will name an exhibition dedicated to Olympic construction in Russia (curated by Oleg Kharchenko) and a curatorial project by Sergei Tchoban, tentatively titled "Our Everything" - he will present outstanding projects of Soviet architectural competitions. And on May 29, we will open an exhibition, which we conditionally call the New Look of the Museum of Architecture, which will show the main innovations of the museum space.
Will the scientific restoration of the museum begin in the foreseeable future, the need for which you have spoken about from the moment you were appointed director of the GNIMA?
Taking museum business, I was really sure that it would start literally from day to day. The state of the museum was such that its closure for restoration seemed inevitable. But … now we have realized the Buddhist truth that "tomorrow is today" and we try not relying on anyone, less long-term large-scale plans and focus our efforts on everyday needs. We are very grateful to the Ministry of Culture for any assistance provided, but we rely mainly on ourselves and act in small steps, trying to attract sponsors. By the way, we sponsor the main measures to optimize the museum space.
As for the restoration … This year our museum has become a partner of the Russian-Italian educational project "Scuola di Restauro", held under the auspices of UNESCO. Within its framework, professional restorers can learn free of charge about the technologies and methods used in Italy today. In addition to the theoretical course, students will also undergo practical training, the result of which will be a diploma work - a project for the scientific restoration of our wing "Ruin". We plan to agree and implement it over time. Russian legislation prompts to bring ruined monuments "to their original appearance", that is, to reproduce remakes. The Museum of Architecture, by virtue of its professional affiliation, is simply obliged to give an example of cultural restoration that meets the requirements of the Venice Charter. Our task is not to fight the traces of time, but to fix them. Of course, it is necessary to create a museum climate in the building, close the cracks, but at the same time it is very important to preserve as much as possible its authentic character that has developed historically. And, as it seems to us, now we have real hope for this. By the way, on the first floor of the "Ruins", where vaults of fantastic beauty have been preserved, we are planning to make an exposition of white-stone sculptures from our funds, which no one has seen for more than 30 years.
