Before talking about the scale of the heroine's personality, a few details about the museum, which she successfully and selflessly runs. The Museum of Moscow is one of the oldest in the city, it is 121 years old. It was opened on December 1, 1896 at the initiative of the Moscow Duma and is located in one of the Krestovsky water towers at the Riga outpost. When the museum was created, there was only one employee - the tower caretaker. He is also a curator of the exposition and a guide. Now the staff of the museum exceeds 400 people, it is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Culture of the capital, and in its care is one of the largest collections in Russia - more than 1 million artifacts - items related to the history of Moscow: paintings, graphics, photographs, maps, plans, posters, models, documents, household items, clothes and even cars.
But Moscow is not only history. This is also the modern life of the city, which is now reflected in the museum. Recently, the Museum of Moscow has become a fashionable place where the whole family comes. In fact, the museum has a long and difficult history; it changed its name, location, concept several times. But since 2010, "wanderings" have ended, he received a worthy site in the center of the capital - Provision Warehouses - and successfully synthesized his past. Now the Museum of Moscow is one of the five most visited museums in Moscow subordination. A modern city museum is being created here, and in this regard, it competes with similar visiting cards of world capitals - the Museum of London, the Museum of Paris, the Museum of New York, the Museum of Berlin, the Museum of Amsterdam, the Museum of Singapore, the Shanghai Museum, the Tokyo Museum, the Mexico City Museum and others.
"We unite the Muscovites in the fifth generation with migrants or with people who have just arrived, young people …"
Marie Claire: You received the museum 4.5 years ago. What condition was he in then and what did you manage to do?
Alina Saprykina: The Museum of Moscow spent a lot of time and effort on moving to the Provision Warehouses and seemed to be lost for the city. We were faced with the task of a complete restart. My idea was that today, in the 21st century, it is necessary to talk about Moscow cheerfully and interestingly, with the involvement of young artists, architects and designers. We began to create a progressive city museum that would connect contemporary art with tradition, history with the avant-garde, and power with the townspeople. Our guidelines: on the one hand, constantly moving and developing Moscow, on the other hand, new models of such museums. All of us, directors and curators, communicate, we are part of an international union - the youngest in the world of museums. Every year we get together and discuss where we are going and how. In 2015, we all met in Moscow. Experts came from all over the world. At this conference, we defended our new concept to colleagues.
What's the idea behind the concept?
Most importantly, city museums are designed to bring people together. These are multifunctional sites, and they are created with the participation of the residents themselves. That's when they are more modern than the rest. This means that we must be dynamic. That is, something arises, some idea hangs in the air in the city, and we have already implemented it. And this is done not only with the help of exhibitions and excursions. These are lectures, educational programs, forums, multimedia projects. Experiments and new genres begin to live here, for example, when an exhibition is held together with a theatrical performance. In general, in four and a half years we have opened a cinema, a lecture hall, a children's center, updated the city excursion bureau, adding a program of new walking and bus tours in Moscow, revived the publishing program, opened a cafe and a souvenir shop. The courtyard of the museum has turned into a living space where festivals, film screenings, flea markets, and children's parties are held. In recent years, we have improved the work of the branches: the Museum of Archeology of Moscow, the Old English Court, the Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki Estate, the Lefortovo Museum of History. A new branch was opened - the Gilyarovsky Center. We also took part in the creation of the Underground Museum in Zaryadye Park - in a word, our activities can be enumerated for a long time.our activities can be listed for a long time.our activities can be listed for a long time.
“All this new wave, hippies, punks, rockers, shaved whiskey, metalheads. It will be back soon. But, of course, not one to one, it is transforming"
A woman always tries to express herself: with the help of hair, makeup, clothes. And how can this be done with a whole museum?
Both a man and a woman can lead a large institution in equal measure. But the feminine approach has its advantages. For example, a sense of harmony when you want to make the world around you better. For me, this is to harmoniously combine the history of Moscow with Moscow today and Moscow in the future. We create a comfortable, friendly space that is cozy, pleasant and interesting. Everyone, young and old. We unite the Muscovites in the fifth generation with migrants or with people who have just arrived, young people; not only an audience of different ages, but also a different flavor.
So you are a museum of Moscow's tolerance?
In a way, yes. This is what our city lacks: tranquility, consensus, common values and the ability for people of different views to be in the same territory without aggression and conflicts. If we talk about simple examples, then the Old Apartment exhibition that opened in December turned out to be successful. Adults come. They bring adolescents, children, talk about how their life was arranged: how it changed over time, how the streets of Moscow changed, what shops were, how apartments and everyday life changed. It's like traveling in a time machine. On the occasion of the 870th anniversary of Moscow, we have made the exhibition "The History of Moscow for Children and Adults" - it is still open. Here you can see fragments of the first Moscow Kremlin, about which we know from chronicles. The first jewelry, the rarest finds, old coins, games, clothes. Watercolors by Apollinarius Vasnetsov, who created images of Moscow in the 15th, 16th, 17th centuries. Also the famous reconstructions of the anthropologist Gerasimov - we have presented not only the busts of Ivan the Terrible, Andrei Bogolyubsky, but also, for example, a cast of the head of an ordinary Muscovite who lived a thousand years ago.
Do you have anything on the history of fashion and beauty?
Last year, the Fashion and Revolution exhibition, organized jointly with Alexander Vasiliev, was a success. We showed how the historical events before, during and after the revolution influenced fashion and lifestyle: there were presented women's dresses from 1907-1927, as well as all the most interesting revolutionary artifacts of Moscow from our storerooms - banners, posters, orders, photos, documents, newsreels. In addition to exhibitions, we host fashion shows of city clothes, events with young Moscow designers.
“We have long wanted to make an exhibition about the history of women's underwear. In places it looked, of course, incredible"
How often do you feel the fashion repeats? Magazines of what years should a modern fashionista look through?
For history, the period of serious rethinking is 50 years. Fashion repeats itself, it seems to me, about once every 30 years. This year, for example, we are doing an exhibition about Moscow subcultures of the late 20th century. First of all, about fashion, music. All this new wave, hippies, punks, rockers, shaved whiskey, metalheads. It will be back soon. But, of course, not one to one, it is being transformed. The most fashionable Russian designer in the world now - Gosha Rubchinsky - is also about the fashion of the urban outskirts of the late 80s: the emergence of sports clubs, guys in tracksuits, with sports bags. This image is now a big hit.
Have we ever had a line of erotic lingerie in our women's national costume?
We have long wanted to make an exhibition about the history of women's underwear. In places it looked, of course, incredible. It's almost a cabinet of curiosities. Until a certain time, all these feminine tricks did not look particularly erotic. But clothes are always in one way or another a reflection of something larger. When innovations began under Peter I, Russian women began to take a more active part in public life, in general, the role of women has changed a lot, and outfits have changed significantly - before that, our ladies were more likely to amaze foreigners with their wild makeup: heavily painted eyebrows, bright blush, blackened teeth, clothing in several layers. Matryoshka and Dymkovo toys partly preserve this heritage. In general, it is very interesting to compare today's life with the life of our predecessors. This, among other things, is what our Museum of Moscow is doing.
Do not miss!
"Spring Plane" (March). Exhibition by artist and designer Olga Soldatova. A lyrical statement about Moscow based on a socialist utopia and a modernist canon of beauty.
“Tragedy in the corner” (March – May). Large-scale exhibition of young Russian artists. The project is aimed at identifying current trends in art.
"Three stories of the Provisioners" (April). The Museum of Moscow pays tribute to its unique complex and invites you to remember its history.
"House of Football" (June-July). Large-scale project for the World Cup.
Also in 2018, the museum will host at least two festivals - Commission (Moscow Comics Festival) and Typomania (the largest forum for graphic designers working with the urban environment).
A detailed program of events of the Museum of Moscow is available on the mosmuseum.ru website
And it's all about her
Alina Saprykina
Marital status: married, three children
Education: Faculty of Philosophy and postgraduate studies at Moscow State University. MV Lomonosova
Career: participated in the creation and development of the first art cluster in Moscow Artplay, in the opening and projects of the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, organized more than 100 exhibitions and large-scale cultural events. Winner of the Caryatid Prize in Cultural Management (2012). Laureate of the Made in Russia award in the Museums category (2014). She was awarded the Shuvalov medal of the Russian Academy of Arts (2014). Nominee in the nomination "Museum of the Year" award The Art Newspaper Russi (2016).
Awarded with the Certificate of Honor of the Moscow City Duma "For services to the city community" (2017)
Perfume: Penhaligon's fragrances
Favorite clothing brand: Jil Sander
Car: Mercedes
Favorite author: Chekhov
Photo: Julia Mayorova
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