DIRECTORS OF TRETYAKOV AND PUSHKIN MUSEUMS AND VDNKh DEMAND PROTECTION FROM VANDALS OF ART IN EXHIBITS
Interfax-Religiia, 19 August 2015
The directors of a number of the largest Russian museums are demanding the punishment of the Orthodox activists who damaged an exhibit in the Manezh.
A corresponding open letter was posted on Wednesday on the website of the publication The Art Newspaper of Russia. It was signed by the director of the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Representational Art, Marina Loshak, the head of the Tretyakov Gallery, Zelfir Tregulova, the director of the State Center of Modern Art, Mikhail Mindlin, the director of the Polytechnical Museum, Yulia Shakhovskaia, the head of the VDNKh [Exhibition of Economic Achievements], Ekaterina Pronecheva, and several other representatives of cultural institutions of Russia.
"The actions of radical 'activists' caused substantial damage to works of the sculptor Vadim Sidur that are part of the state collection of the RF," the text of the letter says.
In the opinion of its authors, the actions of representatives of the movement God's Will undermine the authority of the Orthodox Church and violate principles of tolerance.
"As a result of what happened, the entire museum community is placed under threat, finding themselves defenseless in the face of vandals who destroy works of art displayed in exhibits," the letter notes.
"We expect punishment for the guilty. Acts of vandalism against monuments in public spaces, in cemeteries, in churches, and in museums are impermissible. It is necessary to take measures so that such extremist actions will never be repeated in the future," the authors of the letter emphasize.
Earlier the president of the Union of Museums and director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovskii, declared that starting in November of this year police will cease guarding Russian museums.
"We suggest to Russian museums that they immediately conduct training in protection of the operating hours of expositions by their own means in light of the fact that from November of this year the police will end the physical guard of museums," M. Piotrovskii wrote in an open letter posted on the website of the Union of Museums of Russia.
On 14 August, several Orthodox activists led by the leader of the movement God's Will, Dmitry Tsorionov (Enteo), intruded into the exhibit "Sculptures that we do not see" in the Manezh. The intruders declared that the displays hurt believers' feelings and they destroyed several works.
The Moscow Manezh declared its intent to seek the opening of a criminal case regarding the incident of a pogrom. Police removed four damaged linographs. The exhibit is operating normally. In his turn, D. Tsorionov declared that he did not damage a single sculpture: "we're talking about simply a plate and pieces of linoleum." (tr. by PDS, posted 18 August 2015)
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