The Russian Fairy Tale. From Vasnetsov to the Present
22.02.2020 – 20.09.2020
Venue: New Tretyakov. Moscow, Krymsky val, 10
Curator: Tatyana Getman, Ivan Antonov, Igor Volkov
“The Russian Fairy Tale” is a project based on a study of the worlds created in the genre of Russian fairy tales through the folk imagination, and original interpretations by contemporary Russian artists. The combination of these two lines enables the fairytale themes to be brought into the realm of reality and, conversely, the experience of the supernatural and whimsical elements in everyday life.
The exposition is based on a synthesis of fine art, literature, multimedia technologies and theatrical scenery; it involves all the diversity of sensory perception. The emphasis on Russian art in the chronological range from late 19th century to the present day raises questions about the “Russianness” of figurative thinking, and about the national features in the attitudes to time and space. While exploring the exposition, the viewer will be involved in an interactive journey through the territories of various elements. The visitor “falls” through them into fairy tales, and meets with the characters, who, in turn, appear in the same context within the images of contemporary painters.
The artist Alina Glazun presented at the exhibition the object "Everyone will die, and I am an emerald" with the word "scary", lined with letters from scrabble. This is a story about how fairy tales heard in childhood affect us, how folklore stories change, passing from mouth to mouth.