18 Oct - 08 Dec 14
“Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course..”
(George Bernard Shaw)
This witty confession of British playwright rises several obvious questions: how serious can a modern man take the museum with all its treasures? What is the museum for us in the 21st century? Is it a “cemetery of art” as the French poet and politician Alphonse de Lamartine said or is it a “Conglomerate of Memory and Culture”?
Of course there are many museums in the world which are not just interesting but also fascinating. For example, The Snowflake Museum on Hokkaido island, Japan, Marzipan Museum in Budapest, Dance Museum in Stockholm, Smocking Museum in Indonesia and Butterflies Museum in Saint Petersburg with the maintained tropical climate and living butterflies as a display.
For a long time already “the museum" is considered to be not just a place with dusty shelves and strict custodians, but rather a place where you can obtain an information in an interactive, high-tech and comfortable way. Nevertheless, all of us are interested how would the "classical museum" react to the attempt to intrude in its space? What would happen if somebody, for example, decides to place a contemporary art object into the historical museum? Would this object become an alien or would it be the logical continuation of national traditions in art? What would happen if this intrusion is made by 30 boundlessly talented and still very young artists led by famous curator Sabina Shykhlinskaya?
The bravery and the self-confidence which helped the participants of ARTIM to rethink the Azeri cultural heritage is connected mostly with their youth. However, together with the privilege to exhibit at the three best museums of Baku, the participants have done a great research which lasted for several months. No other educational project of YARAT has demanded so much courage and deep immersion into the history. No other project of ours left more questions than answers.
We hope that this project will also become a connecting link between the past and the future of Azeri art.
ULVIYA AKHUNDOVA
YARAT Contemporary Art Space Educational Programmes Coordinator