Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The Darwin Museum is a most interesting place in its own right, but the way objects of contemporary art have been so carefully and organically integrated into its display, overturning epistemological foundations and focusing attention on…

The Darwin Museum is a most interesting place in its own right, but quite another story is the way objects of contemporary art have been so carefully and organically integrated into its display, overturning epistemological foundations and focusing attention on unnatural history, turning the space into a modern alchemical showcase

Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Science · Humour

Monster skeleton at the Darwin Museum is an artwork by Masha Bogoraz

Good Lord, What Are You? The Darwin Museum has acquired the skeleton of some unimaginable monster. According to the legend, the artefact was discovered by Darwin in the Galápagos Islands and then brought to the American Museum of Natural History, where it was unearthed by a Russian scholar, Vladimir Bogoraz,

Coming Up · Archive · Interviews · Books · Moscow

An exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Library of Foreign Literature itself and the 120th anniversary of its founder, Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino, has opened at the library

An exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Library of Foreign Literature itself and the 120th anniversary of its founder, Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino, has opened at the library. The display includes the first director's personal belongings, letters and photographs. It also features an unusual multimedia element: an interview

Art · Moscow · Heritage · People · Nature

Artist Sofya Matveyeva and her dried-plant panels at the Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden

In the Stock Greenhouse of the Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden, the decorative treatment of the doors has been touchingly preserved: panels of dried plants assembled by the Soviet artist Sofya Vasilyevna Matveyeva (1904-1986). Sofya Matveyeva worked in the Main Botanical Garden almost from its founding, under Nikolai Tsitsin himself,

Moscow · Society · Pop Culture

An early vaccine recipient on vaccination as protection for loved ones and monitoring antibodies

The artistic director of the Oleg Tabakov Moscow Theatre, the actor Vladimir Mashkov, has spoken out on the introduction of QR codes for admission to cultural institutions:. "I was vaccinated as soon as the opportunity arose, I was one of the first to have the jab, and I consider

Moscow · Observations · Society

On the night of 22 June, Victory Volunteers lit 128 fire pictures made of candles

For me, the day the war began means watching the traditional selection of films on television at home and recalling stories that matter to our family, yet it is still interesting to watch new traditions of the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow emerge at the level of an entire country.

Moscow · Museums · Observations · Science

In a natural-scientific frame of mind, I share today a photograph of the microscopes of Hooke and Leeuwenhoek from the exhibition of the Darwin Museum

In a natural-scientific frame of mind, I share today a photograph of the microscopes of Hooke and Leeuwenhoek from the exhibition of the Darwin Museum. Leeuwenhoek is that same Dutch naturalist whose experiments with magnifying lenses laid the foundation of scientific microscopy. Over the course of 50 years he

NB! · Books · Moscow · Observations

It was a great pleasure to speak at the Red Square Book Festival!

It was a great pleasure to speak at the Red Square Book Festival! Thank you to everyone who came to listen, thank you to the Russian Military Historical Society for a splendid venue, and thank you to the Dostoevsky bookshop for its support!

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage · Education

Russian Eclectic Pseudo-Baroque Strikes Straight to the Heart

Russian eclectic pseudo-Baroque strikes straight to the heart. Look at these cheerful and severe features of the Petrovskaya Agricultural Academy on the grounds of the old Petrovsko-Razumovskoye estate! The convex Finnish glass ordered to the design of the architect Benois has survived to this day. One is tempted,

Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

Before museums close again for a new quarantine, I strongly urge you to visit the exhibition “Art Hunters” at the Museum of Russian Impressionism, which brings together canvases from the collections of the most famous collectors of the Soviet Union: Semen

Before museums close again for a new quarantine, I strongly urge you to visit the exhibition “Art Hunters” at the Museum of Russian Impressionism, which brings together canvases from the collections of the most famous collectors of the Soviet Union: Semenov, Rubinstein, Stychkin, Abramyan, Valk, Dudakov, Paleev, fourteen people in

Archive · Art · Moscow · People

Mikhail Chernyshov's memoirs of the 1963 American graphic art exhibition and pop art

“Autumn came in sixty-three, November. One day I came out of the TYuZ (I worked there as a lighting technician), walked up Gorky Street and saw fresh posters for an exhibition of American graphic art. I thumped the hoarding in delight and noticed two men eyeing me; I heard

Round lilac allium flower heads on a wooden counter, with a bar and glasses in the background.

NB! · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Russia Turns 13

The coolest museum of contemporary art in Russia turns 13! Happy birthday, beloved Garage!