Architecture · Books · Observations · Heritage
“A bright spring day was drawing towards evening; small rosy clouds stood high in the clear sky and seemed not to drift past but to sink into the very depths of the blue. Before the open window of a handsome house, in one of the outlying streets of the provincial
NB! · Architecture · Geography · Observations
Never before had I seen a monument to ore. Still less a double one. The plaques commemorate the days on which the first and the billionth tonnes of iron ore were extracted at the quarry of the Mikhailovsky GOK in 1960 and 2004 respectively
Observations · Science
Attention. If any of you are admirers or owners of antique watches, the following information will be of use to you. This applies especially to owners of such makes as Patria, Lancet, Leonidas, Laco-Durowe, Longines, Kienzle, Weisco, Hanhart, Glashutte, Helvetia, Helma, Era, Atima-Sport, the Japanese Seikosha, the Soviet
Art · Museums · Observations · Society
Meanwhile, in Zheleznogorsk, a town of a hundred thousand in the Kursk region, the Tsikoriy (“Chicory”) Centre for Contemporary Art has opened. The governor himself came to the opening, no less. The centre was launched with the support of Garage. The atmosphere at the opening was very warm and inspiring:
NB! · Moscow · Observations · Society · People
And last year, in fact, the actors of the Gorky Moscow Art Theatre wrote an appeal to Putin for Tatyana Doronina's return as artistic director. And now she is once again at the helm of the theatre. I do not know what the theatrical community makes of it,
Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society Pages
Yesterday MAMM opened an exhibition of photographs by Yulia Mayorova, but I did not manage to see it: I had time only to fortify myself with two glasses of champagne and snap the corridor, with the works glimpsed at its far end, since the opening was delayed and I had
Faith · The East · Observations
This year Holy Week for the Orthodox falls from 26 April to 1 May. I offer a set of desktop wallpapers, one for each day of the week before Easter: A close-up of the 2,000-year-old tree from the Garden of Gethsemane. The stone from the Church
NB! · In the Press · Art · Books · Observations
I have received my author's copy of BADLON, the new ultra-fashionable zine, for which I wrote the closing text on an art project devoted to bell-ringing. The magazine can be bought at КМ20 and on their website, at a very handsome price: 3700.
NB! · Observations · Palaeontology · Nature · Humour
Russia is not only bears, vodka and the balalaika. It is also a three-metre mammoth tusk priced like a studio flat, on a classified-ads site. The photograph, incidentally, is splendid.
Archive · Observations · Mores
Russian chthonic horror. If anyone had questions for Nekrasov, reality is always harsher than invention. On the night of the 8th the peasant woman Berestova, aged 19, resident of the village of Lozovaya in the Izyum district, threw her newborn child into a pigsty, where it was eaten by the
Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Ethnography
The English royal family often dresses in ancestral tartans, each with its own history and owner. The Balmoral tartan, for instance, invented by Prince Albert, may apparently be worn by no one but the Queen, members of the royal family and the Queen's personal piper. True, the rule
Architecture · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations
In the enfilade of the main building of the Museum of Architecture, an exhibition has opened that continues my beloved 2020 Garage Triennial of Contemporary Art. If you remember, the selection of works for the 2nd Triennial at Garage was built on recommendations from artists who had taken part in