Do you continue running your project which you presented at Culture Online award?
After the exhibition in St. Petersburg Manege, the second part of the New Nature project was held in Moscow at Vinzavod with the support of the Triumph Gallery. The digital platform we created for Recycle Group’s first exposition was “extended” to include both cities. In terms of content, both expositions were alike, but the outreach program was different. All lectures and public talks were broadcast and saved on one common resource. Thus, visitors to the Moscow exhibition could also learn about the outreach program previously held in St. Petersburg. Visitors to the Manege who particularly enjoyed the project by Andrei Blokhin and Yegor Kuznetsov, could watch it continued online in Moscow.
Do you have any new projects now?
One of Manege’s latest digital projects is online platform “City in Pictures, Maps, and on the Terrain”, created by a team of teens aged 14–19 as part of the Manege Junior program: manegecity.tilda.ws. The website presents the history of St. Petersburg through the prism of the art of St. Petersburg artists of the twentieth century, unveiling the relationship between imagination, reality and historical facts. The platform demonstrates how architectural monuments have been depicted in various archival photographs and how exactly their appearance has changed over time, visualizes the “picture-artist-city” connection, and identifies signature venues in the city in a particular historical period.
The project’s value lies in the research and IT experience gained by the participants. The author and curator of the project Alexandra Shcherbina is considering expanding the functionality of the platform, for example, in the format of an audio guide or through the use of augmented reality.
What would you recommend to novices in creating cultural projects in an online format?
It all depends on the goals of the project and the potential audience that the creators want to attract. There is no universal advice. In the absence of funding and programming experience, a great tool would be Tilda.
Which areas of culture in the digital industry are most relevant today?
It seems to me that it is especially relevant now to transfer exhibition and outreach projects into a digital format: for example, 3D tours, online excursions, online lectures, and so on. Unfortunately, the mobility of many people is limited, so digital tools are becoming one of the most popular and easy ways to get in touch with art.
How do you feel about NFT crypto art?
I follow the development of this area with great curiosity, but also with a certain degree of skepticism. Projects that piqued my interest: the Zaha Hadid Studio NFTism virtual gallery, NFT collection by Refik Anadol.
If you had the opportunity to start your new cultural project in the digital format from scratch. Imagine that you have all the necessary resources. What would you come up with and where would you start?
I think it would be a project related to creating an exhibition space in the meta-universe.
Do you plan to participate in the Culture Online Awards in 2022?
Of course, we have already submitted an application.