After the military, political, diplomatic, economic and financial earthquake, the cultural world is also organizing to condemn and counter the Russian invasion of Ukraine in its own way.
Demonstrations of solidarity all over Europe opened the breach. At first considered rather as an expression of impotence, these artistic and cultural initiatives in favor of peace and democracy in Ukraine and against the Russian invasion have multiplied and are beginning to affect even the heart of institutional culture. Russian.
Valery Gergiev, the emblem of a cultural break
It was Valery Gergiev who, despite himself, became the emblem of the cultural offensive against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russian and above all pro-Putin conductor, both general manager of the prestigious Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg and so far one of the most sought-after maestros in the world, has been ostracized and finds himself faced with a wave of cancellation as a sign of ” solidarity with the Ukrainian people “. After Carnegie Hall in New York and the prestigious Swiss festivals in Verbier and Lucerne, the Paris Philharmonie canceled the visit of Gergiev, scheduled for April 9 and 10. The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra decided this Tuesday, February 1 to ” separate completely from Valery Gergiev.
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The Edinburgh Festival withdrew the honorary presidency of the 2022 edition, since the capital of Scotland is twinned with the city of Kiev. As for La Scala in Milan, it demanded that the Russian conductor commit publicly to a ” peaceful solution to the conflict, if he wishes to keep the concert scheduled for March 5. Even Gergiev’s talent agent in Germany, Marcus Felsner, felt compelled to officially cut ties by stating on Facebook to no longer serve Gergiev, ” unwilling, or unable, to publicly end its longstanding support for a regime that has committed such crimes. Indeed, Valery Gergiev, 68, has the reputation of being an infallible support for Vladimir Putin since 1992, confirmed among other things during theannexation of Crimea up to the concerts in bombarded South Ossetia and the Palmyre alongside the Syrian army.
Anti-war solidarity of the Ukrainian and Russian pavilions at the Venice Biennale
Another coup echoing with Ukraine occurred at the 59th Venice Biennale. First of all, the Ukrainian pavilion team canceled (“ we are not able to continue working on the pavilion project due to the danger to our lives “), while calling on Instagram “ the international artistic community to use all our influence to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine “. A message that has obviously been heard. Monday, February 28, the Russian team, including artists Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov, has just resigned in turn, announcing that the Russian pavilion will remain closed during the opening of the Biennale in April so as not to serve as justification for a military invasion. In a letter posted on social media, Raimundas Malasauskasthe commissioner of the Russian pavilion, left no doubt about the reasons for his withdrawal: ” I cannot continue in view of the Russian military invasion and bombing of Ukraine. This war is politically and emotionally unbearable. »
A wave of protests and resignations in Russia
Even in Russia, despite growing political repression for years, resignations have multiplied since the Russian military offensive in Ukraine. And the wave of protests seems to grow every day. Unprecedented, open petitions have been signed by thousands of artists, curators, gallery owners, photographers and comedians. As of Friday February 25, Elena Kovalskaia, the director of the Vsevolod Meyerhold cultural center, slammed the door of her prestigious house in Moscow denouncing the impossibility ” to work for an assassin and receive a salary from him “. An extremely courageous decision, followed by the resignation of other leading cultural figures such as Mindaugas Karbauskis, director of the Maiakovski Theater, or Rimas Tuminas, director of the Vakhtangov Theater. Marina Davydova, artistic director of the NET theater festival in Moscow and editor-in-chief of the TEATP street launched a petition calling on the Russian authorities to immediately stop the invasion into Ukraine. Without forgetting another very symbolic act, the Moscow Art Theater (comparable to the Comédie-Française) has just replaced its emblem, the seagull, with the dove of peace on the pediment of its building.
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Other sure values of Russian culture have crossed the red line set by the Kremlin and clearly called for peace, such as the violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov (who, in 2014, had again signed the petition in support of the annexation of Crimea) or Vladimir Ourin, general director of the Bolshoi Theatre. Boris Akunin, a famous Russian writer born in Georgia, did not hesitate to condemn a ” senseless war » and to mention to the German press agency dpa that « Russia is ruled by a psychically abnormal dictator “. Another remarkable fact, the shock wave of the protest is spreading in all artistic circles. So when Oxxxymironone of the most popular rappers in Russia, does not hesitate to condemn among his millions of followers on social networks the “ crime of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it simply echoes the We have to stop this by Valery Maladze, a Russian singer of Georgian descent and a regular on the charts, a position widely relayed in the world of popular song through the decision of the European Broadcasting Union to exclude Russia from Eurovision 2022.
Can we be guilty of promoting Russian culture at the present time ?
Even foreign artists wonder about their responsibility at the head of Russian cultural institutions during the war. Laurent Hilaire, former star of the Paris Opera who became director of the ballet troupe at the Stanislavski Academic Musical Theater in Moscow, resigned following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Conversely, Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov confessed his discomfort to his audience in Bochum, Germany, saying ” feel guilty for being Russian “. Not to mention the countless little words and symbolic gestures that are making an impression at the moment, like Kirill Petrenko, the Russian musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic, denouncing a ” Putin’s insidious attack on Ukraine », or Vladimir Jurowski, the music director of the Bavarian National Opera who replaced a patriotic work by Tchaikovsky with the Ukrainian national anthem.
The great Polish director Krystian Lupa protested against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by renouncing his participation in the Golden Mask festival in Moscow: « This is not only an unprecedented rape of Ukraine, but also a rape of every human being who lives, with trust and faith in humanity, on our globe…I hope there will be thousands, even millions of similar protests. »
When a thousand writers call at the end of the bloodshed »
In the meantime, the world association of writers, PEN International, has published a manifesto condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Among the more than a thousand renowned writers are the Turkish Nobel Prize winners Orhan Pamuk and Belarusian Svetlana Alexievitch, but also the Briton Salman Rushdie, the Canadian Margaret Atwood and the Russian Lidoudmila Oulitskaïa. All ” urgently call for an end to the bloodshed ».
Another emblematic initiative: German-Russian Museum Karlshorst in Berlin covered the “German-Russian” with the inscription and hoisted the Ukrainian flag in solidarity with the victims of the war. It was here that the commanders-in-chief of the Wehrmacht signed the unconditional surrender in May 1945. And it is from this building that the museum has made an important contribution to the study of history and to peace and friendship between peoples for three decades.
In France, the Society of Film Directors (SRF) said ” all our support to our Ukrainian friends and colleagues, directors, producers, cinema and audiovisual technicians “and condemned” the criminal invasion by the army of the Russian Federation “. Together with the Home Cinema association, the SRF invites on March 5 and 6 to screenings in solidarity with Ukraine, at the La Clef Revival cinema, in Paris.
Meanwhile, this Tuesday, March 1, entertainment giants Disney and Sony Pictures announced to suspend the release of their films in theaters in Russia, “ given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis “. Beyond that, Disney has pledged to provide emergency aid to refugees through NGOs.
Another very unexpected turnaround, actor Gérard Depardieu, normally very proud of his Russian nationality and his friendship with Vladimir Putin, called for an end to the war in Ukraine. Two weeks after posting (and since deleting) an embrace with the Russian leader on his Instagram account titled “ Friendship “, the living legend of French cinema is visibly beginning to have doubts about his support for the Russian leader. ” Stop the guns and negotiate! “, He declared to the AFP.
Prefer closure than “ the illusion of normality » ?
As for the world of modern and contemporary art, the cultural liner Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscowcomparable to the Center Pompidou in Paris, announced to to stop work on all exhibits until the human and political tragedy unfolding in Ukraine has ceased. We can’t sustain the illusion of normalcy ».
A position completely opposed to that of Fashion Week in Paris which started, according to AFP, with a ” parade in the aesthetics of cabaret with feathers, huge hats and bare bodies of the Weinsanto house “. Still according to Agence France Presse, “ the fashion world acts with caution. The Russian model Natalia Vodianova, married to Antoine Arnault, son of the boss of the luxury group LVMH, avoided taking a position. »
So it is perhaps no coincidence that the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris also finds itself out of step with the cultural mobilization against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The prestigious venue for contemporary art in France has just extended the exhibition-event dedicated to The Morozov collection, icons of modern art. Initially scheduled until February 22, ie just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has just been extended until April 3. You should know that it is currently probably the largest luxury showcase in the soft power Russian outside Russia, an exhibition directly negotiated with the Kremlin and prefaced by Emmanuel Macron and… Vladimir Poutine. Hence the question: has the Louis Vuitton Foundation, like other cultural institutions in Europe, planned to specify or modify the editorial line of the exhibition in the current context? Laconic response given Monday evening by the Louis Vuitton Foundation: “ The Foundation does not plan to release ».