By Sergey Kovalskiy

The «Free Culture» Society is a creative union of professional workers of contemporary art and culture of Russia and foreign countries. It was registered in St Petersburg in 1990 as a non-commercial regional public organization.

The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Art Centre – a project by The «Free Culture» Society – is a collective work of art, a self-developing and self-reproducing kinetic object of contemporary culture created by a group of artists-nonconformists.

In the Russian cultural practice the appearance of «Pushkinskaya-10″ in the end of the 20th – the beginning of the 21st century is a unique case when the civic initiative of creative people who at the Soviet time presented «non-official» art and consistently developed the idea of «their place in their Motherland» lead to success.

The concept of «unofficial art», or nonconformist art, appeared as a result of the struggle of the Soviet empire against the dissidents. Nonconformism is refusing to follow the ruling opinion and standing up for one’s own view of the world. «Unofficial art» is the art that is not engaged by the state and is not subject to the state’s censorship. The beginning of the conflict between the state and culture in the USSR was fixed documentarily in 1932. A decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union abolished all the creative unions and created unified Unions of artists, literary workers, composers, theatre workers, with the main political principle of socialist realism in art.

(This decree was not «the beginning of the conflict» between the state and the independent culture, but just another (and quite natural for the bolsheviks) step on the way to the complete stifling of freedom which had begun already in 1917: we can remember the closing of «counter-revolutionary» editions and the banishment of philosophers in 1918, shooting up Gumilyov in 1921, repressions against the intelligentsia which began in 1920s, the destruction of The Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in 1929, etc. There was also a «merry» decree of the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party (of bolsheviks) «On Improving the Quality of the Artistic Product» of March 11, 1931.)

The result of this was the ban on the freedom of the artist’s self-expression and the destroying of the freedom of speech in the cultural, social and political life of the country. For long years culture was separated into the «official» (Soviet) culture and the «unofficial» (later, from 1986, «nonconformist») culture which was carrying on the artistic traditions of «The Silver Century» and «The Russian Avant-Garde».

The artists-nonconformists could not enjoy the rights of the professional artists who were united in the official unions: to rent workshops, to earn their living by their creative work, to engage in teaching. They had to serve their term of extraneous service taking time away from their main creative work. Otherwise the state could try them for parasitism.

The workers of nonconformist art who rejected the academic school as a monopoly were equated with socially dangerous elements of the society. The consequence of this was another emigration (which was sometimes forcible) of Russian talents to the West. Some people found themselves in lunatic asylums, some were put in prison.

But the society thirsted for changes, and at first this thirst was expressed in the interest towards everything that was prohibited. In spite of existing underground, the nonconformists’ art penetrated into the liberal circle of the artistic and scientific intelligentsia and was a deafening success. Thousands of people attended «flat» exhibitions risking their career, their families’ well-being and sometimes even their life.

A «flat» exhibition was an opportunity to demonstrate works of art to a wide audience without dealing with the state censorship. There existed precise demands to the flats offered for exhibitions and to their tenants:
1. The rooms had to be big, with high walls and the fewest possible windows;
2. The flat had to be separate (with only one tenant) or one where the neighbours had been evicted;
3. It was desirable that the flat should have a back door;
4. The tenants had to be people who wanted to emigrate but were not allowed to, and who therefore wanted to attract the attention of the authorities so that to be banished from the country in revenge;
5. The tenants had to know the laws well and to be not afraid of negative consequences.

The first official exhibitions by nonconformists in Leningrad, which were allowed by the authorities in 1974 – 1975 as an experiment, were marked by a confluence of people unprecedented at those times. The people stood in queues for hours in order to see the art that was new to them, the free art. Later this period was called «Gazanevshina» according to the names of The Palace of Culture named after Gaza and The «Nevskiy» Palace of Culture where those exhibitions were held.

During the «Gazanevshina» period the artists-nonconformists united themselves into The Society for Experimental Exhibitions (TEV). In 1981, when a new generation of artists appeared, The Society for Experimental Fine Arts (TEII) was created. In the 80s the nonconformists struggled for their right to show their art to the audience with varying success. Their activity made the society healthier and made the time of freedom closer.

This was possible because in the 70s and the 80s the cultural space of Leningrad, independently of the state-political ideology, formed under the influence of private initiative and the activity of the organizations that represented a wide cultural range and existed on different basis (such as, for instance, the «Tuning Fork» and «Square» Jazz Clubs, The Society for Experimental Exhibitions (TEV), theatrical seminars at B. Ponizovskiy’s flat, the constantly working flat exhibitions, the Literary Union «Club-81″, The Society for Experimental Fine Arts (TEII), The Club of Caricaturists-Cartoonists in The Leningrad Palace of Youth, E. Goroshevskiy’s theatrical studio, «The Rock Club» in Rubinstein Street, The Club of Contemporary Music in The Lensovet Palace of Culture).

Those organizations’ activity as if prepared the public conscience to the forthcoming political changes of the «perestroyka» period. Though all those people and organizations were observed by the Department of the Struggle against Ideological Sabotage of the KGB, they didn’t consider themselves political dissidents in the spirit and the way of their activity.

Already at that time the «unofficial» artists «defined» themselves as the cultural opposition necessary for the health of the society. Their demands didn’t exceed the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the corresponding articles of the International Treaties on Human Rights. For example, the right to get the opportunity to earn one’s living by the job freely chosen by each person. Or the right of each person to take part in the cultural life, as well as the right to the protection of the moral and material interests which arise in connexion with the person’s job. Or the right to stick to one’s opinion without hindrance and to express it freely, and also to look for and to disseminate all kinds of information and ideas irrespective of state boundaries in any form, the more so in the artistic form.

A bright example of the expression of one’s own opinion and the state’s reaction to it was the action by Oleg Volkov and the unofficial artist Yuliy Rybakov (the future Deputy of the State Duma). One beautiful Leningrad night they wrote the following words on the wall of Peter and Paul Fortress: «You are crucifying freedom, but human soul knows no shackles!». The text could be well read from the opposite bank of the Neva. Besides this, in the morning trams with inscriptions on the same topic made on their sides with no doors rode through the city.

In fact this action of protest was realized in an artistic way and was a performance – the form of art which was widely spread in the West at that time but which was avant-garde here in Russia and therefore incomprehensible to the state body of censorship (this body was the KGB – the Committee for State Security). Probably as their fee the artists got 7 and 6 years of prison correspondingly.

From the point of view of understanding of the social and cultural importance of the struggle for the rights of the workers of the «unofficial» art of Leningrad – St Petersburg the following exhibitions were the most remarkable points:
1. «The Riggers’» exhibition in the Hermitage which resulted in the revealing of the conflict between the Soviet system and the «unofficial» art (March 30-31, 1964).
2. The flat exhibition «in Kustarniy» (it took place in a flat in Kustarniy Pereulok (Lane)) – the first exhibition of this kind which sounded widely and gave an impulse to a whole series of other flat exhibitions which were a means of pressing the authorities (1970 – 1971) (maybe the first flat exhibition took place at K. Lil’bok’s, according to his words).
3. The exhibitions at The Palace of Culture named after Gaza and at The «Nevskiy» Palace of Culture that historically became one whole event which was called «Gazanevshina» and which symbolizes the 70s in the cultural life of Leningrad. TEV (The Society for Experimental Exhibitions) was founded. (1974-1975.)
4. The «Olympic» exhibition at The Leningrad Palace of Youth which fixed the state of the «unofficial» art in terms of quantity after the emigrating of a great number of artists (the summer of 1980).
5. The exhibition in A. Osipenko’s flat where the renewed composition of the «unofficial» artists formed for the most part («the old artists» and «the young artists») (December of 1980).
6. The flat exhibition «in Bronnitskaya» where the position of the nonconformists of the 80s was determined and the foundation of the TEII (The Society for Experimental Fine Arts) was laid (1981).
7. The first common exhibition by the TEII in The Leningrad Palace of Youth which gathered almost all the «unofficial» artists of Leningrad and many artists from other cities (about 200 artists altogether) (1984).
8. The exhibition «The Contemporary Art of Leningrad» at The Central Exhibition Hall «Manezh» (by the right artists and the left artists) where in fact the importance of the «unofficial» art was acknowledged (1988).
9. The exhibition by the TEII at the Exhibition Hall on Okhta (the last common exhibition by the TEII) which was organized by the first official organization of nonconformists – The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation (renamed in 1999 The «Free Culture» Society), where the next generation of artists appeared – the artists who hadn’t worked at the Soviet time but were close to the artists-nonconformists in their aesthetics (1990).

The conception of the Art Centre had been worked at by the «unofficial» artists of the TEII since 1987. It changed several times depending on the supposed place of its realization (those places were Apraksin Dvor, New Holland, Konstantinovskiy Palace in Strelna). Once it was «The Masters’ Town», another time it was «The Centre of Contemporary Russian Culture», then «The Co-Operative Workshops».

In Leningrad the first laws giving freedom to the citizens’ private initiative and providing legal status for it appeared in 1988. (The Law of the USSR of May 26, 1988 No. 8998-XI on Co-Operation in Russia.)

The first attempt to create an organization that would help «unofficial» artists was undertaken by the artist and human rights defender Yuliy Rybakov in 1987 – 1988. It was planned to create a co-operative gallery at The Soviet Foundation of Culture on George Soros’s money. But this project was a failure because the recommendations from the emigrants’ circles that Rybakov had in order to get investments were not supported by the Board of the Soviet Foundation of Culture.

At the same time (1988) the TEII artists started the first tour of the exhibition of the «unofficial» fine arts of Leningrad through galleries and museums of the USA, which was organized by the American artist and public figure Barbara Hazard. The exhibition was accompanied by lectures on the «unofficial» Russian art. In 1990 the next tour through universities of the USA and Canada called «What Is Not Prohibited Is Allowed» began. In 1991 – 1992 the exhibition «The Keepers of the Fire» was held in American Universities’ museums.

In the end of the 80s the mismanagement by the city authorities reached its limit. Many houses in the centre of the city that were subject to capital repairs and had been half-destroyed already were left to the mercy of fate. Some of them were occupied by the artists who had no workshops of their own. Such houses as those in Kalyayeva Street and in Chaykovskogo Street and the house No. 145 on Fontanka became famous thanks to the activity of the artists who filled the empty flats with their art.

But no one of them engaged in solving the organizational and economic problems of keeping the buildings. All the efforts of the artists were aimed at creative work and attracting the interest of the lovers of contemporary art to it. It was obvious that such practice would not allow the associations that had formed to exist long. One of such houses was the house No. 10 in Pushkinskaya Street.

One can say that fate had predetermined that this house should become an Art Centre. The building was erected in 1878 according to the project by Kh. Kh. Tatski, who, as it turned out later, was the great-great-grandfather of the artist-nonconformist Yuliy Rybakov. From 1874 until 1880 the street where the house we are speaking about was built was called Novaya (New) Street, Noviy (New) Prospect, Maliy (Small) Nevskiy, Alexandrovskaya Street, Kampaneyskaya Street, and only on May 22, 1880 Pushkin’s name was given to it.

On August 7, 1884 the monument to A. S. Pushkin by A. M. Opekushin was opened. The poet’s figure was turned to Nevskiy Prospect. The building No. 10-12, the corner of which stuck out of the common line of the houses like a ship’s bow, evidently got in Pushkin’s field of vision. It was already clear that it was an extraordinary house and the monument had been erected to mark this.

The number 10 was finally assigned to the house in 1890. After its first owners, the Mal’tsevs married couple, sold it to Count Shuvalov, the house was used to derive a profit: the flats were leased out, and, besides, many various institutions were situated in the house – from a wine shop to «The School named after the Saint Kirill and Mefodiy» and the publishing houses «Alkonost» and «Sirin». Along Pushkinskaya Street, from the house No. 20 where the «Palais Royal» Furnished Salon and Yu. Shtouter’s Printing-Office were situated to the house No. 10, famous people of art such as the poets and writers A. Blok, A. Remizov, V. Bryusov, F. Sologub, A. Beliy, Z. Gippius and the actress A. Strepetova kept walking. From 1927 till 1984 the house led the grey life of a multi-national communal flat, gradually falling into decay. In 1984 it was decided that the house should undergo capital repairs, and the tenants started to be evicted.

In 1988 the «unofficial» artists Yu. Rybakov, S. Kovalskiy, Ye. Orlov and the art critic L. Ulitina registered the first co-operative gallery.

In 1989 this Gallery found its place in the house No. 10 in Pushkinskaya Street and was called «10-10″ according to the number of the flat and the house it occupied. By that time some of the flats in the house had already been occupied by artists, mostly members of the TEII, who turned them into their workshops. Officially a co-operative called «Guard» («Okhrana») leased the house from the city and distributed the premises in the house that remained in a hover between various business companies. But everybody understood that commercial exploitation of this kind could not go on long. It was then that the idea of joint work of the TEII and the «Guard» co-operative aimed at creating a cultural centre appeared. According to the new conception meant for this building there had to be three elements: 1. A Business Centre; 2. Galleries and a Museum of nonconformist art; 3. Creative workshops of artists.

The «Guard» co-operative was to organize the Business Centre. It was supposed that its activity would help to solve the technical and economical problems of the keeping of the building. To realize the other two parts of the conception it was necessary to create an official organization with a charter that would allow to engage in this kind of activity. The new Law on non-governmental public associations appeared in 1990 (The Law of the USSR of October 9, 1990 No. 1708-1).

It turned out to be possible to officially realize the principle of self-organization using the organizational experience of the times of the TEV and the TEII. Avoiding the counteraction of the city authorities, in 1990 the Leningrad unofficial artists registered in Moscow The Leningrad Department of The Moscow Humanitarian Foundation named after A. S. Pushkin, and this allowed them to officially represent The Foundation’s interests in Leningrad. Independent professional workers of contemporary culture and public organizations the activity of which helped to achieve The Foundation’s aims became members of The Foundation. The Foundation’s aims were creating the necessary conditions for creative work, providing help in realizing artistic projects, organizing a system of social protection of the independent workers of art and culture.

The main cultural projects of The Foundation were creating a cultural centre, creating a museum of nonconformist art and organizing cultural exchange between non-governmental cultural centres of the world – The «Interspiral» Programme.

Meanwhile the house in Pushkinskaya Street continued to fill with the artists of the TEII, musicians and actors.

Not all the people liked this. Hostile acts by the district authorities were not long in coming. In autumn the heating in the house in Pushkinskaya Street was switched off so that it would be not easy for the artists to survive in such conditions. The next morning a group of activists was already picketing the building of the Leningrad Council of the People’s Deputies with the posters «Give the Heat back to the People» and «Freezing out the Culture You Are Freezing Yourselves». At the same time Yu. Rybakov in the Leningrad Council of the People’s Deputies was raising the question of whether the district authorities had had the right to act in that way. Another group of the artists went to the session of the district deputies. The artists just got into the hall one by one and then united in a group and moved towards the presidium. Using the embarrassment of its members the artists went to the tribune, got hold of the microphone and declared their protest. The demarch was successful. The next day the heating was turned on.

In the end of 1989 a meeting of the representatives of the Soros Foundation and «Pushkinskaya-10″ took place. The Foundation was going to create its own cultural centre in Leningrad. The artists of «Pushkinskaya-10″ suggested that it should buy the house from the city for its residual cost in order to create that centre there together. But the conception of the Soros Foundation did not allow to invest money in real estate, and the suggestion was not accepted. It didn’t occur to the Western patrons of the arts that the Russian artists-nonconformists had no place where they could realize their artistic programmes which the Western foundations were going to finance. Not having studied and not understanding the conditions of the life of the Russian society they tried to automatically bring the experience of Western countries to Russia. Their help could be much more effective if when they were searching for contacts they had at once addressed not the state bodies which still consisted of «homo soveticus» but directly those people who had long ago learnt to work for the benefit of the society in spite of the absence of the laws necessary for the life of the democratic society and irrespective of the unfavourable conditions of the Soviet life.

The Pushkinskaya-10 building was turning into a cultural centre by itself. The name for it – «Twenty-First Century Ark» – was suggested by Yuliy Rybakov, who had become a deputy of the Leningrad Council of the People’s Deputies by that time. It was thanks to his support that the conception of The Cultural Centre was presented for discussion at one of the sessions of the Leningrad Council of the People’s Deputies and on March 19, 1990 got approval signed by the Chairman A. A. Sobchak. Our organization was offered to work out concrete suggestions on repairing and preparing the premises in the house No. 10 in Pushkinskaya Street for the needs of the cultural centre. In 1991 a lease for 15 years was contracted with the city. The partners’ relations with the «Guard» co-operative broke by themselves.

The independent status of the organization, the necessity of developing the infrastructure were felt by everybody. The only «Gallery 10-10″ that existed at that time was no more able to fulfil all the demands, though during the first two years it had managed to determine the direction of the activity and the quality level of the exhibitions. It was in this gallery that the first in Russia official personal exhibitions by A. Arefyev and Ye. Rukhin – the two of the few founders of the nonconformist art of Leningrad – St Petersburg – took place. An exchange of exhibitions with American artists on non-governmental level was realized for the first time.

In The «Twenty-First Century Ark» Cultural Centre the following groups began to work: the private Gallery named after Salvador Dali, the «DaNet» («YesNo») and «OF» theatres, the «ACHE», «SVOI» and «The Laboratory of Movement» performance groups; the musicians of the «DDT», «Aquarium», «Dva Samolyota» («The Two Planes»), «Colibri», «Prepinaki», «ZGA» groups rehearsed and made records. There was room also for publishing houses: «The New Helicon», «Dean», «Petropol», «Top-Shlyop», «Cabinet».

In 1990 the office of the public committee for assisting the building of The John Lennon Temple of Love, Peace and Music and The «Nochlezhka» («The Doss-House») Foundation (the first organization for helping homeless people in Russia) opened.

In 1992 the Leningrad Department of the Humanitarian Foundation named after Pushkin separated from the Moscow one and was registered in St Petersburg as the independent non-governmental public non-commercial organization The «Free Culture» Foundation.

At that time, on the initiative of the people of culture who worked at «Pushkinskaya-10″, the Galleries «103″, «21″, «77″, «Techno-Art-Centre», «PHOTOimage», «Bridge over the Styx» (with the participation of the workers of The Russian Museum), «The New Academy of Fine Arts», the constant exposition of works of contemporary art from the collection of The «Free Culture» Foundation, «FishFabrique» Art Club, Yu. Kasyanik’s musical Tuesdays, The «Art-Clinic» Club were opened.

It seemed that the position of The Cultural Centre had become firmer. The Foundation started to fully support itself on its own, it organized and financed the technical management of the building. The Foundation searched for an investor and a construction company to repair the building. The architectural bureau «The Foundry Unit 91″ made a project of The Cultural Centre which took into account The Centre’s future need for all the space in the building (13500 square metres) to the Foundation’s order and reached agreement on this project with the Committee for the Management of the City Property and the State Inspection for the Protection of Monuments.

An independent examination was carried out by a representative of an American architectural company. This was possible thanks to the recommendation from the American public figure Barbara Hazard and to the help from the charity Tides Foundation (USA).

Later this foundation showed interest towards the independent cultural policy of The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation and provided financial support to The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Art Centre for the next 10 years without interfering with its activity.

This is a rare example of trust and delicate attitude towards the Russian artist. In other cases we came across incomprehension of the role of the artist in the Russian society. There is a well-known phrase: «A poet in Russia is more than a poet». One should generalize and change the word «poet» for the word «Artist» with a capital letter. The Western art market that developed in the 20th century lowered the role of the Artist to the role of a craftsman engaging in a trade forgetting that the Artist creates cultural values that should exist during centuries. Works of art have become goods that must correspond to the same standards which are necessary when barrels of oil or kilogrammes of potatoes are bought or sold. The Russian artist can not and must not become a participant of such relations. For this reason and in order to preserve the culture of our country one of the main aims of The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation was attracting the attention of the state structures to the understanding of the fact that it was not enough just to return or restore cultural values. Caring for the contemporary creators of those values in the present time would be strategically right.

The relations with the Russian business were languid. Any potential investor wanted to have his money back at once and with a high percentage. That was understandable because firms and banks appeared and disappeared like bubbles. The state didn’t exist as the guarantor of economic stability. Neither did its cultural policy. The state ignored the appearing of the non-governmental non-commercial culture organizations and their active work completely.

In the report «Conflict and Culture» that was presented by «Free Culture» at the conference of European countries in Weimar (Germany, 1999) the following factors that hindered the development of culture and art in the beginning of the 1990s were named:
– financing culture as a whole according to «the residue principle»;
– the absence of financial and legal support of the non-governmental non-commercial sector;
– the discrepancy between the existing laws and the needs of the society;
– the absence or lack of effectiveness of the tax privileges for the sponsors of cultural projects;
– the absence of the art market in Russia caused by the mass impoverishment of the population (the absence of the very concept of art market);
– the indifferent attitude of the citizens of Russia towards the possibility of influencing the political, social and cultural spheres of the state’s activity;
– the excessive customs duties in the case of exchange exhibitions or non-commercial exhibitions abroad which were a great obstacle for the international cultural exchange and for Russia’s integration into the cultural space of Europe and America.

In 1994 the city authorities tried to give the «Pushkinskaya-10″ building over to St Petersburg TV… for organizing a cultural centre as well! (The Order of January 25, 1994 was signed by the Mayor of St Petersburg, the same A. Sobchak who had given the building to The Foundation four years before.) But as The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation had got the lease of the whole «Pushkinskaya-10″ building by that time, the authorities had to give the case over to court.

The artists applied to the public of St Petersburg. On January 30, 1994 a press conference took place at The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Cultural Centre. Correspondents of newspapers, magazines and radio stations of St Petersburg, Moscow and several foreign countries, deputies of the city council, representatives of public associations, art critics, workers of The Russian Museum, The Hermitage, The Museum of the History of St Petersburg, ordinary people and prominent figures of culture took part in it. The poet V. Krivulin and the art critic M. German made fiery speeches in defence of The Cultural Centre. It turned out that many people knew and prized The Cultural Centre and that they needed it.

For two weeks on Radio «Liberty» the Russian poet Yuliya Voznesenskaya with the participation of Yuliy Rybakov spoke of the state of The «Twenty-First Century Ark» Cultural Centre. S. Novgorodtsev devoted a one hour long programme «Sevooborot» on the BBC in which S. Kuryokhin took part to The Cultural Centre. The film «The Body of the Avant-Garde» was shown on the Moscow TV.

The Mayor of St Petersburg and the Chairman of the City Assembly received letters from the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Ye. Sidorov and the leader of «The Democratic Choice of Russia» party V. Gaidar. Inquiries about the fate of The Cultural Centre were got by the Committee for Culture and the Mayor. Besides, it became obvious that whereas at the Soviet times the voice of the public had been dictated by the authorities, at the present time it had the sound and meaning of its own that strongly influenced the results of the elections to the legislative bodies as well as to the executive ones. The people who took part in the election campaign could not but take this into account.

In the middle of 1995 the trial was stopped, and the statements of claim by the city authorities and the TV were recalled because of the impossibility of realizing them. Meanwhile the building was badly ruined already and demanded urgent capital repairs. The artists continued to work in conditions similar to those during the blockade of Leningrad: without water, heating, electricity. At the same time negotiations with TV with the participation of the Deputy Mayor V. Yakovlev for creating a joint-stock company for repairing and reconstructing the building are conducted. In September of the same year the Mayor A. Sobchak visits The «Twenty-First Century Ark» Cultural Centre and suggests that it should move to some ??? premises, but in the end it turns out that there are no such premises in the city. In May of 1995 The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation starts the international programme of cultural exchange «Interspiral».

At the congress of the trans-Europe organization of non-governmental cultural centres («TransEuropeHalles») in Ljubljana The «Twenty-First Century Ark» Cultural Centre was acknowledged as one of the most big and interesting cultural centres in Europe, and on October 26, 1995 it was admitted into the «TransEuropeHalles» network.

In November an exhibition by the artists of The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation in support of The «Twenty-First Century Ark» Cultural Centre organized by the charity organization Fo’ko and the British-American tobacco company B.A.T. opens in Hamburg.

On January 12, 1996 the artists of The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation «take» Smolniy. By the Mayor’s invitation a fine arts exhibition opens in the Mayor’s office. On April 5 of the same year according to the suggestion by the Head of the Committee for the Management of the City Property and the Vice Mayor M. Manevich a compromising agreement between the city, TV, «The Building Trust» and The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation on the repairs and the division of the building No. 10 in Pushkinskaya Street is signed. In the end The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation is to get from the city not less than 4500 square metres of repaired premises for The Cultural Centre at the expense of «The Building Trust». On June 29 the deputy of the State Duma Yu. Rybakov gets the resolution by the new Governor of St Petersburg Yu. Yakovlev which allows to start repairs in the house No. 10 in Pushkinskaya Street.

In January of 1997 «The Building Trust» starts the capital repairs of the building. The artists decide to stay in the house. A system of moving from one wing to another while the main building was under repair has been worked out. There is still no heating and no water. Nevertheless all the creative departments of the Foundation work heroically.

The «Interspiral» project, the initial stage of which became possible thanks to the initiative of the Austrian Professor of Slavonic Studies Franz Kumpl and to the financial support from the foundation for cultural exchange «Kultur Kontakt», is developing.

In the period from 1995 till 1999 The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation presented the art of The «Twenty-First Century Ark» Cultural Centre in:
– Vienna («WUK»), Linz, Innsbruck, Salzburg (Austria), 1995;
– «Metelkova Mesto» (Ljubljana, Slovenia), 1995;
– «Cable Factory» (Helsinki, Finland), 1996;
– Copenhagen (Denmark), in the framework of the project «Kopenhagen-1996 – the Cultural Capital of Europe», 1996;
– Dresden and Berlin (Germany), 1996;
– «BLOOM» (Mezago, Italy), 1996;
– The Centre of Contemporary Art «Zamok Ujazdovski» (Warsaw, Poland), 1997;
– Helsinki (Finland), in the framework of the project «Helsinki-2000 – the Cultural Capital of Europe», 2000;
– The «Multihus Tobaksfabrikken» Art Centre (Eisberg, Denmark), 2000.

During the same period The «Twenty-First Century Ark» Cultural Centre receives artists from the Art Centres «Cinema Rex» (Belgrad, Yugoslavia), «Zamok Ujazdovski» (Warsaw, Poland), «Multihus Tobaksfabrikken» (Eisberg, Denmark), «Cable Factory» (Helsinki, Finland), «Metelkova Mesto» (Ljubljana, Slovenia), «Brussels-Artok-Tour».

By the invitation of the St Petersburg Committee on Culture The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation takes part in festivals in New York and Warsaw (1997).

In 1999, according to the Law of the Russian Federation concerning the re-registration of public organizations, The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation confirms its status but changes its name to The «Free Culture» Society.

Changing the name can be explained by the following reasons:
1. The idea of an Organization as a Foundation which receives money for cultural programmes and distributes it between concrete directions hadn’t proved fruitful.
2. Following the logic of the development of history it was necessary to confirm in documents the continuity of the nonconformists’ generations: in the 70s there was The Society for Experimental Exhibitions, in the 80s – The Society for Experimental Fine Arts, and in the 21st century there would be The «Free Culture» Society.

In 1999 The «Free Culture» Society occupies the repaired part of the building and made a new contract with the city administration for using it as an art centre for 49 years.

The financial provision for The Art Centre’s life was wholly the task of The «Free Culture» Society. The only exception was the personal initiative of L. P. Romankov, the Chairman of the Commission on Culture of the Legislative Assembly of St Petersburg, who managed to include an article on providing some small financial support to The Art Centre from 2000 till 2003 in the budget of the Legislative Assembly.

Providing for themselves has always been the main problem of non-governmental associations and organizations.

When it became clear that the artists had retained a part of the house in Pushkinskaya Street, the habitual name «Pushkinskaya-10″ became the name of the already famous Art Centre. The name of the great Russian poet had long ago become a part of folklore, and that played some part here too.

On October 14, 1999 The «Free Culture» Society founded The Museum of Nonconformist Art (MNI). The Museum was necessary in order to create an opportunity for the contemporary art critics to analyze and make clear the connexion between the time of the flourishing of the Russian avant-garde of the 1910s – 1920s and the art of the artists-nonconformists of the second half of the 20th century, the periods that had been separated by the invasion of Soviet ideology into Russian art. This would enable Russian art as it really is to integrate into the world culture.

The Museum is an exhibition, scientific and cultural centre. The material for the beginning of its work was the collection of works of contemporary art that had been gathered by the «unofficial» artists in the 80s – 90s, which presented the nonconformist art of Leningrad – St Petersburg of the second half of the 20th century.

The self-development of The Art Centre went on. All the initiatives concerning organizing or changing the work of the creative sub-divisions came from the artists themselves. Every person who started working at The Art Centre inevitably became an artist to some extent. Nevertheless, The Art Centre didn’t exist in a vacuum, and its existence, as well as the existence of the whole non-governmental non-commercial sector, depended on the changes in the life of the city and the state very much.

The «Free Culture» Society did a lot of work at analyzing the relations of the state and the non-governmental non-commercial cultural centres in different cities of Europe.

From a number of interviews that we had with the creators and leaders of cultural centres of Austria, Finland, Germany and Holland it was clear that supporting the non-governmental sector in those countries was a part not only of the ideological policy of the state, but of its economic policy as well. For example, in Austria the cultural centres get financial support from the state, the region and the city. The sums are small but enough to provide for the cultural centres. In Finland a cultural centre is allowed to freely dispose of the area it is given; it can lease out a part of this area to somebody for some period of time in order to cover the expenses for the other part which is used with cultural aims. Helping culture is profitable for the Western sponsors because the laws provide them with tax privileges in this case. In some countries the repairs and restoration of the cultural centre’s building are done on the money from the state budget and sometimes on the money of the European Union (Poland, Holland, Finland). Besides, the non-governmental sector helps the state to partly solve the problem of the population’s employment. The people who work in the Western cultural centres get their salaries from the municipality as a rule. One can compare this with the state of things here: The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Art Centre and its workers haven’t got such opportunities because of the absence of contact between the state and the non-governmental sector.

In 1999 The «Free Culture» Society was invited by the European Union to the Conference of European Countries on Cultural Issues in Weimar (Germany). The «Free Culture» Society was the only organization from Russia representing the non-governmental non-commercial sector. The report «Conflict and Culture» by The «Free Culture» Society aroused great interest in the professional circles.

The «Free Culture» Society took part in two Russian Scientific-Public Forums «The Formation of the Civil Society in Russia» which were held in St Petersburg and Moscow (2002). The «Free Culture» Society was invited to Moscow as an observer. In St Petersburg in The Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences we presented the main theses of the «Conflict and Culture» report.

In 2002 The «Free Culture» Society took part in The Third Russian-Finnish Cultural Forum in Lappeenranta where the questions of the state of cultural exchanges were discussed.

In 2003, the jubilee year of St Petersburg, The «Free Culture» Society presented an exhibition by the artists of The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Art Centre in the museums of the Richmond, Michigan, Miami Universities in the USA. In The Art Centre itself The «Interspiral» Festival of Contemporary Art with the participation of artists from cultural centres of Austria, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the USA took place from April 20 till June 13.

Two exhibitions were presented at The Museum of Nonconformist Art:
1. The Collection of Nonconformist Art of the Second Half of the 20th Century;
2. The Contemporary Fine Arts by Artists-Nonconformists.

For the continuing of the successful activity of The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Art Centre, as well as of the whole non-commercial sector it is necessary to:
1. Create an Association of Non-Commercial Organizations of Culture as an instrument of the new cultural policy;
2. Make more effective the dialogue between the state and the non-commercial organizations;
3. Develop the system of laws according to the needs of the country’s cultural development, international experience and reason;
4. Make the culture’s prestige higher, in other words, make the cultural, social and political spheres closer to each other;
5. Teach and bring up the new generation of the workers of contemporary culture.

Formulations of the national idea, one worse than another, emerge from the depths of the political den from time to time. In our view, there can be only one trans-national human idea – culture. If Russia could declare the priority of culture in all the directions of the state’s activity, having put it as the first article of the Constitution and realizing it, the recovery of the society would be inevitable.

For the past 15 years the non-governmental non-commercial organizations of culture have not only represented the Russian art on all levels, but also have conducted intensive enlightening activity, all the time getting no financial support from the state. It’s them who realize the connexion of the epochs of the beginning and the end of the 20th century in Russian culture. It’s them who first told and showed our public what the new technologies in the art of the 21st century are. And the main thing is that, owing to their specific features, the non-commercial organizations unite creative people from various marginal groups, conduce to the realization of their talents and civic conscience, teach tolerance towards people of other views and other cultures.

Going along the way from the self-expression of the personality to the self-realization of the healthy part of the society we supposed that in the course of the embodying the ideas of one generation another generation would appear – one brought up in a freer atmosphere, professing other aesthetic principles and having got another lifestyle. Do you remember how Boris Grebenshikov sang: «Where are the young hooligans who will wipe us out?»? The former future youth has already matured for real life.

The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Art Centre is the cultural environment that conduces to the formation of people’s own view of the world and develops their ability to stand up for their views not only in artistic forms but in social forms as well.

The cultural policy of The «Free Culture» Society as a whole is aimed at giving the young generation the opportunity not only to be the destroyers of the cultural traditions of the past but also to become the creators of new cultural traditions.

President of The «Free Culture» Society
Sergey Kovalskiy

Reference material.

Literature
1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
2. International Treaties on Human Rights.
3. Gallery I: A Collection of Materials on Artistic Events in the «Unofficial» Art of Leningrad in the 1970s [Samizdat]. Leningrad. 1981.
4. The «Gazanevskaya» Culture about Itself (compiled and edited by A. Basin). Jerusalem. 1989.
5. Ye. Andreyeva. The Artists of the «Gazanevskaya» Culture. Leningrad. 1990.
6. Gallery II: A Collection of Materials on Artistic Events in the «Unofficial» Art of Leningrad in the 1980s [Samizdat]. Leningrad. 1991.
7. Document: A Collection of Materials on the Exhibition Activity of The Society for Experimental Fine Arts (TEII) in 1980 – 1988 [Samizdat]. Leningrad. 1991.
8. S. Kovalskiy. Chronicle of Unofficial Art in Leningrad. // St Petersburg Readings. No. 3. St Petersburg. 1995.
9. T. Shekhter. The Unofficial Art of Leningrad: A Historical Essay. // St Petersburg Readings. No. 3. St Petersburg. 1995.
10. [L. Gurevich, M. Ivanov]. Arefyev’s Circle. St Petersburg. 2002.
11. The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation. // Pushkinskaya 10. St Petersburg. 1998.
12. The «Free Culture» Humanitarian Foundation. // St Petersburg Readings. No. 4. St Petersburg. 1999.
13. S. Masik. Pushkinskaya Street. St Petersburg. 1999.
14. B. Hazard. Off Nevskiy Prospect. St Petersburg. 2000.
15. L. Gurevich. A collection of articles. St Petersburg. 2001.
16. The «Pushkinskaya-10″ Cultural Centre: an Album. St Petersburg. 2001.
17. The 20th Anniversary of the Flat Exhibition «In Bronnitskaya». St Petersburg. 2001.
18. The Collection of The Museum of Nonconformist Art: Catalogue-Album. Issues 1 – 4. St Petersburg. 1999 – 2002.
19. Interspiral 2003: Album. St Petersburg. 2003.
20. A. Rapoport. Nonconformism Is Staying. St Petersburg. 2003.

Films and TV Programmes
1. «The Orange Grove». 3 min.. The young Leningrad cinema avant-garde, artistic directors Alexander Sokurov, Yevgeniy Yufit, directed by Dmitriy Kuzmin. Leningrad. 1998.
2. «A Visit to Pushkinskaya, 10″. 54 min.. Vladimir Vitukhnovskiy. Leningrad. TV. 1991.
3. «The Body of the Avant-Garde». Directed by K. Shakhnovich, N. Zaretskaya. Moscow, TV-Gallery. TV. 1993.
4. «The Black Dog Petersburg». 8 min.. Directed by Lyubov Amrovina, authors: Anna Polyanskaya, Ruslan Lin’kov. St Petersburg. TV. 1994.
5. «The New Philistines». 17 min.. K. Shakhnovich, N. Zaretskaya. Moscow, Ostankino, «The New Studio». TV. 1994.
6. «Inspiration Is Not for Sale». 45 min.. TVO «Pushkinskaya, 10″, directed by Yelena Plugatyryova, screenplay by Nataliya Oblenova. St Petersburg. TV. 1994.
7. «The Reform and the Authority». 24 min.. Directed by S. Degtyaryov. St Petersburg. TV. 1994.
8. «The St Petersburg Ark». 30 min.. Authors: Natalya Mikova, Lyubov Amrovina, Alexander Dorbriyanik, Dmitriy Kozlov, Yuriy Molokov, Rodion Gomov. St Petersburg. TV. 1998.
9. «Pushkinskaya, 10 – the Art of Survival». 90 min.. Directed by German Pesetskas. Zalzburg, Austria. Film. 2000.
10. «The Territory». 40 min.. Directed by Andrey Lyudikov, screenplay by Yekaterina Goncharova. Novgorod. TV. 2001.
11. «Dva Samolyota («The Two Planes») / Pushkinskaya, 10″. 44 min.. Author: Nail Nasretdinov. Omsk. TV. 2001.
12. «The 7th Studio / Pushkinskaya 10″. 24 min.. M. Bykov. St Petersburg. TV. 2001.
13. «A Dialogue between the Minister of Culture of Russia and the President of The «Free Culture» Society». 20 min.. M. Shvydkoy and I. Koleva. Moscow. TV. 2001.
14. «Metropolis Spezial Sankt-Petersburg». 53 min.. Germany, France. TV. 2003.