The Manege Central Exhibition Hall, as part of the Museum Line public art project, and with support from St. Petersburg’s Committee for Tourism Development and Committee for Culture, the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation for the Northwest Federal District, the Federal Agency for Tourism, and the Foundation for Support of Innovation and Youth Initiatives in St. Petersburg, presents a large-scale outdoor exhibition – Russia’s Silver Necklace.

The exhibition’s name refers to a popular cross-regional tourist route that includes several regions of Northwest Russia known for their historical and cultural landmarks and their natural beauty. The start of the outdoor exhibition coincides with celebrations for Russia Day and the beginning of the UEFA EURO 2020 in St Petersburg.

The artists involved in the Russia’s Silver Necklace exhibition have created an expressive artistic image in the form of 11 scattered silver “beads” that that form a “necklace”. Each bead is a component part of a unified conceptual and artistic whole. They have been placed in spots corresponding to the geographical location of their region in Russia’s Northwest. The beads are 1.8 metres in diameter, and made of a silver-coloured material.

The project brings together 11 of the Russian Federation’s federal subjects: St. Petersburg, Archangelsk Oblast, Vologda Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Kaliningrad Oblast, Murmansk Oblast, Novgorod Oblast, Pskov Oblast, the Nenetsk Autonomous Okrug, the Republic of Karelia, and the Republic of Komi.

Each object is an artistic interpretation of a key image connected with one of the Northwestern regions. Leading artists, actors, directors, figures in the worlds of art and science, and cosmonauts were invited to participate in the project. Each of them has created their own thematic design that includes components associated with the chosen region.

Among those who participated in creating the designs for the ten beads were: Andrey Malakhov (Murmansk Oblast), Mikhail Shemyakin (Kaliningrad Oblast), Boris Eyfman (Leningrad Oblast), Mikhail Zygar (Novgorod Oblast), Olga Peretyatko (Republic of Karelia), Polina Osetinskaya (Pskov Oblast), Karina Razumovskaya (Vologda Oblast), Sergey Krikalev (Republic of Komi), Vasily Barkhatov (Arkangelsk Oblast), and Anna Yalova (Nenetsk Autonomous Okrug).

The eleventh bead is dedicated to St. Petersburg, the city rightfully known as Russia’s cultural capital. As it itself is an open air museum, St. Petersburg is inextricably associated with historical monuments, palaces, drawbridges, and white nights. Its bead, whose design was inspired by the city’s image and artistic legacy, became the heart of the installation, and does not have one specific creator. It is in the form of a huge metallic ball that reflects the city’s image, as well as the images of all the other beads that represent the Northwest region.

The objective of the Russia’s Silver Necklace project is promotion of domestic tourism by unveiling the tourism potential of the historical cities of Russia’s Northwest and attracting attention to new routes and travel possibilities.

What does Kaliningrad look like? With what is the Republic of Komi associated? What image is the symbol of Archangelsk Oblast? And how do you gather all the sights of the Northwest into one place? The Russia’s Silver Necklace project has answers to all these questions.

The outdoor exhibition is part of the Museum Line programme, conceived by the team at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall for the purpose of creating open cultural spaces and searching for new plastic forms. Being a relevant platform for the presentation of contemporary artistic ideas, Museum Line unites a series of vivid outdoor exhibitions that follow each other chronologically.

Exhibition runs: 16 June – 16 September 2021

The installation series will be displayed at the Nikolsky Gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Director of the Museum Line programme
and deputy director of Manege Central Exhibition Hall – Anna Yalova
Artist – Andrey Punin
Coordinator – Yekaterina Zotkina (Manege Central Exhibition Hall)