[POST]Industrial Urals: Perm after the revolution

Perm’s cultural revolution began in 2008 under art gallery owner Marat Gelman. How did his renovation come to an end?

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Sergey Poteryaev

The Perm Gate art project was conceived by Nikolai Polissky (the ideologist behind the Archstoyanie project) in 2011. The work is situated in the square dedicated to Perm’s 250th anniversary, near the main railway station Perm 2.

Sergey Poteryaev

The words “Money down the drain” inscribed near the Perm Gate installation encapsulate most residents’ attitude to the city’s so-called cultural revolution.

Sergey Poteryaev

The best-known and still-standing (since the locals liked it) cultural object is a sign bearing the phrase “Happiness is on the horizon,” located behind the riverside station on the banks of the Kama.

Sergey Poteryaev

Perm is located in the eastern part of European Russia (895 miles from Moscow). The city lies on the banks of the Kama river and is one of the hubs of industry, science, and logistics in the Urals.

Sergey Poteryaev

The city traces its roots back to the construction of a copper smelting plant at the confluence of the Kama and Yegoshikh rivers in 1723. The construction project was the work of renowned historian, statesman, and engineer Vasily Tatischev, who also had a hand in the genesis of Yekaterinburg.

Sergey Poteryaev

Perm’s cultural revolution began in 2008 under art gallery owner Marat Gelman. The initiative received the backing of the senator for the Perm region, Sergei Gordeev, and the former governor, Oleg Chirkunov.

Sergey Poteryaev

The inscription “Power” is one of the "cultural objects" created during that revolution. It is inscribed in reinforced concrete outside the city’s Legislative Assembly. The project’s author says it gives the authorities an opportunity to view themselves with criticism and self-irony, while for the the public it illustrates that real power lies with the people.

Sergey Poteryaev

It was the opening of the Russian Povera Exhibition inside Ruchnoy Station that gave impetus to the cultural changes. The station building later housed the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art (PERMM). Currently closed for renovation, the building's future is uncertain.

Sergey Poteryaev

Today's Perm is one of the largest economic centers in Russia. In terms of industrial output the city ranks first in the Urals, ahead of the numerically superior Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.

Sergey Poteryaev

The city’s top industries are electric power, oil and gas refining, machine-building, chemicals, and petrochemicals.

Sergey Poteryaev

Early 2013 saw the resignation of Oleg Chirkunov, after which rumor spread of the cultural project’s imminent demise. Given that all the initiatives have now ceased, it was obviously not idle chatter.

Sergey Poteryaev

Talking to the locals, one hears a constant stream of unflattering opinions of the cultural events that took place. They all add up to the same thing: people do not understand why such sums were spent on the fine arts when the city is rife with other problems.

Sergey Poteryaev

The former home of the “little red men” of the art group Professors is a symbol of Perm’s culture. Their presence received a hostile reception from the locals. As a result of protests against the new cultural policy, the little red men were removed.

Sergey Poteryaev

Another notable feature of the new cultural policy was the appearance of new bus shelters, designed by Lebedev Studio. Now almost all of them are in a dilapidated condition.