Pushkin

Noor van der Brugge makes artist books. Usually in very small editions. She draws, makes collages, lithographs and etchings. She prints the texts on a 110 year old Boston degel press. Sometimes she collaborates with a poet or writes the text herself. Literature is a great love which is often reflected in her visual work.

I wanted to find out whether Pushkin is still 'alive' in St Petersburg in our time

In the fall of 2018, I wrote to the Pushkinkaya 10 arts center in St. Petersburg requesting a place in their artist-in-residency and described my project, a research project on the poet Pushkin (1799-1837). In this research, I wanted to visit the places where Pushkin lived and worked, and if possible talk to literary scholars who are working on his work (and life). I also wanted to try to find out whether Pushkin is still 'alive' in St Petersburg in our time. The goal was to make an artist's book about it.

In April I travelled to St Petersburg to start the residency. The evening of arrival was impressive enough: I saw the interesting mix of architectural styles (soviet, art deco, baroque and classicism) against a deliciously pink kitsch sky and was impressed by the enormity of the city.

Fortunately, a few days before my departure I had received a description: two and a half A4 are needed to explain how to enter the building, right in the centre of the historic city centre, from the street: two gates, four stairs, two courtyards and seven doors. Entering the residency SPAR (Saint Petersburg Artist in Residency) already says a lot about this special place. It feels like entering a hard-won fortress. And that is actually how you look at the history of this unique arts centre.

In 1989, a group of artists squatted down five enormous buildings that were built together. They set up the foundation Free Culture. It is clear that this was a very exciting activity during the Soviet regime. The stories about members who were put in prison because of their actions for freedom are still circulating. Sometimes they are told by the ex-prisoners and squatters themselves: a large part of them continued to live there. They are now in their seventies but still fighting and working in the arts.

In the course of time the property was named after his address Pushkinkaya 10. For years this was the only place in St. Petersburg where modern art was made and - probably because they sought and found international connection - accepted.

After some time the building was officially recognized as an arts center. The entire complex, which is completely covered in graffiti, includes a museum, six art galleries, an archive and library, a café and approximately 40 studios. In addition, there are at least eight different committees, groups, societies that live and/or work in this enormous complex. And there are three places for artist-in-residencies.

To me, the atmosphere sometimes felt like the punk/cracker era in Amsterdam in the late 80s.

As a visiting artist, you are expressly invited to become part of this hive of art-related activities. To me, the atmosphere sometimes felt like the punk/cracker era in Amsterdam in the late 80s. You constantly feel the hard-won right to make art in freedom. You can only respect that. I took part in activities now and then, but above all I felt I had all the space I needed to focus on my own project. In the three weeks that I was there I worked very hard and was able to make a good start with my book.

During my stay, there were two other artists (from Mexico and Brazil) in the residency. Our small rooms were next to each other and we shared a big kitchen and bathroom. How enriching it is to exchange with artists from other cultures; of course about our projects but also about our different cultural and political backgrounds. The word politics is a word that is never far away in our work. Pushkinkaya 10. The history and current state of Russia is so intertwined with this property that it seems to be steeped in it. This also made me much more aware of the role of politics in my own project: in my application I initially focused on Pushkin as a great poet but by working in this place I became increasingly aware of how Pushkin's life was determined by politics.

How enriching it is to exchange with artists from other cultures; of course about our projects but also about our different cultural and political backgrounds.

Pushkin was banished from St Petersburg as a young poet for writing insulting verses about Tsar Alexander I. For years he stayed in the countryside under the constant surveillance of a government man, far away from his friends. Of his group of friends, most were exiled to Siberia and five friends were hanged after a failed attempt to depose the Tsar (the so-called dekabrists). When Tsar Alexander I died suddenly Pushkin seized his opportunity and requested an interview with the new cataract: Nicholas I.

He was taken from his bed in the middle of the night and taken in a czar's carriage to Nicholas I for an interview. The interview lasted four hours and Pushkin was allowed to return with reservations. The tsar himself censored all of Pushkin's work. The secret service reported on Pushkin's every move and read every letter before it reached the recipient. I experienced the concept of freedom, a major theme in Pushkin's work, very differently when I was in St Petersburg.

The project I submitted had two aspects: the first was that I wanted to visit all the places that had meant something to Pushkin. Also as a bit of a 'fan' ("This is where he really walked/slept/ drank coffee!") but mainly to better understand his life, to taste the atmosphere of the city, experience the light, see the architecture that he lived among. I also wanted to speak to as many people as possible who study him and know a lot about his work and life. The SPAR was a great help with the latter. In the weeks leading up to the residency, I skyped a few times with the director to discuss my project and to see what I would need. It was very nice that they made an appointment for me with a literary specialist. On the very first day, I was given a great guided tour of the Pushkin House (a literature museum). For three hours a passionate scientist told me a lot about Pushkin and the connections with other great writers. Fortunately an employee of the SPAR who spoke English well accompanied me to translate everything. Without help from the SPAR I would never have got in. She also arranged for an intern to take me to a village outside Saint Petersburg to visit the boarding school where Pushkin had attended. I walked between 10 and 17 kilometres every day to find all the places in Pushkin's life, and to draw and write there.

The question of whether Pushkin has become a cliché known as a statue or whom you see on tea bags and vodka bottles, but whose work nobody reads anymore, was amply answered.

The second aspect of my application was that I wanted to investigate whether Pushkin was still 'alive' among today's St Petersburgers. Questioning the cliché plays an important role in my own visual work. Making the cliché so cliché that it becomes authentic again. I want to try to free the frozen image of such a historical figure. The question of whether Pushkin has become a cliché that people know as a statue, or that you see on tea bags and vodka bottles, but whose work nobody reads, was amply answered.

Pushkin is still very 'present' 182 years after his death! Twice a waitress recited a Pushkin poem for me when they saw that I was reading a Pushkin biography. This was not just a few lines to recite but very loud and with great enthusiasm and dedication. Little old ladies sitting as attendants in the corner of the museum room came to life when I asked something about Pushkin; one of them held my arm while she told me about the poet with tears in her eyes. In Russian (I only understood the name Pushkin about every third line).

I was able to talk to quite a few people, and as soon as we talked about Pushkin, our contact with them became fun and intense; so many people know his poems by heart. I also noticed that there are always people sitting on the benches around the three large Pushkin statues, looking at him all the time. They're probably talking to him in their own heads, I thought. In any case, I had started to do that myself...

The writing and drawing of a book about Pushkin has been in full swing since my return home. I expect to be busy for at least another year processing all the impressions and information into a suitable book.

www.noorvanderbrugge.nl

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