Angry Internet users launched the hashtag #pozorermitage to express a negative opinion about Jan Fabre's exhibition "Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty" opened in the State Hermitage at the end of October. The exposition presents animals hung on hooks.

“Complete trash and degradation! What the hell are all these rallies against flayers?! Let people, children go to such exhibitions and watch. And then it will be postponed in their heads that THIS is normal. eyewitnesses (spelling and punctuation preserved - approx. "360").

The corpses of dogs, cats, hares and other animals are displayed against the backdrop of paintings by Flemish artists. At the same time, Fabra himself claims that the event is directed against the consumer attitude towards animals, and he picked up their bodies on the highway.

"The whole of Russia is fighting the knackers, such a difficult moment for all of us, the Hermitage spits right in our faces opening the exhibition of Jan Fabre called "The Carnival of the Dead Tramps"! Where the corpses of animals are crucified, hung on hooks, cats, rabbits, dogs with festive caps on head! Where are we heading if THIS is now called art?! There are no words," wrote one of the netizens.

In addition, outraged account owners compare Fabre with the infamous Khabarovsk knackers and demand that the shocking exhibition be closed.

However, oddly enough, some Internet users spoke out in defense of the Belgian and his strange art.

"Jan Fabre has repeatedly told reporters that the dogs and cats that appear in his installations are homeless animals that have died on the roads. Fabre is trying to give them a new life in art and thus defeat death," said Ekaterina Dorofeev.

WHITE HARE LONE

Until recently, the name of the artist Jan Fabre was known only to a narrow circle of specialists. Now all of Petersburg knows him. The Belgian managed to impress the townspeople: he brought stuffed dogs, cats and hares to his exhibition in the State Hermitage.

In the Winter Palace - this is the main building of the Hermitage - there are several works by Fabre. But only a lonely bunny near the painting of the Flemish artist shocks the public. A light spot on the background of a burgundy wall.

Scarecrow, I must say, is made with high quality. The hare looks like it's alive. As planned, it is fixed in the “jaw” of an object that resembles either a blue skull or a brain.

We do not undertake to judge what the author wanted to say by this.

As conceived by Fabre, the hare's body complements the picture of the Flemish artist. A photo: Oleg KUZENKOV

But on another site of the Hermitage - in the General Staff Building, which is located opposite the Winter Palace, the picture is different. This branch started working a few years ago after restoration - an exposition of contemporary art moved here. And here there are already noticeably more “zoological” exhibits from Fabre. Cats and dogs sway slightly on the cables - there is a draft in the room. Around - a brilliant tinsel.

Touching the exhibits with your hand will not work - the ceilings are high. Yes, and there is no such desire.

What passions - a woman of 50 gets up as if rooted to the spot, barely stepping into the hall with unusual art. - Why did you hang it?

The Jan Fabre exhibition also has more traditional exhibits. A photo: Oleg KUZENKOV

Young people react less emotionally.

Take a picture of me with a cat, Mash, - a girl of 17 years old is posing in front of stuffed tailed friends. Then they change places.

Nearby is the body of a shaggy dog ​​with a festive cap on its head. And all the same tinsel.

“How can something like this be exhibited in the Hermitage?! A shame!!!" - flaunts the signature about the Fabra exhibition in the review magazine.

"MORE LIKE DENUSIONS"

Meanwhile, the Hermitage has already stated: Fabre did not kill animals. The unfortunate little animals died under the wheels of cars in Europe, were picked up on the side of the road and "mothballed", so to speak.

The famous composer and pianist Anton Batagov is sure that it is still inhumane.

I ask everyone who considers this exhibition normal to imagine that your mother or your child died in a car (air) accident or terrorist attack. Don't get upset, just imagine. Now think: will you allow this "artist" to make stuffed animals out of their bodies and put them up as an art object? Batagov asks. By the way, he is an experienced vegetarian. Avoids both leather products and fur.

Stuffed cat in the General Staff. A photo: Oleg KUZENKOV

But there are those who compare what is happening around the Hermitage with 1937.

All this is more like denunciations. What are the wordings? “We ask the state to have an impact”, “the exhibition is harmful” ... This reminds me of the darkest times, - says Semyon Mikhailovsky, acting director. Rector of the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Repin.

He also admitted that he had not yet been to the exhibition, but plans to visit it in the very near future.

CORDS - FOR FABRA

But the famous musician Sergei Shnurov has already visited the Hermitage. Dmitry Ozerkov, head of the Department of Contemporary Art of the State Hermitage, spoke about this on November 15.

Sergei Shnurov came to support the Hermitage. Thanks a lot! - this is how Ozerkov signed a joint photo with the musician.

The leader of the Leningrad group was pleased with what he saw.

I didn’t see savagery there, just as I didn’t see bullying people, but rather the opposite. In my opinion, the provocativeness of the exhibition by the “free fighters for culture” is greatly exaggerated, and the artistic merit has gone completely unnoticed,” Shnurov wrote on his Instagram.

Maybe the leader of "Leningrad" will soon have a new song - on the topic of the day.

The Ministry of Culture has distanced itself from the scandalous exhibition of dead animals in the Hermitage.

The Hermitage urged to look at dead animals on hooks as a soft toy"

Dmitry Ozerkov, Head of the Hermitage's Contemporary Art Department, commented on the scandalous exhibition of contemporary Belgian artist Jan Fabre "Knight of Despair - Warrior of Beauty", where visitors could see stuffed dead animals hanging on hooks.

It is difficult to guess what the author wanted to say, looking at the pictures on the Internet. Need to come intkbbee to the exhibition and understand what this exhibition is about. The author wanted to say a lot of things, talking about the meaning of old art, talking about the Hermitage collection, talking about social problems that exist all over the world. It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times, as always happens. The thing is, when you say "corpses", you immediately tell a different story. There is the word "stuffed animals", there is the word "soft toy" and completely different words. When you say "corpses", you bring in a certain context. The word "corpses" is not true. If you come to the Winter Palace of Peter, you will see a stuffed animal of Peter's domestic dog, which is on display. Why doesn’t anyone care about Peter’s stuffed dog, but stray dogs care, Ozerkov said in an interview with Life.

According to him, "the corpses of tortured animals" are presented to children as "modernity." The deputy also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that “individual people” manage the museum “as they want”, however, he did not give a clear answer to the question whether visitors should boycott the resonant exhibition or the organizers should close it.

“This is not a garage or a bathhouse for individuals. This is a state museum. This means that the exhibition should serve the interests of the state,” Milonov believes.

The exhibition of the Belgian artist Jan Fabre, who became famous for his scandalous performances, which opened in the Hermitage, gave rise to a wave of indignation in Runet: people were shocked by the presence of stuffed animals at the exhibition.

Since the opening of the exhibition three weeks ago, thousands of messages have appeared on social networks accusing the artist and the famous museum of “cruelty to animals”.

In particular, people were outraged by the installation with stuffed animals.

Context

“Visitors came to admire the paintings, but stumbled upon such a horror,” one Russian woman is outraged online. The kids are in shock. Only sadists can hang stuffed animals." “Dead animals are not art,” writes another. “Shame on the Hermitage.”

Deputy Vitaly Milonov, a well-known champion of “moral values” in Russian society, also did not stand aside and called the exhibition “disgusting”.

Representatives of the museum objected on the official website that “dogs and cats in Fabre’s installations are homeless animals that died on the roads. According to the artist, he thus gives them a new life in art and conquers death.

“Contemporary art is a challenge,” says museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky. - By provoking, it makes people think. This should be rejoiced, not snarled at. If someone doesn’t like this kind of art or not everyone understands it, that’s fine.”

More than 200 pieces until April

More than 200 works by the Flemish sculptor Jan Fabre, including scarab figures, stuffed animals and ballpoint pen paintings, will be on display at the Hermitage until April along with classic examples of European art.

Admirers believe that the artist has brought a radical change to contemporary art, but his critics are unhappy with his addiction to provocation, as, for example, with the cat-throwing in Antwerp in 2012.

Even then, the performance generated a terrible scandal, and Fabre was forced to apologize: “I did not intend to somehow harm the cats. All is well with them." Some of them even threatened to kill him.

Founded in 1764, the Hermitage is the world's largest museum, with over 60,000 works of art on display in its halls and over 3 million in storage.

An exhibition by contemporary Flemish artist Jan Fabre titled “Knight of Despair – Warrior of Beauty” has opened in the State Hermitage Museum. Skeletons and stuffed animals, as well as the shells of beetles and turtles are widely used in the master's creations. There are also other materials atypical for artists - for example, ink from a BIC disposable ballpoint pen or ordinary buttons. Even now, the Hermitage is prepared for the fact that the exhibition will arouse great interest and a lot of controversy.

Fabre is considered one of the world's leading contemporary artists. Therefore, the State Hermitage decided on a bold experiment: he placed Fabre's works right among the classics of Flemish painting. Wasn't that too bold? Exhibition curator Dmitry Ozerkov believes that this is natural.

I do not see any risk here, because for Jan Fabre, contemporary art is a continuation of the old art, says the specialist. - For us, this is the development of old art, its rethinking. The Hermitage visitor will have the opportunity to see old paintings in a new interpretation. This exhibition is about a very complex context, about the different meanings and ambiguity of old art. And also about the fact that the old art is much more complicated than the modern one - it is less studied and less understood.

Fabre's works were scattered not only in different halls, but also in different wings of the Hermitage. And this is no accident: the artist himself saw in the contours of the museum a huge butterfly pierced by the Alexandrian pillar, which, like a pin, pinned him to the body of St. Petersburg.

The Hermitage, together with Jan Fabre, has been preparing this exhibition for two years. In the summer, the artist came to St. Petersburg and wandered through the halls of the Hermitage in knightly armor. These adventures resulted in a performance, which can also be seen at the exhibition. Some of the Fabrovsky knightly armor are exhibited in the Knights' Hall. Only now his knight is more like a beetle. The artist himself is the grandson of the famous entomologist, so at the press screening of the exhibition he confessed his love for insects. And anticipating the reaction of animal rights activists to some of his works (primarily those exhibited at the General Staff Building - "Protest of Dead Homeless Cats" and "Carnival of Dead Mugs", where stuffed cats and dogs are presented), I immediately noticed: not a single animal was killed for the purpose of being exhibited as a piece of art.

I collected the corpses of cats and dogs along the highway, as people, trying to get rid of their pets, throw them there, Fabre noted. - They die there. Insects were also not killed. I took the shells and wings of beetles in restaurants in Asian countries - for example, Singapore and Malaysia, where they eat them. For me, scarabs are a symbol of the connection between our world and the outside world, an allegory of life and death.