Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School
In 2022, I was invited to participate in the intercultural program organized by Innopraktika & Russian Season School. The event took place in St. Petersburg during the month of June 2022. During this opportunity, I met the professors of the St. Petersburg Repin Academy and completed an artistic project that was exhibited at the academy on June 29 of the same year.
In the following paragraphs, I will briefly describe the intercultural and artistic experiences that took place between June 10th and 29th, 2022, in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia.
First, I will discuss the scope of the Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School program. Then, I will mention visits to the State Russian Museum and the Hermitage Museum, which house one of the world's largest collections of artworks.
Intercultural activity program Innopraktika & Russian Seasons School
The Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School is an international educational project that allows foreign students to explore Russia while also contributing to intercultural dialogue among representatives of different participating countries, bringing their artistic and aesthetic perspectives.
The activities of Innopraktika and Russian Seasons School are guided by the principles of cultural relations, where both past experiences and current realities are equally important.
During the event, educators from leading Russian institutions participated in the program, assisting international students from various countries in understanding common patterns and revealing subtleties, with the aim of creating a world of shared global values where people aspire to unity through art.
In summary, the necessary requirements to participate in the event are: (i) having an artistic background in visual arts; (ii) proficiency in English; (iii) a valid passport; (iv) a portfolio approved by the evaluation committee; and (v) a letter of interest in participating in the event.
All participants commit to engaging in the scheduled activities, including museum visits, theaters, ballet performances, sightseeing, as well as submitting an artwork created during the event, provided it aligns with the theme proposed for the year in which the event is hosted.
Execution of the artistic project and exhibition at the St. Petersburg Repin Academy
As mentioned, the counterpart of each participant was the preparation and execution of an artistic project to be presented at an exhibition at the St. Petersburg Repin Academy, with the topic "CREATIVITY UNITES: PRESERVING GLOBAL VALUES."
The main theme of the School's program was the selection of values that affect an outsider, such as mass media, the Internet, and common stereotypes. How does a modern person navigate such a conflict of values? What conflicting values do people face? What value dilemmas do they resolve? How to preserve global values and avoid instant influences?
Within this perspective, participants had to reflect on the struggle within a modern man between true and eternal global principles and the frivolous temptations aggressively imposed by the modern world.
The activities included anatomy and drawing classes, as well as the composition of the artworks and oil painting on canvas.
Teachers Mikhail Molyakov, a painter and professor of plastic anatomy and anatomical drawing, Anastasia Nikolaeva, a muralist, graphic artist, and Ilya Zorkin, a talented artist, all professors at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts named after Ilya Repin, participated in the preparation stages and assisted in the creation of the artworks.
At the end of the event, the artworks were exhibited in the exhibition hall of the St. Petersburg Repin Academy.
State Museum of Russia
The State Museum of Russia, located in Saint Petersburg, houses one of the largest collections of artworks in the country. The museum exclusively features works by Russian artists, providing visitors with an immersion into artistic culture. The collection comprises over 400,000 items.
It's interesting to note that part of the painting collection at the State Museum consists of works produced at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, and this collection was transferred to the museum during the period of the Russian Revolution.
Here, you can view the works of Ilya Repin and Konstantin Somov, two brilliant Russian artists who achieved great success in their time.
This museum was established in 1898 by Tsar Nicholas II and was housed in the Mikhailovsky Palace, built for Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, the son of Paul I. In its early days, the collection consisted of approximately 1,500 pieces from the Hermitage Museum, the Academy of Arts Museum, and the imperial palaces.
However, new artworks were acquired, doubling the collection in its first decade. During World War I, part of the collection was moved to Moscow, and in 1917, the museum was closed to the public, later nationalized, and reopened on the first anniversary of the Revolution.
With the massive confiscation of aristocratic collections, a multitude of new items were added to the Russian Museum's collection, and it was only in 1922 that the museum completed its administrative reorganization and building renovations for infrastructure improvements.
Hermitage Museum
Unlike the State Russian Museum, the Hermitage Museum houses not only works by Russian painters but also those from other countries, such as Rembrandt, Renoir, Matisse, Kandinsky, Leonardo da Vinci, along with an extensive collection of Egyptian artifacts and Greek sculptures.
The museum is situated on the banks of the Neva River and is one of the largest art collections in the world. One of the buildings housing the collection is the Winter Palace, which served as the official residence of the Tsars almost continuously from its construction until the fall of the Russian monarchy.
The museum has a history of over two centuries, and today its collection comprises more than 3 million pieces.
One interesting fact highlighted by the tour guide is that virtually the entire complex had to be restored due to World War II. Many of the artifacts that decorated the palaces were destroyed during the time when the city was known as Leningrad. Restoration efforts continue to this day, with a significant portion of the collection having been recovered.
The other tourist attractions we visited include places like Peterhof, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Peter and Paul Fortress, Kazan Cathedral, Catherine Palace, as shown in the photos below.
Peterhof
St. Isaac's Cathedral
St. Isaac's Cathedral
St. Isaac's Cathedral - interior of the building
St. Isaac's Cathedral - top view
St. Isaac's Cathedral - mosaics
Church of the Savior on Blood
Peter and Paul Fortress
Kazan Cathedral
Catherine Palace
