Kronstadt
Kronstadt, a military city and port that remained closed to visitors for a long time, keeps revolutionary history in its memory. In July 1917, the first Soviet Republic was born here. In 1921, there was also an uprising that was crushed by the Soviet government. The project was born out of the desire to walk through this city, to juxtapose its history with the life it lives today.
“Flags. Kronstadt”, photo collage, 2011
The project was conceived as a personal study of the fate of the author’s grandfather, Grigory Smolyansky, who led the socialist revolutionary organization in Kronstadt in 1917 and participated in all the twists and turns of July of that year. However, as a result of her stay at the Kronstadt Artists’ Residence, a picture emerged that included a view of the present and everyday life of the city. The project includes a diary recording her thoughts and what she saw during the day, simultaneous photography and video shooting from one point.
Diary. Kronstadt 2011
The News of the Kronstadt Council of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies is a document of that time, in which you can see how the process of forming a new, democratic society was going on – after all, different groups of the population were widely represented in these councils. In Kronstadt I kept a diary, trying to read the signs of the times in the appearance of the city and to compare them with historical documents.
Photo from the archive of the State Public Historical Library.
The spring and summer of 1917 was a time of unrest and increasing violence. The meetings of the Council were published in the newspaper, and in most cases the functions of the chairman were performed by Grigory Smolyansky, then 26 years old.
Crossroads. Photo collage; Self-portrait. Photo collage; Cyclist. Photo collage, July 2011
Kronstadt. July 18, 2011
Today and yesterday, I walked around the city according to the pattern: walk to one end, turn around, walk back to the other end, and so on. Where there are still no traces of reconstruction – the stamp of time, which they really want to erase, paint, plaster.
In this story everything is like in a popular print – a kind and glorious tsar, glorious noble gentry, sailors devoted to the fatherland.
July 23, 2011
I walk around the city and think that houses and walls are as indifferent as nature. They have outlived and will outlive those who have been sad, hated, loved and furious.
Memory is immaterial, should we talk about it? How can we show it?
July 24, 2011
Today I walked around the city again, loaded down. I remembered what I read in John of Kronstadt’s memoirs about the execution of Wigner and what Raskolnikov wrote about it. He presents Wigner as a martyr, while Raskolnikov portrays him as cruel and cowardly. The sailors rebelled against his mistreatment. The authorities will erect a monument to John of Kronstadt, and Raskolnikov writes that he was a member of the Black Hundred Union of the Russian Land.
Crowds of tourists wandered through the city, chewing, photographing monuments. But what speaks to me the most are these red barracks, broken houses, stones and canals.
Canals
Kronstadt is an outpost of St. Petersburg, built and planned as a small military fortress and military port. It was important to me to highlight these special areas of Kronstadt, which today only speak of the plan through their planning, but all around there is stagnant water.
Obvodny Canal. Photo, Kronstadt,2011
Each of these photos is accompanied by a video shot from the same location.
Pier
In fact, it is a pier, but it also retains the function of a dock for various boats. Fishing is done from it, and around it there is a field overgrown with grass. From here you can see the harbor with all its movements.
Pier. Photo, Kronstadt, 2011
Street. Passers-by
Kronstadt was built to service military ships, so the streets look like canals running around the city, along the walls of warehouses and barracks. Red brick everywhere, no advertising, and when I came here it had only recently lost its status as a closed city.
Street. Photo, 2011 г.
Pier. Jumping
Petrovsky Pier is a historical place in Kronstadt. From here you can clearly see the ships anchored. The pier has been famous for its cast-iron vases since 1885. But I am interested in the gap between history and the trivialities of everyday life. That is why I was so drawn to this gathering at sunset. Women stood with baby carriages and men jumped from the vase into the water…
Jumping. Pier. 2011 г.
Uprising Street
Uprising Street runs along the old fortifications of the fort, and only its name recalls the revolutionary events. The ruins and dust around, combined with the iconic word on the wall, speak of the place, and moreover, of what characterizes the situation in which we find ourselves.
Uprising Street. 2011.
Look and See. Exhibition at the Ruarts Gallery
The exhibition “Look and See” was held at the Ruarts Gallery in Moscow from June 25 to August 1, 2015. The exhibition presented French and Russian artists: Guillaume Guerin, Christian Lebra, Anne-Sarah Le Maire, Alexandra Mitlyanskaya, Natalia Smolianskaia. Curator Natalia Smolianskaia. With the support of the French Institute of Moscow.
Interview with Natalia Smolianskaia at the opening of the
exhibition against the backdrop of her works.
With the advent of digital technology and the Internet, the need to move in the physical world has been complemented by virtual mobility. Are we able to see the moments of life around us in this constant movement? And how do we understand that we are really “seeing” and not recording street signs or Internet traffic?
What is this path – from “looking” to “seeing”?
Photo objects “Kronstadt”: Pier. Jumps 2; Dragonfly; Brick “Tarasov”; Lonely fort; Pier; Jumps 1; Cyclist, printed on PVC plastic in 2 layers, each object 70×100, 2011. Technical support by Georgy Kiesewalter.
In Natalia Smolianskaia’s works, several moments seem to merge, intertwine into one, creating, on the one hand, an ephemeral, transparent fabric of the image, and, on the other hand, modeling a “sculptural” form in an attempt to capture the fleeting moments of time…
