Flora
Staged BY JACQUELINE KORNMUELLER
Flora is an opportunity to take a fresh look at the great works of Old Masters in the Hermitage collection through a synthesis of the arts – literature, acting, music and dance. The invited creators will push back the boundaries of the perception of the collection belonging to one of the world’s greatest museums.
»The concept consists in having famous and highly fashionable writers from around the world select paintings from the Hermitage and write an essay about them. On the basis of those essays, actors and musicians devise performances that they then present in the Hermitage. It will be a very interesting example of the way that we give painting a new literary life and literature a new painterly-museum life«, Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, said of the programme.
The director Jacqueline Kornmüller and the producer and dramatist Peter Wolf have invited outstanding writers and musicians from Austria, Russia, Germany, the UK, the USA, Belarus and other countries to produce texts and compositions based on works in the Hermitage. With a team of 14 actors, dancers and performers, Kornmüller will create a series of performances that will encourage a new interpretation of famous paintings. Involving the audience in their piece, the creators will invite the spectators to acquire a new artistic experience in a classic museum.
In Autumn 2021, each Thursday evening the Hermitage halls will appear to people in a new, unaccustomed form: Flora will allow them to immerse themselves in the world of art and see what creations have been inspired by the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, Antonio Canova and other great artists in the Hermitage.
Tatyana Tolstaya
THE GOOD SON
about Return of the prodigal son
by Rembrandt
... YOU MOVE AWAY FROM THE PAINTING, TURNING AROUND ALL THE TIME - IT DOESN'T LET YOU GO.
performed by Vladimir Kuznetsov
Martin Pollack
IN MY GARDEN
about Flora
by Francesco Melzi
RECENTLY, DURING MY DAILY DIGGING IN THE GROUND, MY GRACEFUL HANDS DISCOVERED SOMETHING INCOMPREHENSIBLE, UNSIGHTLY, BOTTLE-SHAPED PIECE OF METAL COVERED WITH EARTH.
performed by Liliya Burdinskaya
Victor Martinovich
CHILD AND CHILD
about Madonna and Baby
by Giulio Cesare Procaccini
THERE IS NO LOVE. ESPECIALLY NOT FROM A MAN TO A WOMAN. IF ONLY FROM THE MOTHER TO HER CHILD
performed by Denis Zykov
William Shakespeare
VENUS AND ADONIS
about The Death of Adonis
by Giuseppe Mazzuola
LOVE IS A SPIRIT ALL COMPACT OF FIRE NOT GROSS TO SINK, BUT LIGHT AND WILL ASPIRE.
Translation from English by Grigory Kruzhkov, performed by Anna Budanova and Andrey Efimovsky
David Foster Wallace
CONSIDER THE LOBSTER
about Stil Life with dead game and lobster
by Pauwel de Vos
EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT LOBSTER IS. BY THE WAY: MIDCOASTERS´ NATIVE TERM FOR A LOBSTER IS IN FACT “BUG”, AS IN “COME AROUND ON SUNDAY AND WE´LL COOK UP SOME BUGS”
performed by Andrey Feskov
Zadie Smith
The old woman
about The Old Woman
by Denner Balthazar
I am writing about her first and foremost because she is an old woman and therefore a destination point on a journey that lies before me.
performed by Anna Vartanyan
MARTIN PTAK AND BENNY OMERZELL
AN APPLE A DAY
about Adam and Eve
by Hendrik Golzius
A MUSICAL COMPOSITION OF MARTIN PTAK AND BENNY OMERZEL FOR TWO PIANISTS LEADS THE AUDIENCE TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
performed by Alexander Kashpurin and Ksenia Gavrilova
MILENA MICHIKO FLASAR
HAVE A NAME
about Wolf-Hound
by Paulus Potter
The people are gone. They hurriedly packed their things and drove away. Where, they didn't say.
Performed by Alexandra Revenko
Johanna Doderer AND SHADAB SHAYEGAN
THE POWER OF LOVE
about Cupid and Psyche
by Antonio Cannova
The composer JOHANNA DODERER brings the butterfly of the sculpture "CUPID AND PSYCHE" to life, and the IRANIAN animation filmmaker SHADAB SHAYEGAN let it fly.
performed by Alexander Petrov
Evgenij Vodolaszkin
BORDER Story
about St. Jerome and the Angel
by Jusepe de Ribera
MANY OUTSTANDING PHENOMENA OCCUR AT THE BORDER. THIS STRANGE DIALECTIC OF JOINING AND SEPARATING IS ONE OF THE DRIVING FORCES BEHIND CULTURE.
performed by Sergey Migitsko
OLGA SEDAKOVA
TOUCH MUSIC
about Flora
by Rembrandt
Other paintings remain where they were placed, but rembrandt's paintings are included. It is less a visual but almost a tactile impression. They touch you.
performed by Yulya Grishaeva
Still Life with an Oriental Carpet, mid-17th century
HENRY Purcell
REMEMBER ME
about Still Life with Oriental Carpet
Francesco Maltese
ONE OF THE MAIN MYSTERIES OF THE HERMITAGE IS 'STILL LIFE WITH ORIENTAL CARPET', ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCESCO MALTESE. A TABLE and A VASE WITH FRUIT - THAT'S ALL WITNESSES OF THE MEETING. WHO WAS SITTING AT THE TABLE COVERED WITH CARPET? WHY WERE THE FRUITS LEFT UNTOUCHED? THE ANSWERS TO THESE AND OTHER QUESTIONS WILL BE GIVEN BY THE PERFORMANCE OF FLORA.
performed by Alisa Ten
