Installation, 2025
Meerim Emil kyzy
These suitcases contain various (not only) amusing stories, which we have pieced together from fragments of correspondence between museum staff and visitors, artists, officials, colleagues from friendly museums, and government agencies. Neither the authors of the letters nor any evidence remain; we know the heroes of these stories only through correspondence. You can read the correspondence between Chief Curator Tatyana Popova and Angelina Shchekin-Krotova, an art historian and Robert Falk’s wife. The most interesting episodes are illustrated in collages. Each element in each box has its own meaning; you should examine it closely, and for a more immersive experience, you can listen to the audio recording.
“The letters we found they touch on almost every aspect of the museum’s life. This is because, again, they include not only official correspondence but also personal letters.
For example, this a letter from our director [K.N. Usubalieva]—the first lady, the wife of the first secretary of the Kyrgyz SSR—and how she had to fight with the Ministry of Culture. It’s mentioned here that there was this crazy idea from the Ministry of Culture offices of the USSR: to create a state art gallery of the USSR where they not only requested but ordered us to send them every staple piece of our collection, in chronological order, just so they could exhibit it in their gallery in Moscow. Of course, our director had to be very, very careful with her response. She had to protect the collection but also avoid getting into an argument with the Ministry. So, very delicately, she explained that our founding stage in the 1930s and 1940s—that particular collection—wasn’t very big. If we sent something, the museum would have nothing left to exhibit. So, she provided an alternative: maybe they could write to the founding fathers (who were still alive at the time) and ask them to provide those paintings from their own private collections, instead of touching the museum’s. That’s why we have this little illustration of a figure of a woman protecting the colors, the paintings.”
🎧Meerim Emil kyzy’s presentation
MAJIC 