Petersburg dialogue has been supporting and accompanying cultural projects for ten years
Press release from 07/15/2010
The umbrella theme of the 10th "Petersburg Dialogue" from 13 to 15 July 2010 was "German and Russian society in the next decade". Around 300 experts from all areas of society from both countries took part in the eight working groups in Yekaterinburg.
In his opening speech for the Culture Working Group, Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and Head of the Culture Working Group for the German side since 23 February 2010, said: "If we want to develop German-Russian relations further, then we need to turn our interest in each other into more knowledge about each other. And this is where the Petersburg dialogue has a duty to develop initiatives in this direction. The people of both countries, especially the younger ones, expect clear signals from us."
As part of the Petersburg Dialogue 2010, the Culture Working Group once again discussed the need for a bilateral film funding agreement, which has been under discussion at ministerial level for some time, as well as planned museum collaborations, a German-Russian opera project in Vladivostok and the continuation of its commitment in the areas of monument protection and architecture.
The ICOMOS publications "The Architectural Heritage of the Avant-Garde" and "Building on World Heritage - St. Petersburg and Berlin-Potsdam" were presented as tangible results of the activities to date. Both volumes are based on projects initiated and actively supported by the Petersburg Dialogue: At the colloquia "Building on World Heritage" held in 2007 and 2008 respectively, experts from both countries for monument conservation, architects and museums had discussed their experiences and ideas for modernising historic museum buildings and palaces. In 2008, the "Avant-garde Architecture" project organised an action week in St. Petersburg to draw attention to the exceptionally rich heritage of architectural monuments from the early 20th century in Russia and to promote greater appreciation of these endangered buildings. In future, the Petersburg Dialogue will continue to actively support projects on monument protection and architecture and, in particular, promote the World Heritage nomination of 20th century monuments from Russia. Other topics such as "The post-avant-garde in architecture" and "Roof reconstruction on 19th century museum buildings" will be addressed through round table discussions and specific projects.
The Culture Working Group supports the German-Russian co-operation exhibition "Bronze Age - Europe without Borders" planned for the end of 2012 / beginning of 2013, which will also include objects from the Berlin State Museums that were relocated due to the war and are still being looked after in Russia. Exhibition partners in Russia are the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Pushkin Museum and the State Historical Museum in Moscow. The exhibition "Russians and Germans. 1000 Years of History, Art and Culture", which for the first time aims to show the diversity of connections between Russians and Germans over a long period of time. It will initially be shown at the State Historical Museum in Moscow in spring/summer 2012 and then at the Neues Museum in Berlin.
In future, more projects in the field of music will be supported. The Petersburg Dialogue is therefore taking on the patronage of the opera project "Figaro in the Far East", which will celebrate its premiere in Vladivostok in November 2011. It is the continuation of a German-Russian opera project in which young artists from Vladivostok and Moscow performed Mozart's Magic Flute with colleagues from Stuttgart and Berlin in Vladivostok in October 2009. This initiative is intended to develop sustainable prospects for young up-and-coming musicians. The idea of a "German-Russian orchestra" was also presented and is to be developed further in the near future.
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The two ICOMOS publications (Jörg Haspel (ed.): Das Architektonische Erbe der Avantgarde, ICOMOS Hefte des Deutschen Nationalkomitees XLVIII, hendrik Bäßler verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-930388-58-5; Jörg Haspel (ed.): Welterbe weiterbauen - St. Petersburg and Berlin-Potsdam, ICOMOS Hefte des Deutschen Nationalkomitees XLIX, hendrik Bäßler verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-930388-57-8) are available from Hendrik Bäßler Verlag Berlin, mail: info(at)baesslerverlag(dot)de