Aivazovsky and Marinists. Alive canvas /23.06.15

It is exhibition about Aivazovsky and other marinists(artists, who were inspired by sea) with animation and sound. This multimedian exhibition gives possibility to enjoy the atmosphere of the sea.
Maybe it looks not that interesting, but it spellbinds a lot, while sitting there.

Erarta /19.06.15

Usually it is hard to understand modern art. That is why most of peopole do not like it. My last gallery of modern art was even scary for me. But Erarta, museum of contemporary art, made different impression on me.
There was a lot of interesting things. For example,the model of bipolar activity.

Itis a biological feedback device, which records your galvanic skin response (GSR) in real time. Its principle of operatoin is based on the phenomenon of correlation between the change in electrical conductivity of biological tissue and tge degree of activity in the celebral cortex. Specially  created software converts the information  from your skin into an audio series.

Here are some more expositions, that I liked a lot.

Zakhar Valiev, "Apostles"

Sergey Shnurov, "Shirt"

Rustam Ismagilov, "Do not mind"

Petr Tatarnikov, "In the hands of destiny"

Pavel Grishin, "Last supper"

One interesting side of Erarta is that it has got not only gallery with paintings, but also U-spaces. U-spaces are rooms with different installations. Though some of them were really strange, they were interesting. Here are some of them.

Childhood:

Cherry orchard:

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Tsarskoye Selo /18.06.15, 19.08.15

Tsarskoye selo  was the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility. It's history starts in the 18th century.

Tsarskoye selo is very big. One day is not enough to see everything. This summer I have been there twice and I could see less than half of it.

Let's start from the Catherine palace. In times of first owner Catherine 1 palace was small and unattractive. Each following owner has expanded palace depending on own taste.
It was destroyed during a war. Although the largest part of the reconstruction was completed in time for the Tercentenary of St. Petersburg in 2003, much work is still required to restore the palace to its former glory.

As we can see Tsarskoye selo has all characterizations of Imperila Russian style:

• combination of different colors on facades (mainly pastel colors)

• clear rhythm

• combination of different elements (different forms of windows, columns etc.)

• symmetry

For interior:

• mirrors across each other (to make place visually bigger)

• big beautiful heaters

• exoticism (chinese elements as vases, furniture etc.)

• richly decorated ceils and walls

• sculptures and paintings

Tsarskoye selo is famous not just for it's palace, but also for parks: Alexander park and Catherine park. Together they occupy 227 hectares. There are differnt pavilions etc. in those parks, that are also very interesting. For example, pavilion Hermitage.

It is popular with mechanism of tables. All tables (partly or completely) work as elevator.

Here are some more of those pavilions etc.

For me the most interesting thing in those parks is their combination of English and French landscape gardens. Usually there is just one type in park. Their mix give more interesting solutions of space.