An experiment at the Tallinn Russian Museum – museum space designed by the visitors themselves | ETV+
In the beginning there was a word, and that word was “rabarbar”. It was it that formed the basis of the experiment in the Tallinn Russian Museum. As the museum guide Irina Krivorukova explained, the idea of the Museum Laboratory project was for the visitors to decorate the museum space themselves.
“There was a bare wall here. And we realized that we didn’t have enough words. The first word that appeared was “rabarbar,” said the guide of the Tallinn Russian Museum Irina Krivorukova.
Museum visitors began to capture the ideas and actively incorporate the words and fill them with their stories. Irina also has her own story.
“Being a student, I saw in the market in St. Petersburg that a man was selling rabarbar. I’m from here, from Estonia, and I don’t know what rhubarb is. “He was an Estonian fruit and vegetable merchant who immediately recognized his own,” recalls Irina Krivorukova.
Subsequently, from the collected words, the artist Tatyana Muravskaya created an exhibition, which the museum called a jewelry shop, where each word, along with the lost personality, is revealed in the window, waiting for a response from discovery.
“My favorite word that I show everyone. It was sent by a man, about 40 years old. This word is grandmother. Grandmother, grandmother, grandmother I know everything. And foreigners too – grandmother,” said Irina Krivorukova.
Can not argue with that. A touching mini-story of a person, such a frame of a precious stone adorns the word “grandmother”, which gives him warmth and homeliness.
Grandma was always very far away. We are in Estonia, all relatives are in the Urals, in Magnitogorsk. Meeting for adventure and grandmother,” Irina Krivorukova read the story of a man.
Condensed milk, string bag, busya, pyastochka, saffron, chuni, bedspread and more than 90 words can be found in the museum’s jewelry shop. This experiment continues, in the autumn the museum is going to release a collection of native words. However, the jewelry store made of words is just a small part of the large project “Museum Lab”, which received the prestigious “Museum Rat” award.
We ask questions. find answers,” Irina Krivorukova explained.
It was the visitors of the museum that became its main characters. With their active involvement, they attract museum projects that create future thematic exhibitions and fill them with new meaning.
“This is a study of the origin of people, and the anthropologist examines the past of rare cases who speak Russian. Whose mother tongue is our country of Estonia. But the mother tongue is Russian,” said Irina Krivkova.
In addition to the anthropologist, the space experimental exhibition was designed by a sociologist and a historian. And on each accent in the labyrinth of meanings, visitors can express their opinion by pouring beans into the bank or sticking a smiley face on a poster with questions, or you can even write your opinion or wish on the wall.
“There are people’s emotions, their results, what they are proud of and how they identify themselves. That terrible word identification, it is very important, because it answers the question – who am I? .
Entering an experimental exhibition, where there are no usual exhibits, you want to turn around and leave, but you move forward, you get involved in a couple of proposed games with meanings.
He starts to read, and it immediately responds. the museum did not stand without emotions, without comments.
The most heated discussion, judging by the reviews left at the stands of the exhibition, leads visitors to the topic of the Russian language in Estonia.
“The people are worried.
The experiment, which began last fall, continues and, perhaps, its museum staff will find the answer to the main question.
“We do not have one identity. Here I am a woman, I am a mother, I am a museum worker, I am Belarusian, for example, I am a citizen of Estonia. These are all different identities. It is very multilayered. And all possible questions should be submitted to the Russian Museum for a question – who are we?”, – said Irina Krivorukova.