Chamber exhibition of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s Crimean works
If the summer doesn’t want to come to us, we’ll come to the summer, presumably thought the curators at the Russian Museum and decided to organize a chamber exhibition of the great naturalist Arkhip Kuindzhi’s Crimea-centered works, replete with sunshine and sea and abundant greenery and gorgeous nature and what have you.
The six pictures on display include the famous “Ai Petri. Crimea”, the recent heisting from its home Tretyakovskaya Gallery of which put the art community into flutter (it has of course since been returned to the museum and will go into restoration after this exhibition). The event runs from March 22 to April 29, tickets start at 250 rubles.
Earth Hour 2019
Launched by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Earth Hour is an annual international event encouraging individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour, from 8.30 to 9.30pm, as a symbol of commitment to the planet. Because hey, nothing says commitment to the planet like an hour of window dressing at the backdrop of year-long, off-limit consumption with plastic supplanting marine life from our oceans and the gargantuan meat and dairy industry responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the transportation sector! (End rant.)
St. Petersburg will join the worldwide initiative, which this year falls on Saturday, March 30, with 70 of its landmark buildings and five of its iconic bridges ditching their illumination for the duration of the said hour. There will also be a special concert starting at 7.30pm on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, with, and I quote, “dazzling” performances with Tesla coils, various song and dance and an interactive program raising awareness on how to treat the environment better. Gre-e-eat. If you feel like adding to these wondrous deeds with something more everyday-ish, here, here and here are our guides to eco eateries and shops in St. Pete. This is a non-profit organizing regular recycling events all over the city. And here are some examples of what we’ll lose if we keep on with not caring. (And now it’s end rant for real.)
Photo-Hunting: an exhibition of wildlife photography
Probably to coincide with the Earth Hour, probably just because they like animals, the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences is hosting a large-scale exhibition of professional and amateur wildlife photography. The 72 works of 32 authors were taken in various locations around the world, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast included. “Great exhibition. Magnificent photographic artistry,” says one visitor, so maybe go check it out for yourself. The exhibition runs until October 31, 2019, tickets start at 150 rubles.
16th Funny Festival
Clowns. Some love ‘em, some hate ‘em, but let’s admit it, they’re a ubiquitous element of our modern culture, what with kids’ birthday parties, Ronald McDonald and Stephen King’s It. And they form an integral part of the Funny Festival, held for the whopping 16th time on the streets of St. Petersburg from March 31 to April 6. The March 31 program includes a “spectacular” parade of pierrots, jesters, harlequins and other merry andrews, starting at 1pm on the 6th and 7th Lines of Vasilievsky Island. Admission is, of course, free, but as far as I’m concerned, they’d have to pay me to come see all this. And even then I’d think long and hard about it.
“Love, Sinatra” jazz night
This Sunday, March 31, the self-styled “modestly grand” Hotel Ambassador is throwing another jazz get-together, this time dedicated to one of the genre’s most well-loved greats, Frank Sinatra. Performing his biggest hits such as Strangers in the Night, My Way, and New York, New York will be two vagrant birds from the Big Apple itself, jazz guitarist Ilya Lushtak and tenor saxophonist Todd Herbert. They will be accompanied by a jazz quartet led by a famous sax player and bandmaster at the Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra Kirill Bubyakin.
The whole shindig starts at 6pm, but you have to be there at 5.30, apparently to be able to feast on free food and drinks before everything is eaten and drunk by other guests wanting to get the most from their 1,200-rubles-and-rising tickets. Plus, it’ll be easier to intone to the ever-wise I’m Gonna Live Till I Die if you’re nicely warmed up like that. But really, the organizers don’t explain themselves here, so this is just speculation (hope the food part still stands, though).
Have a great weekend!
