Exhibition "Berlin-Moscow/Moscow-Berlin" opens in German capital

A grand opening of art exhibition "Berlin-Moscow/ Moscow-Berlin, 1950-2000" is held on Saturday in the capital of Germany.

500 paintings, drawings and sculptures created by 180 artists from Russia and Germany are presented in 40 halls of the Martin-Gropius-Bau exhibition center in Berlin. Photographs, movies and video materials will also be exhibited in the context of the event.

A distinctive feature of the exposition is that the exhibits here are displayed thematically, rather than in chronological order.

The exhibition occupies 5,000 sq. meters of space in the halls of the center.

The organizers of the exhibition in Berlin point out that it focuses "on historically important decades of the second half of the 20th century," and that the exhibition attempts "to look at 50 years of interaction between Russian and German artists from a modern perspective." "Organizing the exhibition, we decided to avoid any kind of commentaries or explanations in regard to the origin and the history of all exhibited items," stated RF Deputy Culture Minister Pavel Khoroshilov during a press conference on the eve of the grand opening ceremony. "We promised that to participating artists. Visitors will be able to make a "virtual tour" of their own around the picturesque and multi-faceted world created by artists who worked all these years in "parallel and perpendicular planes" of various political and social systems.

According to Mr. Khoroshilov, the exhibition in Berlin is unique in terms of its aesthetic value - "there has been none of a kind before anywhere in the world." "The exhibition demonstrates the diversity of German and Russian cultures, which are historically interwoven with one another," stated director of Berlin Art Festivals Joachim Sartorius during the same press conference. He also stressed that "it is not possible to imagine the European cultural heritage without the Russian culture." The exhibition will be open to general public on Sunday, September 28 and will last till January 5, 2004.

Next year it will be hosted by the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.