Gardens. Metamorphoses
Exhibition architecture and design
Arkhangelskoye State Мuseum-Estate, Moscow region
247 m2
24.06–06.11.2022
This exhibition prepared for the opening of the Botanical Orangeries pays homage to Arkhangelskoye’s rich historical heritage, while at the same time looking forward to the future.
The project intertwines different timelines, and artefacts from the past are glimpsed through paintings, drawings, sculptures and objects by present-day authors. Temporal metamorphoses give rise to new optics, with Antonio Canova’s marble from the Yusupov collection and watercolours that could come from a botanical atlas in the prince’s library, heraldic symbols and a commemorative column similar to those installed in the park after visits by the emperors. Traditional plots acquire new semantic layers and associative connections, the familiar fountains and alleys change their shape and the curiosities that Yusupov surrounded himself with are transformed into kinetic objects.
The graceful, light-filled architecture of the manor greenhouses also resembles the first pavilions at world exhibitions to demonstrate advanced achievements at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Art seems to link nature and technology, connecting the 19th century with the 21st, entwining the past and present of the Arkhangelskoye estate.
Curators: Anna Malik-Korolenkova, Irina Osipova
Project coordinator: Daria Bugaevskaya
Graphic designer: Eugenia Yahina
Sound designer: Andrey Besogonov
Lighting design: Bureau being.light
Aroma space design: Ucandles