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People involved in the so-called “Seventh Study” criminal case have been accused of embezzlement of 133 million. rubles (1.8 million euros at the current exchange rate) of state funds allocated in 2011-2014 to the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization (UN) established by the artistic director of the Gogol K. Serebrenikov Center for the implementation of the Platform project .
Prosecutors allege that Serebrenikov and the other defendants signed fictitious contracts for “alleged services”, used the money “for their own personal use” and submitted false financial statements to the government.
Last fall, the court returned the case to the prosecutor’s office for supplementation because the court determined that there was no evidence of the director’s guilt in court.
We present this 51-year-old speech by K. Serebrenikov to readers in 15 minutes.
Probably it should be said why the Platform became an important and significant project not only of Russian contemporary art, but also of great importance to the people who invented, created and viewed it.
The idea of the “Platform” is above all the idea of freedom of artistic expression, the idea of the ambiguity of life, the affirmation of the complexity of the world, its diversity, its youth and the charm of this diversity. I am referring here to the hope of change.
What did I think when I offered the new Russian President, who announced a “modernization” and “innovation” course, the idea of creating a complex multi-genre project?
Hell would take it, I thought, maybe at least now many talented, brilliant and disobedient young people I know who can’t find a place in traditional Soviet institutions, maybe young people who work more and more in Europe, get grants there, get recognition, Success, perhaps all of them, having received state funding, eventually have a chance to realize their talents in their homeland as well, rather than being humiliated in a ghetto of unnecessary “experiments”. If I thought!
Did these three years of the Platform make sense, followed by three years of arrests, false accusations, litigation? I ask myself this question more and more.
Did these three years of the Platform make sense, followed by three years of arrests, false accusations, litigation? I ask myself this question more and more.
Is there a lot of that? 340 events organized on our “Platform” over three years, most of which are original, unique, complex, attended by many artists, musicians, directors, painters, dancers, composers? Much. Much. Anyone who knows at least some knowledge of theater, music, modern technology, and contemporary dance will tell you this.
Reuters / Scanpix photo / Kirill Serebrenikov
And they, these people, specialists, experts, also went to court and testified about themselves, about their work, about what they saw in the White Factory of the Wine Factory in 2011-2014. The claims of the Ministry of Culture and the prosecutor’s office that we did something wrong with this state money are ridiculous. Maybe they think we should have held 800 events instead of 340. Well, if of the 216 million allocated by the state, we “stole” 128! Well, at least they would have said so! As much as we did not listen to the affected ministry, we did not hear any claims against us. Neither for the project itself nor for any of its events. I completely reject this stupid accusation.
Undoubtedly, it was now that the principle formulated by the former Minister of Culture became evident, the principle of the Minister who came to replace Alexander Avdeyev, who now decided to communicate with contemporary art: “Experiments – out of pocket”. He then spoke through many of his speeches. And now it is clear that he was talking about the Platform. And that “own pocket” is precisely those three years of arrests, persecution, false, absurd accusations and trials.
There is no testimony in the Case of the Theater, nor evidence of my dishonesty, my wrongdoing, my desire to enrich myself with the money spent on the project.
There are different versions of why the “theater case” has emerged in general, from the most stupid to the most complex and conspiratorial. Someday the truth will be revealed, someday the files of the special services will be opened and we will understand who gave the orders, who presented this case, how it was made, who wrote the complaints. Now it does not matter: it is important that we create a “Platform”, so multifaceted, in which the genres that were unusual and brilliant changed freely. And it turned out to be ontologically alien to this culture of bureaucracy, a culture of loyalty. And it is now clear that this “affected” ministry is a completely toxic law firm that will issue and change in every situation.
Am I sorry that I created the Platform exactly like this, full of creative freedom, one that many creative people might realize? No. I regret that the Platform accountants, who are the cause of these hearings and investigations, have worked so horribly? Of course I’m sorry. But unfortunately, I couldn’t influence or change it because I don’t understand accounting. He was constantly busy organizing events and premieres. I was not in finance.
Photo by Sputnik / Scanpix / Kirill Serebrenikov
It is quite clear that the Platform is not only an accountant, but, above all, what has been created on the Wine Factory site, has 340 events, thousands of spectators who expanded their horizons while observing our work, dozens of young professionals who they realized their creative work. powers and increased their ratings. I am outraged by attempts to minimize the Platform, I am outraged by false claims that we did something wrong or did not do it for that money. The accusers lie, defend their uniforms and those who have presented this case.
The people who worked with us on the Platform went to court and testified for us, including witnesses for the prosecution. There is no testimony in the Case of the Theater, nor evidence of my dishonesty, my wrongdoing, my desire to enrich myself with the money spent on the project.
I am convinced that the artistic life of the Platform, for which I was responsible, was the result of the joint efforts of honest, talented and brilliant people, those wonderful young people for whom I came up with everything. And I am sure they are also proud of those 340 Platform events.
The comedy of the situation in which we find ourselves, many times, is that the accusation is based on the testimonies of the accountants and those who knew that they “laundered” the money from the Platform. They were pressured by the interrogators, and they mocked us for fear of themselves. Melavo Of them, the interrogator Lavrov and his team fabricated the Case of the Theater. The interrogators’ best friends are “money launderers.” Unfortunately, what a paradox!
Reuters / Scanpix photo / Kirill Serebrenikov
It is quite clear that the project’s accounting was done badly, no one denies it. This was also made clear in the audit that I started in 2014. No one would have been surprised if the interpretation had gone in that direction. If the interrogators had discovered how the accountants collected our money through their companies. But the case of the theater is not about accounting. It is about how people who create a successful theater project are declared a “criminal group” without any evidence of climate change in society; on how the state (after all, the Ministry of Culture is the state) abandons what it did and created with taxpayer money, budget money, because it is cyclically useful to do so.
The Platform project and the three-year persecution of those who created it show very clearly what is happening to all of us. In this sense, the project continues, captures time, reveals what is really happening.
“Contemporary art” differs from state order and propaganda precisely in that it is extremely sharp, critical, paradoxically reacts to the present, to the flow of life: it reacts with modern media, honest and principled conversation, reacts through free reflection, through art. He responds to our creations with persecution, trials, and arrests. The Platform project and the three-year persecution of those who created it show very clearly what is happening to all of us. In this sense, the project continues, captures time, reveals what is really happening.
All this time, while the Case of the Theater continues, I don’t have a feeling of injustice. It seemed to me that all of us, including myself, had created something real and important for our country by creating the Platform project, because it had become one of the bridges between Russia and the world, an instrument to involve our homeland in the current world art. That is why this project was created, not because the money was misappropriated! And those who have created a “case” and accuse us of some disgust are doing everything they can to make Russia a place where people can be ridiculed for three years without any evidence to accuse them of what they did not do.
I am convinced that “Platforma” has influenced theater, performing arts, media theater, dance and contemporary academic music. I am convinced of this because the experience of “Platform”, both practical and theoretical, continues even now, almost ten years later, at other stages, in other projects, in the works of many contemporary artists.
Time will put everything in its place. The Platform project and its documentation in court are part of the recent history of Russian art. Apparently, those who started and created it were intended to discredit us, accuse us of what none of those who invented and created the Platform of course did, and therefore destroy memories of the project, bringing it to a disgusting accounting. You will not succeed. Your claims are not fully verified and therefore ridiculous, no matter how large the number you write on your indictment.
Reuters / Scanpix photo / Kirill Serebrenikov
Awareness, honor, professional and human decency, creative courage, freedom – these were the core values of the Platform, the part of the Platform for which it was responsible. I’m not talking about that damn accounting, of course. This was discussed in court by the participants of the project and those who were among its spectators.
Creative people feel acute injustice, they feel who is honest and who is lying, who is a thief, who is a scammer and who is not. I am grateful to the creative community that has supported us all these years, I went to court, to court, wrote letters and publications. While this lie and model cannot be defeated by collective letters, we are pleased that at least it has.
Platform time is a wonderful time of creativity and joy because a generation of young artists have been able to work and have received decent reward and satisfaction for their work because they can come up with even the craziest ideas.
Weak people have a wonderful and memorable justification for their helplessness: “He gave us such an instruction,” “They told us so,” “He decided everything for us,” “But you understand!” Such is the Russian “banality of evil”!
The platform gave artists and viewers the hope that ideas of freedom would sooner or later become the foundation of our existence. I am convinced that this is also one of the lessons of the Platform, important for those who want to change their lives, and the cause of aggressive attacks against those who organize the current order.
The Platform project raised everyone, both viewers and participants, taught them to resist learned helplessness, to be responsible for their actions, to act, to create. In this sense, I am fully responsible for the artistic program of the platform, for all the “experiments” for which this judicial bill has been presented to me and my friends.
Youth always choose freedom, not “herd”, “swamp”. In this sense, the Platform gave artists and spectators the hope that the ideas of freedom would sooner or later become the basis of our existence. I am convinced that this is also one of the lessons of the Platform, important for those who want to change their lives, and the cause of aggressive attacks against those who organize the current order.
Organizers photo / Kirill Serebrenikov
“Always tell the truth,” that’s how my parents taught me! In the Platform project, we talk to the country and the world about a young and honest country with honest people ready to become the creators of their lives! Ready to be free developers!
It is quite clear that the objectives that the state established for the Platform at that time, the development and popularization of contemporary art, have been fully realized by those who created the project.
I regret that the Platform has become a turning point in the lives of my comrades. It is a pity for me that I spent the years of my life developing contemporary Russian art, although it was difficult, although I was persecuted, slandered. I have never done anything wrong to living beings, I have never acted dishonestly. I worked in Moscow, Russia for many years, I did many performances, various films, I tried to be useful to the people of our country. I am proud of every day that I dedicate to my work in Russia. Also in the days when I was developing the Platforma project.
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