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David Sarkisyan obituary | Culture | The Guardian
February 4, 2010
David Sarkisyan in his cluttered office
David Sarkisyan, who has died of cancer aged 62, was the charismatic
director of the Russian State Museum of Architecture (MUAR). By using
its resources for explorations of the past and present, he became one of
the most significant figures on the Russian architectural scene.
A repository for hundreds of thousands of drawings, photographs and
artefacts, the museum was founded in 1934, and until 2002 was known as
the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, after Aleksei Shchusev, the
architect of, among other buildings, the Lenin Mausoleum. In the
post-communist era, major changes took place at the museum. First, a
collection of 364 old master drawings looted in Bremen in 1945 by Viktor
Baldin, the museum's head for 25 years, was brought to light amid great
controversy. Then, the MUAR's massive archive was relocated from the
suburban Donskoy monastery into the main museum premises in central
Moscow where, in dire conditions because of a severe lack of funds, they
continue to be kept.
Sarkisyan was appointed as director of the MUAR at the turn of the
millennium. In its main galleries in the 18th-century Talyzin mansion on
Vozdvizhenka Street, he presented Russia's architectural history, with
particular emphasis on the avant-garde movements of the 1920s and 30s.
When lack of funds prevented the restoration of a dilapidated part of
these premises, Sarkisyan made a virtue out of its ruinous condition.
Unheated, windowless and using rough-sawn boards laid as a walkway
across the exposed brick vaults, the appropriately named temporary
exhibition space (The Ruins) was opened by Sarkisyan in freezing winter
weather as a temporary exhibition space. It quickly became one of the
most sought-after spaces in Moscow, hosting fascinating, edgy
exhibitions visited by audiences wrapped in their overcoats.
In 2005, Sarkisyan also involved the MUAR in the First Biennale of
Contemporary Art in Moscow, and developed a series of exhibitions
introducing Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and other contemporary architects
to the Russian public, thanks to shrewd alliances with western
institutions such as Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts. In 2002, he was
responsible for the Russian contribution to the Venice Architectural
Biennale and, two years later, he curated the Moscow-Berlin 1950-2000
show.
Sarkisyan's flamboyant yet deeply committed leadership established the
MUAR as a thriving centre for exhibitions and public events and ensured
dedicated, high-profile advocacy for the preservation of historic
architecture in Russia. With a group of fledgling preservationist
associations active in efforts to protect Moscow's heritage, Sarkisyan
led campaigns against the demolition of the 1960s hotels Intourist and
Rossia, the Voentorg department store, and the gutting of the Detsky Mir
store.
The house that Konstantin Melnikov built in 1929 He was one of the main
forces pushing for the restoration of Moisei Ginzburg's Narkomfin House,
a landmark of constructivism which remains in a dire condition.
Sarkisyan also adamantly opposed the erection of the Gazprom tower in St
Petersburg.
His death is likely to have a significant impact on the fate of another
modernist masterpiece, the house that the architect Konstantin Melnikov
built for himself in Moscow in 1929. Sarkisyan was a passionate
supporter of one of Melnikov's granddaughters in her fight against the
oligarch Sergei Gordeev's project to create a private foundation in
charge of the house and its collections, and, together with many
intellectuals and architects, proposed that the house should be the
focus of a state museum devoted to this unique building and the career
of its architect.
Sarkisyan's outspoken criticism of the fate of buildings of historic
significance in Moscow - from the demolition of the hotel
Moskva, which was replaced by a wan copy camouflaging a new structure,
to the insertion of a spurious historical fake within the uncompleted
shell of the 18th-century Tsaritsyno palace - made him no
friends within the municipality. An outspoken critic of the mayor Yuri
Luzhkov's decisions concerning the fate of the city's built heritage,
Sarkisyan had biting words to use against the transformation of Moscow
into "a symbiosis of Disneyland, Las Vegas and a Turkish resort". It is
reported that his burial in the Armenian cemetery of Moscow was barred
by city officials, a clear indication that Sarkisyan's views could still
upset the bureaucracy, even from beyond the grave.
Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sarkisyan studied biology and human physiology
at Moscow State University. His first career, in pharmacology, produced
innovative treatments for Alzheimer's disease. He then moved on to the
world of cinema, shooting close to 20 documentaries, including the
acclaimed Comrade Kollontai and Her Lovers (1996). In 1991, he was first
assistant director during the filming of Yuri Klimenko and Rustam
Khamdamov's Anna Karamazoff, starring Jeanne Moreau. The end of that
year saw the collapse of the Soviet Union. He then wrote film criticism
for several Russian newspapers and, in 1994, founded the Nashchokin's
House gallery in Moscow.
A visit to Sarkisyan in his office at the MUAR was an exotic experience.
A dark grotto, filled beyond capacity with posters, movie memorabilia,
piled-up books, Stalinist kitsch, children's toys, and works of art of
all kinds, it hosted vibrant and frequently uproarious meetings of
leading intellectuals and architects. Frequently sleeping on the
premises, the director would often greet his guests in his pyjamas.
Sarkisyan was a brilliant museum director, an exceptional cultural
entrepreneur, a gifted curator and a committed defender of true and just
causes, fighting a desperate rearguard action for the preservation and
professional restoration of many historical landmarks from both
pre-revolutionary and Soviet times. The expression of feeling prompted
by his death could prove to be a turning point in the public awareness
of Russia's most creative recent past.
Sarkisyan had married a fellow student while at university. They were
divorced in the 1990s.
- David Ashotovich Sarkisyan, pharmacologist, film-maker and
architectural conservationist, born 23 September 1947; died 7 January
2010
This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 18.15 GMT on Thursday 4
February 2010. A version appeared on p42 of the Obituaries section of
the Guardian on Friday 5 February 2010.
February 4, 2010
David Sarkisyan in his cluttered office
David Sarkisyan, who has died of cancer aged 62, was the charismatic
director of the Russian State Museum of Architecture (MUAR). By using
its resources for explorations of the past and present, he became one of
the most significant figures on the Russian architectural scene.
A repository for hundreds of thousands of drawings, photographs and
artefacts, the museum was founded in 1934, and until 2002 was known as
the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, after Aleksei Shchusev, the
architect of, among other buildings, the Lenin Mausoleum. In the
post-communist era, major changes took place at the museum. First, a
collection of 364 old master drawings looted in Bremen in 1945 by Viktor
Baldin, the museum's head for 25 years, was brought to light amid great
controversy. Then, the MUAR's massive archive was relocated from the
suburban Donskoy monastery into the main museum premises in central
Moscow where, in dire conditions because of a severe lack of funds, they
continue to be kept.
Sarkisyan was appointed as director of the MUAR at the turn of the
millennium. In its main galleries in the 18th-century Talyzin mansion on
Vozdvizhenka Street, he presented Russia's architectural history, with
particular emphasis on the avant-garde movements of the 1920s and 30s.
When lack of funds prevented the restoration of a dilapidated part of
these premises, Sarkisyan made a virtue out of its ruinous condition.
Unheated, windowless and using rough-sawn boards laid as a walkway
across the exposed brick vaults, the appropriately named temporary
exhibition space (The Ruins) was opened by Sarkisyan in freezing winter
weather as a temporary exhibition space. It quickly became one of the
most sought-after spaces in Moscow, hosting fascinating, edgy
exhibitions visited by audiences wrapped in their overcoats.
In 2005, Sarkisyan also involved the MUAR in the First Biennale of
Contemporary Art in Moscow, and developed a series of exhibitions
introducing Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and other contemporary architects
to the Russian public, thanks to shrewd alliances with western
institutions such as Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts. In 2002, he was
responsible for the Russian contribution to the Venice Architectural
Biennale and, two years later, he curated the Moscow-Berlin 1950-2000
show.
Sarkisyan's flamboyant yet deeply committed leadership established the
MUAR as a thriving centre for exhibitions and public events and ensured
dedicated, high-profile advocacy for the preservation of historic
architecture in Russia. With a group of fledgling preservationist
associations active in efforts to protect Moscow's heritage, Sarkisyan
led campaigns against the demolition of the 1960s hotels Intourist and
Rossia, the Voentorg department store, and the gutting of the Detsky Mir
store.
The house that Konstantin Melnikov built in 1929 He was one of the main
forces pushing for the restoration of Moisei Ginzburg's Narkomfin House,
a landmark of constructivism which remains in a dire condition.
Sarkisyan also adamantly opposed the erection of the Gazprom tower in St
Petersburg.
His death is likely to have a significant impact on the fate of another
modernist masterpiece, the house that the architect Konstantin Melnikov
built for himself in Moscow in 1929. Sarkisyan was a passionate
supporter of one of Melnikov's granddaughters in her fight against the
oligarch Sergei Gordeev's project to create a private foundation in
charge of the house and its collections, and, together with many
intellectuals and architects, proposed that the house should be the
focus of a state museum devoted to this unique building and the career
of its architect.
Sarkisyan's outspoken criticism of the fate of buildings of historic
significance in Moscow - from the demolition of the hotel
Moskva, which was replaced by a wan copy camouflaging a new structure,
to the insertion of a spurious historical fake within the uncompleted
shell of the 18th-century Tsaritsyno palace - made him no
friends within the municipality. An outspoken critic of the mayor Yuri
Luzhkov's decisions concerning the fate of the city's built heritage,
Sarkisyan had biting words to use against the transformation of Moscow
into "a symbiosis of Disneyland, Las Vegas and a Turkish resort". It is
reported that his burial in the Armenian cemetery of Moscow was barred
by city officials, a clear indication that Sarkisyan's views could still
upset the bureaucracy, even from beyond the grave.
Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sarkisyan studied biology and human physiology
at Moscow State University. His first career, in pharmacology, produced
innovative treatments for Alzheimer's disease. He then moved on to the
world of cinema, shooting close to 20 documentaries, including the
acclaimed Comrade Kollontai and Her Lovers (1996). In 1991, he was first
assistant director during the filming of Yuri Klimenko and Rustam
Khamdamov's Anna Karamazoff, starring Jeanne Moreau. The end of that
year saw the collapse of the Soviet Union. He then wrote film criticism
for several Russian newspapers and, in 1994, founded the Nashchokin's
House gallery in Moscow.
A visit to Sarkisyan in his office at the MUAR was an exotic experience.
A dark grotto, filled beyond capacity with posters, movie memorabilia,
piled-up books, Stalinist kitsch, children's toys, and works of art of
all kinds, it hosted vibrant and frequently uproarious meetings of
leading intellectuals and architects. Frequently sleeping on the
premises, the director would often greet his guests in his pyjamas.
Sarkisyan was a brilliant museum director, an exceptional cultural
entrepreneur, a gifted curator and a committed defender of true and just
causes, fighting a desperate rearguard action for the preservation and
professional restoration of many historical landmarks from both
pre-revolutionary and Soviet times. The expression of feeling prompted
by his death could prove to be a turning point in the public awareness
of Russia's most creative recent past.
Sarkisyan had married a fellow student while at university. They were
divorced in the 1990s.
- David Ashotovich Sarkisyan, pharmacologist, film-maker and
architectural conservationist, born 23 September 1947; died 7 January
2010
This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 18.15 GMT on Thursday 4
February 2010. A version appeared on p42 of the Obituaries section of
the Guardian on Friday 5 February 2010.