Svetlana Rumyantseva. Honorary member of the Academy of Arts. Artist. Curator of exhibitions. Photographer. In charge of publishing albums and books. Member of the leadership of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia (TSHR). Chairperson of the Section of Art Dolls (ТСХР). Member of the Moscow Union of Artists (UUCA). Head of the experimental creative studio "Dollart.ru" of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Creative Union of Artists of Russia. Organizer of the professional award "Dollart.ru" Etimona. Curator of the exhibition project "Artkukla". Member of the Association of Puppet Artists.

In a recent interview, Alexandra Khudjakova spoke of "white envy", referring to admiration and admiration for the talents of comrades. But there is also 'black envy' for more successful colleagues, their fame and recognition. The creative environment can be "destructive"... How do you manage to maintain yourself and be a good friend and wise mentor? What do you base your relationships with your colleagues on? This is particularly important for a manager and organiser...

There is joy for the creative successes of my fellow artists. There is curiosity - I always wait for exhibitions with great interest to see new works by my colleagues. First and foremost, I am an artist. And I am constantly learning and cognising the world. Successful creations of my comrades always help me to understand something new and beautiful. Our works are a kind of language of communication with people. I worked for a long time in the leading theatres of Moscow and have an education - School Studio Moscow Art Theatre. Theatre is a large team of people who together create new works of art. The artist in the theatre thinks up and creates a picture of the performance and works with creative workshops to make the picture come to life and was similar to what was originally conceived. It's also a lot of work with the actors and the director and the production services of the theatre. And any theatre is a complex mechanism with different kinds of creative envy. Gradually I learnt to cut off all unnecessary things and ignore all kinds of obstacles in the form of human vices. Hence I had a great experience of working with groups of people.

Today our main focus is to popularise and develop a new direction in art - Artistic Puppetry. It is a new kind of art. The doll as an object has been around for a long time. We endow and create new images that are different in meaning and purpose from their predecessors. And we present them in new ways at exhibitions, creating an environment that helps to show that different purpose. We are able to use the experience we have, which is only increasing. Because we have a lot of interesting things going on in our lives every day.

On your social media pages, photos from 2010-2012 with Alexandra Khudyakova often appear. You have created more than one exhibition project together. You are friends and work together... Tell us how you manage to maintain a long and warm relationship! How did you meet Alexandra?

We've been doing exhibitions together for nearly 20 years now. Social media is younger than our friendship J☺ Friendship is a delicate sprout to be cherished and cultivated. Sasha and I are very lucky to have found each other. It is some gift in life that we cherish. A lot of things we have in common, and we easily understand and accept different concepts, and sometimes we see some events quite similarly, without collusion. Quite often we dress in the same style and colour for all sorts of events without collusion. We like the same art styles, books and music. We also have a lot of completely different things, but we often complement each other. Sasha is a beautiful and talented person, so our friendship is already a big and branchy tree.... And we met a long time ago, so long ago that our children are grown, educated and working... so long ago that I can't even remember when it was.

Which of your colleagues, artists, sculptors do you consider as an example? Who inspires and supports you? Who advises you on the organisation of your projects? Who can criticise you and be forgiven for it? Apart from Alexandra Khudyakova

Wow! What a way of putting it - "forgiven". Anyone can criticise, the main thing is that it should be constructive and meaningful and benefit our common cause.

I don't have one favourite artist. There are so many and it all depends on the time and the mood. I've been learning something new all my life, and the ideals of craftsmanship change constantly as I learn. For example. Photography has always been in my life, but it was only recently that I started to take this art form seriously. And to exhibit as an artist in this art form.

I love museums and architecture and have been to many countries, precisely for the purpose of seeing the real and authentic. I often go to Moscow museums, it's like visiting an artist I know and learning his skills. I was very lucky, because I had wonderful teachers and professors at the school of the Moscow Art Theatre Studio and at the theatres where great people worked in the last century (Lenkom, Tabakerka, Vakhtangov Theatre, Sovremennik, MHAT, Theatre on Taganka). They taught me a lot.

Again, I'm talking about theatre: the director produces the play and the artist assists him. They come up with the work together. And everyone else only embodies the creators' idea, supplementing it with their talents. But the reward of fame always goes to the actors who present the performance.

 But with us, all the glory goes to our puppets. Because our puppet art is still very young and there are very few well-known names of artists.

About who is in charge of projects and who leads everything. Having a certain school of work for results, I take into account everyone involved in a project or exhibition. Everyone without exception, as every detail and detail is important. There are no main people; there is responsibility, which often has to be taken on.

 Sasha and I look for exhibition themes and then discuss them with the artists. But we often have a collective decision in our plans to create exhibitions. The artists come up with their own themes and creative tasks. Sasha and I then find ways of realising what we have in mind.

Tell me, how is a PROJECT EXHIBITION born?! Do you choose an anniversary date (birthday of a famous sculptor, artist, etc.)? Maybe you follow world premieres of theatre and cinema! Or do you get together at a friend's kitchen and give the whole group of artists a task: to propose a theme, formulate the main tasks and objectives, think through the concept, etc.?

We take into account dates, times, moods and opportunities. But there are also sudden events that change directions. 2019 was the "Year of Theatre" and it so happened that our friend and artist Viktor Grigoriev passed away this year. He served in theatres and was a wonderful artist who was very interested in the subject of mechanics and puppets. This is how the theme of the exhibition "Theatre Box" was born. We then dedicated the exhibition to the memory of our friend and colleague, and showed the artist's works as the centrepiece of the exhibition. Subsequently, we managed with this exhibition to enter the "Theatre Olympiad 2019". The exhibition was held in St. Petersburg (Victor's hometown), and we were able to show a large exhibition with the same title.

There have been so many shows since 2003. I will tell you a little about some of them. In 2016, the artists came up with an interesting theme - "Ship of Fools +". Today, when the concept of "good person" has been replaced by the concept of "successful person" we decided to consider just such definitions. This is all because we are more concerned with the development of art than with finding money to feed ourselves. Here we are such "fools"... The work was co-operative and big for several months. When all the artists glued a huge ship and puppets from paper (kraft), everyone came up with their own image. This paper and cardboard story was the centre of the exhibition composition. The exhibition project subsequently visited different museums in Russian cities. "Ship" was on the Volga, Kama, Moskva River, in Saratov, in Usolye and visited different large exhibition venues in Moscow. A book on this project was published.

There was an exhibition entitled 'My Shakespeare' dedicated to the playwright's anniversary year; there were themes of exhibitions about the play of light, about scale, about dreams and balance and about the relationship between dolls and people. More than sixty different events and exhibitions. There is a separate exhibition project, ARTKUKLA, which helps us look at dolls from different angles of life.

We have an obligatory annual exhibition, Dollart.ru, which is like an annual review of our work and where we have the opportunity to see ourselves from the outside. As part of this exhibition, there is such an event as the Dollart.ru Etimona Award. When an invited, respected jury selects three works for the exhibition. This approach gives us the opportunity to understand some of the trends that are of interest to our viewers today and new opportunities to develop us as artists.

Today we launch a new exhibition project every year, which then travels to different cities and museums. Because puppet art is a new direction in art that needs to be highlighted, shown and developed. And even we sometimes do not understand what we are doing today. Everything will become clear in some time when our trend will be given an exact name and our work will be described by art historians. For now, we are called Artistic Puppetry.

Years of collective work and experience in exhibition activities allow you to move forward. The exhibition projects you have shown during the existence of the Experimental Creative Workshop could become links in the global festival puppetry movement. Have you thought about founding a broader alliance with regional puppeteer organisations and foreign colleagues? Inviting them to visit you with your exhibitions, adding new authors to your expositions and extending your reach across cities and countries?

The Creative Union of Artists of Russia (international) is a huge organisation with regional branches. And although the Art Doll section is in Moscow, we have many artists from other cities and countries. There are various exhibitions in Moscow of a large puppet format, and we take part as artists there too.

In the Puppet Artists' Section, quality, not quantity, is important. As it is a new direction in art, it is important for us to maintain an artistic level and a high and distinctive standard of creative work and our exhibitions. There are excellent masters of puppetry, but it is the artists we are looking for.

In 2002, the association "Dollart.ru" was created. In 2007, on the basis of the association "Dollart.ru" was established Section of Art Dolls in the Creative Union of Artists of Russia. Today, the artists who were then part of the association, are part of the Experimental Creative Workshop "Dollart.ru" and the best artists of Artists' Doll Section TSHR. It is with them that we work on projects and discuss the admission of new section members.

And distant countries are interesting too. Our artists often travel to exhibitions in different countries and make friends with artists from different countries. It's a good time today when the internet helps to make friends and see the work of fellow artists.

 In terms of modern technology and the involvement of closely related art forms. The exhibition "Ship of Fools"? Puppet shows, animation and digital performance art all fit in there.

Do you have projects with such "inclusions" or do you think it's better to use expressive means typical of traditional theatre?

Yes, we use different kinds of art and all kinds of modern technology options to design our exhibitions and projects. The main thing is not the technology, but that it fits together and helps to reveal the intentions and the essence of our work. It would be organic, without flaws or contradictions. But it's not always possible to realise something freely, as it all comes down to financing. We often invite artists from other artistic disciplines to participate and create new projects.

We have translated the Theatre Box exhibition into modern technology and it can be viewed online on the TSXR website

http://www.tcxp.ru/sections/hudozhestvennaya-kukla

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=mcWQ4MduPmr&lang=ru

We also use various video installations for decorations and films that are specially filmed on the theme of the exhibition, as well as holding music concerts as part of the exhibitions and various theme nights.

How do you feel about contemporary sacred art?! Are there any "taboo subjects" for you? And why?!

There are no forbidden topics of learning today. Everyone chooses what they want as there is freedom of choice and everyone's will is different. Our world has already transcended all locks and "Fantasy" rules the present day. In the present tense there is all kinds of information and everything is easy enough to find out.

  It is very important to me today what form and style the new depiction of the theme will take. And most importantly, it should be artistic and not 'amateurish'. And for me personally, it's very important to avoid vulgarity in the art of puppetry. And it's such a fine line. Because dolls can endure anything because it's still a game. People today play so massively to forget themselves and not to think, or on the contrary, to think about something, and this has probably never been the case in the history of mankind. Everyone carries some favourite game with them on their phone. That's probably why the subject of dolls is so popular today. As far as bans go, for me, it's a theme of "cruelty and despondency". And anything that contradicts morality from a Christian point of view.

We live in an era of postmodernism. Modern technology is being introduced into traditional methods of working with canvas and paint, with clay and brushstrokes. All the techniques and methods of artistic expression have already been created by man and nothing new is happening: running around in circles, borrowing, "rehashing" the old. Do you think originality and novelty now depend on the ability to combine classical styles and techniques? Or are these fears unfounded, will we survive the "stagnation" and see new Leonardo and Michelangelo!

A very big topic. The main thing is mental and spiritual development, they are absolutely essential for creating new themes.

 Modern technology can also be a new way of depicting reality. And that's very interesting. We enjoy watching movies, and it does not replace theatre. The main thing is free and skilful mastery of image techniques and talent. Anyone can be taught to draw and play instruments, but will it be an artist and a musician. Today there is a very easy attitude towards artists. After all, everyone draws as a child and enjoys the process. So it seems to people that it is not a job, but sheer pleasure. But if you look around, the whole human world of life is invented by artists - houses, streets, cars, wagons, gardens, clothes, furniture, utensils, etc..... The artist has a hard enough job and sometimes without any days off at all. But the reward is always a new successful work.

If you look more broadly (my personal opinion) then we are in regression. Because if you study the history of creation and art in detail, you can see that we have all the ideals from the past. And everything new is created on the solid foundation of the past. Technical capabilities cannot change man, they only help him. Human anatomy is still the same, from the creation of the world.

Much depends on a person's talent and the development of that gift. As in the parable of the Talents. You can leave the talent as it is, you can develop it, or you can lose the talent altogether. All the same freedom of choice. Today, the world has acquired a great speed of life and we do not have enough time and rest for the development of soul and spirit. All run and rush somewhere J) . But I hope it will pass soon. We will get used to the speed as well.

In winter 2019 there was a brilliant project called 'Theatre Box' in St Petersburg. Artists from Moscow and St Petersburg took part in the project. Victor Grigoriev's moving mechanical art objects were exhibited. You, with Alexandra Khudyakova also presented your work and were the curator. The new Theatre Box, when will it be? What kind of project is it? Where will it take place?

It's better not to name the artists, or then to name all of them. And that's over 90 people....

 I have already mentioned above about this exhibition project "Theatre Box". More than 70 wonderful artists from different cities and countries took part in this project. First we made an exhibition in Moscow dedicated to Viktor Grigoriev. Then we managed to show the exhibition to representatives of the Ministry of Culture. They liked the exhibition, and we were included in the programme of events of the "International Cultural Forum" and "Theatre Olympiad 2019", which took place in St. Petersburg. Perhaps there would have been further development of the theme if the rules of life in the world had not changed in 2020.

 The Creative Union of Artists of Russia helps us in many of our endeavours. This is the Union of Artists, where our Art Doll section is located. They help us to print books and catalogues for our exhibitions, as well as providing various assistance in the work of the section and the Dollart.ru experimental creative workshop. Our artists take part not only in exhibitions of dolls, but also in various exhibition projects of the Artists' Union. Artists cooperate with various galleries and creative associations. I can't help but mention Lena Gromova's gallery with which we often hold joint exhibitions. Elena helps us a lot in the development of puppetry and it is also an old friendship and joint work.

 We could not show the new project "Puppeteering" since 2019, as it was the time of bans and restrictions. But in May 2021, we finally managed to show this exhibition as well. Now this exhibition will go to Kaluga, in February - March 2022.

In the summer and autumn of 2021 we showed the exhibition "Town in Tabakerka" from the Micromacros project in Borovsk and Kaluga. Prior to that, the exhibition from the Micromacros project was shown at the Radishchev Art Museum in Saratov, and in Moscow galleries with Elena Gromova and in the "Here" gallery with Andrei Bartenev.

 Today you have to get used to the new rules, and we have already held a joint virtual exhibition at the Elena Gromova Gallery in 2020. The world is changing inexorably, and we are coming up with new ways to show our work. We live and already have a habit of getting used to everything new. Puppets help us to do this.

Questions prepared by Irina Panfilenok

Photos from Svetlana Rumyantseva's photo archive