"Moscow without suburbs. The same Taganka"

On July 9, the Museum of Moscow opens the first exhibition of the new project "Moscow without suburbs", which is dedicated to the study and representation of certain districts of the capital. The exposition will tell about the Tagansky District - a territory formerly located on the very border of Moscow, which has become its center.

"Moscow without suburbs" is a project of the Museum of Moscow dedicated to local identity, history, culture and residents of different city districts. The goal of the project is to tell not only about the historical past of each district, but also to present its current state, to collect personal stories of the residents of the district, to discuss with them the current problems of its development. Each exhibition, named after the district, focuses not only on its unique historical, architectural and cultural sites, but also on the features of its landscape, which determined the role of a particular territory in the development of Moscow, on historical and modern toponymy, new urban planning objects and improvement plans.

The first exhibition of the project is dedicated to the Tagansky District - that very Taganka, one of the legendary districts of Moscow. Using the example of this area, curators suggest thinking about what the outskirts and the center of the city are and how ideas about these concepts change over time. In different periods of its existence, Taganka was the center, and the outskirts, and the outskirts of the center of Moscow. The word "outskirts" in Taganka does not have negative connotations, but becomes the key to understanding the specifics of the structure of the territory and the way of life of the people who lived and live here.

The official history of Taganka is described in many public sources, but the project proposes to focus on the informal story - told by the residents of the area. During the preparation of the exhibition, the staff of the Museum of Moscow held more than fifty meetings and interviews with those who live and work in the Tagansky District. Among them are employees of the Andrei Rublev Museum, the Surikov Institute, the Library for Foreign Literature, the Studio of Theater Arts, the Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad and others. Following the idea “everyone knows their home”, the curators asked local residents to share stories about the houses in which they once lived or live now: a skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya embankment, “a house with lions”, “a house with blue windows”, two-storey merchants houses on Shkolnaya street, houses for employees of the Taganskaya prison, houses for workers,student dormitories. On the interactive wall in the exhibition space, you can leave your impressions and memories of your favorite places in Taganka, and in a special online form you can tell your story about the area. Thus, the work will continue after the opening - the curators plan to regularly replenish the exhibition with new subjects and exhibits.

“This year the Museum of Moscow celebrates its 125th anniversary. Our main task, like a hundred years ago, is to work with the history of the city and its heritage. We record every change in urban life, so that such processes that are relevant to our time as the blurring of the concepts of “center” and “outskirts” and the transition to decentralization have become important directions in the work of the museum. In the project “Moscow without suburbs” we talk about the district as a city within the city and try to capture its local identity through the stories told by its residents, ”said Anna Trapkova, director of the Museum of Moscow.

For each exhibition of the project, a curatorial group, consisting of employees of the Museum of Moscow and regional ethnographers, studies historical materials, selects objects, photographs and video chronicles, compiles a selection of books and magazines, compiles routes around the area and, most importantly, communicates with local residents who share their memories and valuable artifacts.

“In the Museum of Moscow, districts have their own“ representation ”- a location reminiscent of a travel agency. A small but carefully arranged space will house small exhibitions, open storage of exhibits from the museum funds and home collections of residents of the district, a library, and a lecture hall. The location is aimed at a wide variety of audiences: novice explorers of the city will be able to get basic information about the area here, sophisticated Moscow scholars - to learn new interesting facts, residents of the area - to tell their stories and supplement the exposition. The content of the location will be constantly changing, and the daily program of events will help make this place truly alive, ”says one of the curators of the project, Alisa Savitskaya.

Moscow Without Borders is an innovative research project that combines a curatorial exposition concept with an extensive educational and excursion program. The event program for each exhibition is divided into two directions: events at the Museum of Moscow - lectures, meetings, discussions, theatrical readings, concerts; events within the area - walks, excursions, meetings with local residents. A full schedule of events, as well as interesting materials on the history of the Tagansky district, will be available on the website of the project "Moscow without suburbs".

The next exhibition of the project "Moscow without suburbs" will open in October and will tell about the Kapotnya district. The exposition will change every three to four months.

The work on the project involves regional councils, cultural institutions, scientific and educational institutions, local history and activist communities. For example, a special program is organized for students of the School of Contemporary Art "Free Workshops" of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA): young artists will be able to participate in creative research of areas and present their results at an exhibition at the Museum of Moscow.

Exhibition partners about Tagansky district:

Prefecture of the Central Administrative District;
Tagansky District Administration;
Library of Foreign Literature. M.I. Rudomino;
State Museum V.V. Mayakovsky;
House of Russian Diaspora named after Alexander Solzhenitsyn;
Theater "Commonwealth of Taganka Actors";
Moscow Taganka Theater;
Museum of Vladimir Vysotsky;
Museum of Entrepreneurs, Patrons and Philanthropists;
Department of Social Protection of the Tagansky District;
Council of Veterans of Tagansky District;
Tagansky Children’s Fund;
Telegram channel "Taganka-mother";
French Institute in Moscow;
Central library №15 named. A.O. Klyuchevsky;
Central Museum of Old Russian Culture and Art named after Andrei Rublev,
Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after IN AND. Surikov,
G.S. Ulanova Museum-Apartment, Tagansky
Park of Culture and Leisure.