Altai, a crossroads of civilizations
The Altai is one of the most visited regions in Siberia, largely for the beauty of its natural heritage, but also for the traces of very ancient cultures. In 2018, a necklace made of elk teeth was discovered in the Denisova cave. Dating back about 40,000 years, it is the oldest object discovered to date in Eurasia. Nevertheless, it is above all for the rock engravings that archaeologists are actively exploring the area: some were made more than 5,000 years ago, such as those recently discovered in a gallery in the Altai Mountains near the village of Kokoria, on the border between Russia, China and Mongolia. The site of Kalbak-Tash, located on the 'Chuja Road' (R256), is particularly popular with visitors, who come here to admire Turkish petroglyphs of the Talas alphabet, a variant of the Yenisei alphabet, close to the Orkhon alphabet used by the Turkish peoples of Central Asia. Fascinating human and animal figures as well as imaginary creatures carved directly into the stone can also be admired. Very rare, these numerous drawings (more than 5,000!) were made at different times, from the 3rd millennium BC to the end of the Turkic period. The name 'kalbak-tash' means 'flat stone' in the local language, referring to the rocks on which these drawings were engraved.
The idol of Shigir, or the oldest monumental statue in the world
This archaeological treasure was discovered in a bog in the Urals in 1890 by gold diggers. The five-metre-long anthropomorphic larch statue was thought to be up to 1,500 years old, until German scientists examined it more closely using state-of-the-art technology. The results surprised the entire scientific community, as the sculpture turned out to have been made more than 11,000 years ago! This makes it the oldest piece of monumental art in the world discovered to date, and provides valuable information about Eurasian history. Today it can be admired in the Ekaterinburg Museum of Regional History.
The travelling painters conquering Siberia
For a long time ignored by Russian painters because of its isolation, Siberia began to attract artists, and one group in particular, during the 19th century: those nicknamed the "itinerants". These artists were the heirs of the realists, whose work, which sought to reproduce social reality as it was and not in an idealized manner, gradually led to a more assertive painting. They are so called because they criss-cross Russia to meet isolated peoples and awaken the peasant world to art. The leading artist of this movement was Ilya Repine (1844-1930), whose most remarkable works are Les Haleurs de la Volga (1870-1873), Les Cosaques zaporogues écrivant une lettre au sultan de Turquie (1880-1891) and Ivan the Terrible kills his son (1885). But the one who pays special attention to Siberia, his native region, is Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (1848-1916), famous for his large-scale historical scenes such as The Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy (1881). In a softer genre, the artist also depicted Siberian landscapes, with smaller watercolour works.
Photography in an extreme environment, a real challenge
The light conditions so special in Siberia are a real challenge for the first photographers who ventured there. During its gradual introduction in the 19th century, it remained above all reserved for foreign practitioners who came to document the landscape and local cultures for scientific purposes. At the time, the photographic processes were long and tedious, which was in no way facilitated by the climate (the risk of the material freezing is very real!) and the very low light exposure in winter or very high light exposure due to the whiteness of the landscapes. Often, several hours are needed to take a single shot. With the development of more efficient and mobile cameras at the turn of the century, the number of professional and amateur photographers increased considerably - whether they were foreigners who came to capture the incredible beauty of Siberian landscapes or locals who gradually appropriated the medium. These images are a valuable source of information about the traditional cultures of different ethnic groups and the changes they encounter with industrialization.
The Franco-Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado (born in 1944), whose humanistic and ecological work is now recognized worldwide, has travelled the planet to meet its peoples and landscapes. His black-and-white photographs are of great aesthetic value, of course, but also documentary, as they provide a record of cultures and environments now threatened by industrialization and unbridled capitalism. For his project Genesis (2013), the artist spent eight years documenting parts of the world that are still very much preserved, including Siberia, where he visited the Nenets, a people living in the north of the region. These nomads, nicknamed "the princes of the Tundra", have a particular way of life, adapted to the extreme living conditions they face. The splendid pictures of Salgado highlight their culture based on the tradition of hunting, reindeer husbandry and nomadic habitat. A set of striking images that is a good introduction for those who wish to discover a population that is not easily accessible!
A contemporary art in development
Despite relatively precarious conditions and a Siberian government that provides little support for contemporary artists, the art scene in the region has developed in recent decades. It is often influenced by the ancient cultures of the Siberian nations, and offers an opportunity to rediscover, reinterpret and renew them
In the 1970s and 1980s, underground art emerged in Siberia, with small creative communities existing outside the institutional system. With freedom as their watchword, they developed an independent art, very much focused on intimate and existential issues, but with a political dimension. Relatively isolated and precarious in relation to established art, their situation nevertheless changed from the 1990s onwards, with the opening of independent galleries and alternative organisations such as the White Gallery Association, mainly in the city of Novosibirsk. Zinaida Ruban (b. 1949), Vyacheslav Mizin (b. 1962) or Dmitry Bulnygin (b. 1965), as well as the "blue noses" group are representative examples of this generation. Today, the movement has lost its momentum and the separation between official and underground art is not as clear-cut as it was then
Strengthened by growing institutional support, contemporary artists in Siberia increasingly dare to speak out in the face of Russian power, despite continuing censorship. Certain institutions, such as the PERMM (one of Russia's most important museums of contemporary art), play an important role in this liberation, legitimizing and disseminating the point of view of the younger generations. Nevertheless, there are frequent calls to order, such as in 2014 when an exhibition by the committed artist Vasily Slonov (1969-), critic of the Sochi Olympic Games, led to the dismissal of the director of the PERMM. It is also in the streets that freedom of expression is at stake, as illustrated by the work of the activist artist Artyom Loskutov (born in 1986), who since 2004 has organized an annual "monstration" in Novosibirsk. This event, which brings together performers carrying banners and shouting more or less absurd slogans, is an opportunity to make a humorous mockery of the Kremlin's policies. Despite the apolitical nature of the slogans, the event has been closely monitored by the authorities since its inception, and several organisers have been arrested or fined for participating. Despite the efforts of the authorities to ban it, the event is increasingly popular (in some years attracting more than 5,000 participants!), and inspires similar initiatives in other Russian cities and abroad. A unique phenomenon in the history of activism!
A still shy street art
As one might expect, street art being a form of urban culture first and foremost, it is not a very important genre in Siberia, a wild region with a very small number of large cities. Even Irkutsk, one of the most important and culturally dynamic cities, does not evoke a very "urban" feeling. However, here too this young and popular art has been able to develop. Of course, these initiatives remain discreet, but it is very likely that you will come across several frescoes or graffiti on the walls of the towns. The motivations that push these new generations of artists to color the walls of their cities are not necessarily similar to those we know in our Western countries, nevertheless, they are characterized by the same desire to make art accessible to all. Here, the ethical aspect is particularly strong: the artistic gesture stems from a desire to change the relationship of the inhabitants to the common space. In Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, Irkutsk or Gorno-Altaisk, street art is often a way to create social links, to encourage exchanges between communities, to appropriate the urban space or to create a neighborhood identity. It is not only a way to aesthetize the city or to mark its territory, but above all a way to assert certain values and to rethink the public space from below.
A representative artist duo of this developing art is Morik & Aber, composed of Marat Morik (born 1982) and Andrew Berger (born 1986). They met in the late 2000s and began working together to develop a singular style. They have also invested a lot in the development of this art in Siberia, by creating for example the Paint Methods festival as well as the FGA platform which gathers many other talented Russian street-artists. Today, they participate in festivals all over the world, and have gradually moved away from hip-hop culture to experiment with more varied and graphic subjects, techniques and styles. Their individual works are also remarkable, especially Morik's frescoes that evoke huge collages.
