Hermitage Director of Contemporary Art leaves Russia: exodus is the only way out

Russian art historian Dimitri Ozerkov, since 2007 director of the Department of Contemporary Art at theHermitage in St. Petersburg and head of the museum’s print collection, a post he held until shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, has made it known that he has left Russia. Ozerkov is one of the leading figures in Russian art: heading the Hermitage 20/21 project for contemporary art at the Hermitage, in 2011 and 2015 he worked on his museum’s projects related to the Venice Biennale, curated more than 40 exhibitions, and taught at the European University of St. Petersburg.

Ozerkov justified his decisions with a post on Instagram in which he let it be known that he has not worked with the Hermitage since the beginning of March, the period from which he resigned and decided to no longer participate in the museum’s activities. “I left,” Ozerkov said, “because I am not going to have anything in common with today’s Russia. In 2006, when the Contemporary Art Department was conceived and began to be implemented by the director general, it was seen as a new integral part of the museum, able to revive the old collection and give it new vectors for development and interpretation, able to give classical art a new way of speaking. It was an ambitious and powerful project that influenced the image and shaped the status of the museum. It was built on dialogue and mutual respect for languages and countries, nationalities and religions, history and modernity. As part of Manifesta 2014, we were able to exhibit works by Boris Mikhailov and Russian portraits by Marlene Dumas. New works by Anselm Kiefer were exhibited in Nicholas Hall in 2017, works by Jan Fabre were exhibited throughout the museum in 2016.”

“After Russia sent its troops to Ukraine,” Ozerkov continued, “dialogue and respect ceased to mean anything in Russia, the news was replaced by propaganda that says nothing about Russian armed forces accused of numerous crimes against the civilian population. As a Russian citizen I also saw this disgrace as my fault and shared this view. Then my choice was to stop doing anything in and for today’s Russia.” Ozerkov also let it be known that he had left all other positions he held, including that of cultural adviser for the city of St. Petersburg.

Ozerkov concluded by saying goodbye, "all those for whom the Greek word Exodos, used by the authors of the Septuagint Version, has become the only possible way out of the current situation. Russia has eliminated all of us who wanted nothing more than to do good for its culture." Later, Ozerkov posted an image of an unspecified location in the Middle East, suggesting this is the destination he took upon leaving the country.

Hermitage Director of Contemporary Art leaves Russia: exodus is the only way out

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