Archive of the Art Scene in Apatity

The archive contains materials from the personal archives of residents of Apatity (Murmansk Oblast) and interviews with representatives of artistic and public initiatives involved in the cultural processes of the region. It is constructed primarily around individuals and self‑organized collective initiatives and covers the period from the mid‑1970s to the end of the 2000s.

The archive is based on materials from the collection of the Apatity artist Alexander Zaitsev. Since being launched, it has been supplemented with the archive of Ravil and Olga Yusupov and other active participants of the art scene and also interviews with cultural actors and publications from local mass media.

The archive contains biographical information, interviews, information on events, press releases, exhibition photographs, collections of poems, almanacs, exhibition catalogues, journals, and articles. Most of the material comprises digital copies, with the originals retained by the authors.

Thanks to its location at the heart of Murmansk Oblast, close to major enterprises and scientific organizations, from the mid‑1960s, the young city of Apatity became a bright spot on the cultural map of Zapolyarye. Young people began to come to the city, mainly scientists and specialists in design and construction, chemistry, and mining. This intellectually saturated environment gave rise to creative initiatives and many young people became involved in artistic practices. Artists with a professional education who were members of official groups came to the city from the republics of the USSR and nearby major regional centers (Leningrad, Murmansk, and others).

There were no contemporary art institutions in Apatity. Nevertheless, for many years representatives of the local art scene, most of whom were not professional artists, organized creative groups (Spolokh, Master, Gallery M), exhibitions, and informal meetings. Events took place at various places in the city (Polyarny Cinema, Gladina Library, etc.). Some were independent and others were supported by the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the city authorities, and other state institutions.

The membership of artistic groups in Apatity was always fluid. Extreme mobility is a distinguishing feature of the region. Many people came to Zapolyarye temporarily. The outflow of the population in the 1990s and 2000s, during the economic slump, also influenced the structure and character of the city’s art scene. Regardless of this, many artists retained their links to Apatity and regularly took part in events in the city.

In the 1990s, a period of openness, glasnost, and interest in the Russian Arctic and the art scene there, artists from Murmansk Oblast, which borders Scandinavia, actively developed joint projects with colleagues from Finland, Norway, and Sweden. At this time there was also a search for new forms of functioning for art initiatives (including with the aim of organizing financial support). So, in 1991, Gallery M the first commercial gallery in Zapolyarye was founded in Apatity. It still exists today, although in a different form.

The art scene of Zapolyarye developed as a result of the dialogue between “amateurs” and “professionals” and attempts to form fragile temporary communities and find a balance between the “official” and the “unofficial”.

From 2020 to 2023, the archive materials were collected by independent curator and researcher Olga Shirokostup (who was Chief Curator of Radiance (Siyanie) Center for Contemporary Art, Apatity from 2021 to 2022). In 2021 and 2022, this work was done together with curator Marina Pugina.