Izvestia: “Russia brings musketeers to Paris”
Russian National Exhibition opened in Paris.
This is not the first time that Russia overwhelmed Paris; Paris, and all of Europe. At the 1900 World's Fair, for example, Russia showed off the TransSiberian Railway that crossed the entire Eurasian continent. Some 37 years later, Russia returned to the French capital with Mukhina's giant statue of Worker and Collective Farm Woman, the new masters of the new Soviet land. Slightly more than 100 years after the Russian debut at the Palais Royal, Russians are back, ready to give Parisians a jolt.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in propria persona, came to Paris to open the exhibition. This fact was highly indicative and from the very beginning the exhibition was presented as a business guide for Europe.
The exhibition is one of the key events held as part of The Year of Russia in France and The Year of France in Russia. When speaking to the select Russian-French audience invited to the opening ceremony, Putin said: "You'll see not only what Russia is proud of today but also its potential for the future. We are presenting major European-scale projects - in aircraft manufacturing, engineering, space research, chemistry and biology. And, of course, that which we call Russia's spiritual essence - the arts, photos, paintings..."
It is true that Russia brought only the most distinguished presentations to Paris, in terms of size at least. Wherever you looked, the size was the dominant feature. The range of creative and engineering imagination of Boris Krasnov's design studio was striking indeed.
It would seem that, passing through metal doors decorated with Beaux Art tracery fretwork, the Prime Minister did not expect to see a round dance of giant matryoshkas; looking so ludicrous in this complex copper and glass realm. There were 16 of them, with every next matryoshka doll being two metres taller than the previous one. They were all painted except for their faces, for God knows what reason. The designers saved the trouble of hand-painting by using self-adhesive prints imitating Gzhel, Khokhloma and Gorodets style. However, they spared no expense on wood for the Phoenix Bird that looked absolutely demonic, with a wingspan of some ten metres.
Matryoshkas of all sizes were scattered about on all the stands -as telephone trinkets, pendants or supports. The idea was to make it a symbol of the exhibition, le souvenir russe for French guests, unfortunately, all the souvenirs were snapped up by the hosts and buried in their pockets.
The rollicking Kalinka-malinka song could be heard for blocks. The pure voices of the Pyatnitsky choir intensified by a dozen loudspeakers were merciless. The dancers of Igor Moiseyev's folk dance ballet demonstrated their fanciful pas, while all this pandemonium could knock spectators off their feet. However, the French seemed to like this Russian folk mix: it was so bright and noisy.
Zurab Tseretely brought a present for the Gascons - a sculptural composition representing the Four Musketeers. By the sculptor's standards, the figures of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan were of a modest size - no more than four metres tall each.
AvtoVAZ displayed its aging Niva (VAZ-2121) at the exhibition which has remained with few updates since 1977. It was displayed in sincerity rather than as part of Russia's past. Visitors were told that the Russian Prime Minister had the same model.
And where are the new technology of the 21st- century?
Just nearby, where another product of the Russian automotive sector - the Lada Kalina - was parked. AvtoVAZ presented it as a sports car and promised to launch, together with the French carmakers, a new model soon under the same brand name.
The Sukhoi aircraft maker showed once again a model of its Superjet 100: production has not yet begun, but 100 planes have already been sold. The Gazprom stand was empty and transparent, like natural gas. Chechnya managed to squeeze about 30 investment projects in a display of the same size crowned with a model of a 300-metre tall high-rise building, "only one metre lower than the Eiffel Tower."
Looking at all the other exhibits, such as mammoth tusk carvings, amber jewelry and copper statuettes, it's clear that Russians need new technology like they need oxygen. It is for the sake of obtaining them that the whole show was staged.
Anastasia Savinykh
