In regard to the locations of the respective exhibitions about Tarkovsky it is immediately striking that a main difference between the two exhibitions can be found in the reception side of it. Tarkovsky was a Russian filmmaker and left a great legacy in his country. Given this fact, I assume that in Russia there are much more people who gained profound knowledge and appreciation of his work, nevertheless, in the Netherlands many cinephiles know about his work too but because his work is quite artistic, I think the general audience in the Netherlands is not much acquainted with it. Therefore I think that the target-audience of Tarkovsky’s exhibition was different in each country.
Furthermore, something that immediately grasps my attention on the website of the Russian museum, is that Tarkovsky is being presented as an artist rather than a filmmaker. In the first place, the exhibition is called “Artist of Space” and I quote from the text, “Over the last 25 years, a lot of exhibitions and events dedicated to Andrei Tarkovsky and representation and musealization of his art have been carried out.” On the website of the EYE museum, he is presented as a filmmaker rather than an artist, though, his film oeuvre is presented as a rather artistic one. In the text, the EYE museum notes “his name as a leading innovator of the language of cinema.” Even though the EYE museum presents a large scope of media, such as films, polaroids and writings, the exhibition in St. Petersburg seems to be more about Tarkovsky as an artistic person in general which presents an overview of everything he has done in his career as an artist. Furthermore, the EYE museum gives away already some background information on its website, whereas the Russian museum stays rather superficial about who he was as an artist and what makes him significant as an artist.
Written by Britt.
Crossmedial-exhibition-csb 