Art Trial Reveals Clash of Russian Cultures
Two prominent intellectuals, facing a verdict of up to three years’ imprisonment over a museum exhibition in 2007, issued dire warnings on Thursday that Russia was starting to resemble Nazi Germany, contemporary Iran and the Soviet Union in the harshness of its growing nationalism, dominance of the Russian Orthodox church and fear of modern art.
Yuri Samodurov, former director of Moscow’s Sakharov Museum, and Andrei Yerofeyev, a former curator of the Tretyakov Gallery, have been on trial for nearly two years on charges of fomenting ethnic and religious hatred. The verdict in the case is due Monday. It has sharply divided the Moscow intelligentsia and become a lightning rod for feelings about the church, whose power has grown steadily since Communist rule crumbled two decades ago.
Mr. Yerofeyev opened a news conference on Thursday by showing a video against contemporary art produced by Narodny Sobor, or People’s Council, a nationalist organization that he said was the driving force in the charges against him and Mr. Samodurov. “We have the classic situation of a fascist party that is attacking contemporary culture,” he said. “Through destruction it is trying to get attention, your attention.
