The Project Team of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy receives support in St Petersburg

On March 31st - April 1st, Aleksey Shaburov, General Manager of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy, and his team visited Saint Petersburg. On September 16-21, 2008, the city will welcome the project aimed at both calligraphy professionals and the general public. The main purpose of the meeting was signing the rental agreement with the owner of the exhibition grounds, namely, the Research and Development Museum, a state research institution under the Russian Academy of Arts located within the walls of the well-known Repin State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture of St. Petersburg, 17 Universitetskaya Embankment.

The idea to organize the exhibition in this university was supported not only by Albert Charkin, its Chancellor, but also by Ilya Bogdesko, People’s Artist of the USSR and a MGIMO alumnus. He warmly welcomed the Project Team and its initiator at his house. Ilya Bogdesko granted some of his works to be exhibited within the framework of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy. He was pleased with the proposal to participate in another Sokolniki MEC’s social projects entitled Our Victory. (As a young man, Ilya Bogdesko joined the army in 1942 and served in the Ural Command Headquarters). At the end of the meeting, Ilya Bogdesko gave a short interview, which will be featured in the film about the project.

Meeting Nikolai Nikolayev, Doctor of Philology, Head of the Rare Books Department under the Russian State Library was no less exciting. The unique collection of rare books kept in the library can be partially exhibited. Realizing the project’s significance, Nikolai Nikolayev promised he would try to participate in the project. We hope that thanks to this cooperation the visitors of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy will be able to see the handwritten masterpieces of our forefathers.

During the meeting with Valery Slyozin, Professor, Doctor of Biology, Head of the Neuropsychophysiologic Laboratory under Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research & Development Institute in Saint Petersburg a number of new significant aspects of the project were revealed. It appears calligraphy enhances not only artistic perception but also fine cerebration. Alexey Shaburov charted out future cooperation on this issue within the project’s framework.

However, the meetings were not over. The team got an opportunity to meet Pyotr Chobitiko who granted his recently published Azbukovnik to the exhibition holdings and Dmitry Petrovsky who spoke about the difficulties of calligraphers’ training. Andrei Kostrov, yet another project participant granted his collection of writing utensils.

The Project Team were satisfied with their work. The trip was successful!

Source: the International Exhibition of Calligraphy