The history of the “mustard house” model

The model of the former home of the Sarepta Society was completed in May 2014. It was created as a permanent exhibit for the Old Sarepta Memorial Museum in Volgograd, but it was also able to feature at the Night of Museums, which took place on 17 May 2014 in St. Petersburg.

In Volgograde in autumn 2013, the administration of New St. Isaac’s took the decision to present the “mustard house” in this unusual way in the Old Sarepta Memorial Museum. We opted against creating a traditional model of the building, the sorts of which can often be seen in museums; and instead settled on an artistic model, which would attract visitors to the Museum as well as foster the atmosphere of St. Petersburg. We turned to famous Petersburg artist Dina Khaychenko. Dina is a member of the Russian Union of Artists and the inventor of a unique, patented technology for the creation of a material based on paper mache cotton fibres. This material turned out to be the most appropriate for Dina’s individual creative style and allowed her to create new forms and styles, in which light replaces color and a wire frame becomes graphical lines. Dina came on board with our project and at the end of December 2013 a new “draft” house appeared.

First draft model of the house, made from paper mache

It was suggested to place the luminous house on a table, with a canvas behind it, depicting a panorama of the surrounding district. In order to do this, we invited another Petersburg artist and expert in modern techniques, Leonid Tskhe. Leonid is a member of the Russian Union of Artists; a teacher at the St. Petersburg Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture named after I.E.Repin; and had already worked with New St. Isaac’s on our famous office graffiti. He became a curator of our project and reviewed our concept. He proposed a 3D model combining wood, Plexiglas, and long lines drawn with marker pens. In order to do this we had to create a new, larger house, with a great deal of details: pipes, visor, and relief elements.

“For me any architectural model is like Gulliver’s gaze. Even in strict architectural projects you can see this part of the process. In this case the design works very well with paper mache. Without a doubt the remarkable soul of Petersburg has been distilled into this atomized representation,” explained Dina.

From the beginning we were faced with the task to somehow bring to life the Dina Khaychenko’s work, which was, in itself, very interesting and self-sufficient. The challenge was to find a way to present it. An idea came to me: if we have a house, then why not surround it with the real-life city environment in which it actually exists. I thought that this should be a cube, made from transparent material, with projections of the surrounding landscape, as well as with houses, people, trees, and cars. If you imagine a piece of the city space – together with everything it contains, including the air and clouds – cut out and placed like a cake on a plate, that is precisely what our artistic model is.”

Creation of the plywood base.

Installation of the model on the base, placement of figurines.

Attachment of figurines.

Painting of the walls, made from Plexiglas

Specially for children, steps were built for them to climb and take a look at the inside of the courtyard, so that they can better see the details.

That is how the artistic model of the House of the Sarepta Society was produced. The model was worked on for five months by a team of six specialists:

Leonid Tskhe – artist behind the idea and responsible for the marker drawings on glass, curator of the project.
Dina Khaychenko – artist behind the paper mache house.
Aleksandr Tsikarishvili and Pyotr Dyakov – members of the group “Research base North-7”, authors of the plastics in the model: figurines of business people, people on bicycles, lampposts, benches, and flowers in pots.
Khlemev Oleg – creator of the wooden base and stairs.

“The house and the surrounding area have hardly changed since the days of the Sarepta Society, but nowadays you won’t encounter carriages and Herrnh?ters at the crossroads. All of the additional figures relate to the 21st century: modern business people who have just concluded successful deals; cyclists; the yard-keeper; soldiers from the military unit opposite; and parked cars belonging to the people who work in the building. We wanted to reflect that, even 250 years on, the house continues to live a full life and, as before, people work here who love the place. Indeed it’s no longer the House of the Sarepta Society, but the New St. Isaac’s business center, yet the walls of this place continue to radiate energy.”

The model is housed at the following address: Volgograd, 10 Izoblivnaya Street, Old Sarepta Memorial Museum.

Comments and thoughts are welcome and can be sent to Valeria Semenova (New St. Isaac’s director of marketing) at vs@novo-isaak.ru