Museum is Mourning. Alexandr Sokurov’s Architectural Elegies
Abstract
The article has been inspired by Rem Koolhaas’s lecture concerning the exhibition space of the Hermitage Museum. The text focuses on the hybrid works of the Russian film director Alexandr Sokurov. In search of the subjective authorial voice, Korczarowska attempts to adapt the theory of the essay film (Laura Rascaroli) to the needs of the analysis. The article provides a detailed interpretation of Russian Ark and Francofonia, exploring in particular the relationship between film essays and architecture. Recognizing Sokurov’s films as architectural essay films (Penelope Haralambidou), Korczarowska concentrates on cinematic representations of the “museum experience” and its relation to the problem of remembrance and historical trauma. In the author’s opinion, Sokurov’s “museum films” can serve as a paradigmatic example of Haralambidou’s thesis that architectural essay films explicitly link the preservation of human memory to architecture.
Keywords:
Alexandr Sokurov, Russian cinema, museum, Hermitage Museum, Louvre Museum, architectureReferences
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Authors
Natasza Korczarowskarozio@wp.pl
University of Lodz Poland
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3130-128X
Professor at the Department of Film and Audiovisual Media, Institute of Contemporary Culture, University of Lodz. She specializes in the history of Polish film, contemporary European cinema and the problems of historiophoty. She published the books: Ojczyzny prywatne [Private Homelands] (2007) and Inne spojrzenie [Another Way] (2013) – the latter devoted to the images of history in the Polish feature film after 1965. Since 2008 she has been cooperating with the Polish Film Institute and the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute on the educational project Academy of Polish Film.
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