Elena Tunyaeva biography

Why should you know me: the founder of the Museum of Russian Life "by Susks" Elena Tunyaeva 4 min.

The village is small, some of the streets are more like a village. My grandparents, for example, lived in her house: the bottom is stone, the top is wooden, windows with platbands, sheds, barns, gardens, gardens. They kept cattle, chickens, planted potatoes and strawberries, salted cucumbers, cooked jam, bought chickens in the spring, mowed hay in the summer, gathered in the autumn the whole large family - 20 people - and cut a pig.

We, the children, of course, helped and watched this everyday life, somersaults in the hayloft. Maybe from there, from childhood, there was a craving for the village, for Russian life, for a simple and complex at the same time, but real. At first I wanted to become an actress or singer. While no one was at home, she put on her mother’s and grandmother's dresses, beads, shoes, imagined herself on stage and performed.

Of course, the "public" really liked - everyone applauded! Then she wanted to become a doctor and practically became. But, since I studied at once in two universities, it became difficult, and I chose a fashionable management at that time. She became a manager. Management experience for more than 20 years: 10 years Anti -Crisis management of the arbitration manager, 10 years of management in the field of culture, art, construction and comprehensive improvement: the Museon Art Park, Gorky Park, and the Vinzavod CSI.

And now it has ripened before its project - a charitable foundation for the support of culture and folk art and the Museum of Russian Life "in the Suski". The museum is territorially located on the Bersenevskaya embankment, pages I liked the space there. This is a rare, ancient place in the center of Moscow, untouched by modern trends, preserving traces of the past and an authentic atmosphere, a rich history.

This is an old space of the 17th century and in itself as a museum: arches, stone floor, magical acoustics, history of the place. Getting into it, you immediately fall into ancient Rus'. For more than 15 years I have been collecting a collection of old utensils and interior items. I myself go around the cities, villages, I go to the jammers and antiques, I “catch” interesting objects in social networks, I am looking for places with the deposits of “minerals”.

It began with the interior of his wooden house, which I wanted to make a cozy, interesting, truly Russian, with authentic household items, and not fakes a la RUS. I myself really like the theme of Russian life, warms the soul, this is some kind of memory on the subcortex, the need to come into contact with your history, ancestors. I seem to plunge into antiquity, becoming part of those people, those times, it is close, touching to me.

They have so much simplicity and wisdom, my roots, me. I also like to engage in collecting and gathering, show and tell people about it, give them gifts. Maybe I even see my mission in this - to make our past more interesting and affordable, to introduce more people with our culture, to preserve and update ancient traditions and knowledge, not to forget the roots.

Two years ago, the moment came when I realized that I wanted to share my collection with people, show it to others, and not to keep it only at home. And since I still have experience in managerial work in the field of culture, I thought: why not try to make my project? There is experience, there is a desire, there is also a meaning, at least for me. I decided for a long time, realizing the risks, the volume of work, the need to search for partners and sponsors, the allocation of financing, made up business plans, made calculations, worked on myself and with its perfectionism.

In general, she tortured herself with the questions “And if not? .. And having realized that this is a deadlock story - and only a story - and that you can think so until the end of my days and do nothing, I decided to go to life and do. Slowly, step by step, sharing his thoughts and inviting to cooperation. Now I am at the beginning of the journey, there are many more fears, but I know that this is a normal story at the beginning of any new project.

I say “thank you” fears and move on. Of course, I am mistaken, and this is also normal. But I am doing a real, interesting project. The exposition is based on the ancient objects of Russian life, the decorative and applied art of the DPI: ancient utensils, spinning wheels, towels. But unlike DPI, my museum is interactive and more open: here everything can be touched, the expositions are made up by masters and artists, artisans.

This space is primarily for them. Plus, I want to attract contemporary artists, designers to create expositions, to think together, to create, inspire, to create a new format, continuing the theme of antiquity. The most important difficulty for me was to choose motivated people and form a team with limited resources. And it turned out - gradually, slowly appeared and how the beads were strung on the thread.

At first, people helped on a volunteer basis: the collector Philip Mayakov made a logo, Anya Mochalina and Sveta Goncharenko developed and designed the site, Roman Chernyshov quickly joined the excursions.And so new people appeared step by step, ready to work even for the sake of support and interest. This is what I consider real success! Since it doesn’t matter how many people you have, the main thing is that they are!

The museum is only six months, but we started so powerfully that the recognition for a small project is very high. Every month is a new exhibition, every week-either lectures, or master classes, or concerts, but a lot of things. Our main product - “Touch the Museum” - is an interactive visit to the museum, acquaintance with Russian life, ancient crafts and professions.

He turned out to be very in demand, since people became able to touched the truly with our history, as in a fairy tale, only in reality. Any visit includes immediately a tour of the exposition with the possibility of touching the old utensils and mini-master classes: stroke the laundry with a rubble, chop the cabbage in the trough with a cut, stick a path on the weaving camp, to grind the grain in the millstones, weed buckets on the rocker hand and a tea party with stories and samovar.

The plans to develop further. I really want schools to respond and, as part of additional education, lead the children to our museum to expand the horizons, try, study. After all, at the exit from us, they light up, they want to learn more about our culture and themselves. And this is a victory - to arouse a keen interest in children. We also plan on exit events: there is a Russian hut with a stove and a reserve, pristine nature.

Photo: Alexander Lepeshkin.