Empty shell sires culture

A new ‘creative cluster’ has opened its doors.

By Yekaterina Portnova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: August 29, 2012 (Issue # 1724)

Last weekend saw the opening of Chetvert, a self-described “creative cluster” in a former military barracks on Ulitsa Dekabristov. Although the five-story building is still covered with construction netting, inside, work is going ahead at full steam.

Although the center technically opened to the public on Aug. 25, not all of the facilities are ready to open their doors. Currently, only five projects are fully functioning: The Stone Troll ceramic workshop, Mo-Mo vegetarian cafe, Lighthouse secondhand store and showroom, Kladovaya store selling original items, and a hair salon boldly named Hairfuckers. According to its organizers, Chetvert has the capacity to house 40 to 50 projects in total. In the near future, a yoga studio and dance school are set to open, alongside numerous architecture and design bureaus and a small soap production facility.

The building Chetvert occupies was bought by a development company that the curators are reluctant to name from City Hall. The process of transferring full ownership rights to the mystery developer is expected to take five to seven years, and in the meantime, the building is to become a hub for the rapidly developing stratum of young creative entrepreneurs in the city.

“Nobody knows exactly how long Chetvert will be there; it’s an experimental project,” said curator Roman Krasilnikov. “There is no telling how long it will be viable and needed by the city.”

Chetvert has taken shape thanks to the efforts of five young people who work on a voluntary basis. For the last three months, they have spent all of their free time here. Some curators, like Daria Nazarova, have regular jobs and help out after their day job, while others, like Krasilnikov, are there from 10 a.m. until late at night.

“Last night I slept here because there were a huge amount of things we needed to do before the technical opening,” said Krasilnikov on Saturday.

The refurbishment of the premises is going ahead at full speed. Although much has been done, challenges remain. The process has thrown up some interesting finds for the curators.

“Actually we had a lot of stuff from the previous owners of this building who were based here for a long time,” said Krasilnikov.

“It may sound strange, but the most impressive thing was a mummified rat’s body, it looked like a cool object of art.”

Chetvert not only has public spaces for design studios, stores and workshops: The left wing of the building is residential. Residents of Chetvert include tenants of the creative enterprises on site, meaning they have both a workspace and living space under one roof. Potential residents of the creative cluster will, however, be disappointed: All of the rooms have already been let.

“Creative young people prevail among the tenants, but there are some average people with families and kids who have no connection whatsoever to this so-called creative class,” said Krasilnikov. “I think that’s great, because it’s important not to lock yourself into your own narrow world. All the residents get on well with one another,” he added.

The opening hours of Chetvert are not yet regular, but in the near future the center plans to be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. or even later. Once maintenance work is completed in the yard, the curators plan to set out a small veranda with ping-pong tables.

“All the entertainment projects planned for the near future will be of a more educational than evening/nighttime nature: Concerts, exhibits, presentations, master classes and so on,” said Nazarova.

By the time the building on Ulitsa Dekabristov is given over to its developer, the curators plan to have found another empty building with the same aim: To make a suitable and welcoming space for the city’s creative community and their needs.

“We have all the resources and we want to preserve our team of curators and tenants,” said Krasilnikov. “After all, Chetvert is not about the walls, it’s all about the people who make it what it is supposed to be — a new creative cluster. Our project is mobile and can move anywhere and function in the same way.”

Chetvert is located at 25 Ulitsa Dekabristov.