Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art

Erarta is the largest private museum of contemporary art in Russia. Since the opening of its doors in 2010, Erarta’s permanent collection has grown to include 2,800 works by more than 300 artists from all across the country.

Erarta Museum was repeatedly mentioned as a top choice tourist attraction by the world’s leading Lonely Planet guidebooks, ranks among the top 10 museums in Russia on TripAdvisor travel website, was spotlighted as one of the ‘5 cultural gems in St. Petersburg’ by National Geographic, and became the country’s first contemporary art museum to be featured on Google Art Project. Every year, Erarta attracts nearly half a million visitors.

Permanent Collection:

The permanent collection display in the Museum Wing showcases the vast variety of contemporary visual arts from paintings to video art, as well as Erarta’s unique signature projects. The idea behind every such project is to bridge the gap between contemporary art and the viewer.

The U-Space immersive installations project (the museum has a total of six) oers each visitor a unique emotional and mental experience: 10 minutes of another life spent inside each of these artistic spaces. Every immersive installation has its own theme manifested in each tiny detail, from lighting to smells.

The Audio Installations were designed to draw the viewer into the world of sometimes inscrutable expressive paintings. The project is an inspiring example of professional sound design.

The Art-Literature project is a way to engage the viewers in a dialogue by prompting them to describe their impressions of the museum visit in the form of a creative essay. This allows every Erarta visitor to share his or her insights with other guests.

Two Video Halls are used for screening short films created for the Art-Animation project and episodes of The Adventures of BB Square cartoon series. Art-Animation invites the viewer to join the game of locating certain artworks from the museum’s permanent collection which inspired the animated films. It features films by professional and amateur animators alike – the final selection was based on an open competition. In addition, The Adventures of BB Square cartoon series created by Erarta is the only art education cartoon made in Russia. All twelve episodes can be viewed in the Video Hall or on the museum’s YouTube channel.

Temporary Exhibitions:

The museum’s Exhibitions Wing is entirely dedicated to temporary shows: every year, Erarta stages more than 40 exhibitions alternately focusing on painting, sculpture, photography, fashion, design, architecture, and video art.

The museum collaborates with numerous Russian artists and introduces its guests to the most influential projects and names in the global art scene, from the much-talked-about Undressed exhibition presented by the Londonbased Victoria and Albert Museum to the star of contemporary Chinese art Liu Bolin. The capacity of the exhibition rooms is such that there is enough space even for such large-scale projects as Lamborghini: Design Legends featuring rare car models or the exhibition of monumental sculptures by Salvador Dalí.

The circle of prominent contemporaries closely associated with the museum extends far beyond the purely artistic community: band leaders and musicians Sergey Shnurov and Boris Grebenschikov, rooftoppers Vadim Makhorov and Vitaliy Raskalov, film director Sergey Solovyev and animator Alexander Petrov were among those who presented their exhibition projects at Erarta.

Day at the Museum:

One can easily spend the whole day at Erarta and keep coming back over and over. The museum stages 40 temporary shows annually, which means that every three months the visitor encounters an entirely new set of exhibition projects; the permanent collection keeps growing as well. A good way to experience it all is to purchase a Ticket or become a Member. The Ticket costs 1000 rubles and grants a whole year of unlimited admission to Erarta Museum and all of its temporary exhibitions. On top of that, Erarta Membership provides a number of additional privileges: plus-one invitations to exhibition previews and artist talks, 2 complimentary U-Space sessions, discounted Fast Track admission for the Member’s guests, as well as a 15% discount at the Erarta Restaurant, café, and museum stores. The Membership fee is 3,000 rubles.

The Erarta Restaurant located inside the museum building is a place for truly creative cuisine where art can be not only admired but also tasted. A cosy summer patio welcomes guests during the warm season. The café on floor 3 offers all museum visitors a chance to try the signature desserts created by Erarta’s pastry chef. Its open-air balcony is the perfect place to unwind and socialise during the summer months.

The Erarta Home Stores offer gifts, souvenirs, books, interior décor items, prints and original artworks by contemporary Russian artists. Should you need any assistance, the Erarta Design studio team is always there to help you seamlessly fit your newly purchased piece of art into your home or office interior. Another option is to shop from the comfort of home with shop.erarta.com online store.

Making friends with contemporary art is easy thanks to the variety of audio guides to the museum’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions produced by Erarta’s curatorial team. A good way to start would be a self-guided tour of Erarta’s Museum Wing with an introductory audio guide to its highlights. All audio guides are available free of charge directly on the smartphones of all registered Members and Ticket holders through MY ERARTA account. Families visiting with kids can stop by the reception to pick up free itinerary sheets for Erarta’s fun art quests, Adventures with BB Square and Beyond Art (available in Russian only).

It is advisable to plan your visit to Erarta in advance by purchasing an E-Ticket or Membership online. The E-Ticket comes with a Fast Track option and allows the visitors to skip any potential queues. Erarta Memberships also make great gifts.

Contact us:
2, 29th line of Vasilievsky Ostrov St. Petersburg, Russia
Opening hours: 11:00 to 23:00 every day except Tuesdays
Telephone: +7 (812) 324-08-09
Website: www.erarta.com/en

Social networks:
vk.com/erarta
t.me/erarta_museum
youtube.com/user/erartamuseum