“Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika” photography exhibition opens at Manezh Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow

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On January 24, 2011, “Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika” photography exhibition was launched at Manezh Central Exhibition Hall in the center of Moscow. The exhibition is dedicated to the 80th birthday of the Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, which he will celebrate on March 2.

The exhibition is a joint project of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (The Gorbachev Foundation) and "Moscow House of Photography" museum and exhibition center.

Some rare photographs from personal archives of the Gorbachev family, the Gorbachev Foundation holdings, collections of the Moscow House of Photography and private collections of Russian photographers and collectors were put on display. Many of the photographs are shown for the first time. The display, whose organizers aimed at recreating the atmosphere of the Perestroika period, also includes newspapers, magazines and books, works by non-conformist artists, fragments of documentary and feature films and popular TV shows that saw the light in the Soviet Union in 1985–1991.

Those present observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims of a terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport, which occurred just several hours before the opening of the exhibition.

Speakers at the opening ceremony included Mikhail Gorbachev, his daughter and Vice President of the Gorbachev Foundation, Irina Virganskaya, Olga Sviblova, director of the Moscow House of Photography, a photographer and journalist Yuri Rost, chief editor of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov, Russian Academy of Sciences Corresponding Member Ruslan Grinberg, and Executive Director of the Gorbachev Foundation, Olga Zdravomyslova.

Mikhail Gorbachev fielded numerous questions from reporters.

The exhibition will run until March 8, 2011.
 

The Gorbachev Foundation