This year, Sillamäe Museum founder Aleksandr Popolitov would have turned 80.

According to Nadežda Popolitova, Aleksandr's widow and coordinator of a new exhibition dedicated to his memory, the initial plan was to create just a small display of works. However, by the time it was complete, the exhibition was almost big enough to fill the entire museum.

Taking pride of place is Aleksandr's restored workshop.

"The exhibition is called 'The Legacy of Aleksandr Popolitov: Dialogue in the Museum.' Why dialogue? Because there are three authors – the work of three different artists is exhibited here," Nadežda Popolitova told ERR.

"This is a family exhibition. Each of us works in different genres. Aleksandr worked with wood and assemblages. Darja (Popolitova – Aleksandr and Nadežda's daughter) is a jeweler, and I am a photographer. I was really moved by the place where Aleksandr worked, so we included it in the exhibition," Popolitova added.

"The exhibits in this exhibition are scattered throughout the museum. They are woven into the general exhibition. And Aleksandr Petrovich (Popolitov), his hand, his legacy can be felt in every room," said Elena Antusheva, acting director of the Sillamäe Museum.

"I really like the figure of 'Kratt,' a character from Estonian mythology, which is made of oil shale, and is particularly significant for the northeast of the country. This work was created by Aleksandr Petrovich Popolitov's daughter, Darja," Antusheva added.

According to Darja Popolitova, the inspiration for the project came from an exhibition she saw in Vilnius, in which contemporary art had been integrated into a historical museum space.

Among the new works featured at the Sillamäe Museum exhibition are two documentary films about the complex history of the city.

"The exhibition is structured in such a way that there are relationships between the different art objects. These connections are either visual, visual-aesthetic or semantic," Darja Popolitova explained.

"Therefore, I think it is necessary to learn to perceive the exhibition as a whole. To that end, we made two documentary films, which deal with the history of the Sillamäe gulag and the city's Estonian–Russian context," she added.

"The Legacy of Aleksander Popolitov: Dialogue in the Museum" is open at the Sillamäe Museum now and will remain on display until May 20.

More information is available (in Estonian) here.

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