The House of Culture

All photos: Gleb Leonov


Houses of culture became the earliest example of multidisciplinary institutions, housing under one roof a library, a gallery, a theatre, creative workshop, a concert hall, a museum, a cinema and even a school. Through this approach, cultural activity was made accessible to a widest audience, and the public was offered a place for creativity. Art was no longer perceived as elitist but designed to be organically inclusive.
Contemporary artists work in an environment where boundaries between disciplines and practices are becoming irrelevant, which makes the House of Culture concept of arts’ integration urgent and necessary. With obsolete hierarchies questioned at