Dzerzhinsky District Court of Perm has arrested former director of the PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, Nailya Allakhverdieva, in absentia. She has been placed on the international wanted list, Meduza reported today.
A criminal case for insulting the religious feelings of believers (Part 1 of Article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code), triggered by several works from the museum’s collection, was opened against the ex-director of PERMM in March this year. According to the investigation, Nailya Allakhverdieva “understood that the works might offend believers, yet allowed their free display.” Notably, these works include Tatiana Anoshina’s Blue Cities, Sergey Gorshkov’s Angel with a Trumpet, and Konstantin Zvezdochetov’s Paradisi, which were exhibited at the museum in 2011–2012.
Everyone in Perm — young and old alike — knows that since almost the museum’s inception, Nailya Allakhverdieva has been the brain and driving force behind the unique PERMM project, renowned far beyond Perm and Russia for its avant-garde creative art practices. Thanks to her, PERMM is not some provincial institution but one of Russia’s leading museums in its field. How is the news of Nailya Allakhverdieva being declared wanted compatible with all this?! — co-founder of the “Perm-36” museum Tatiana Kursina reacted indignantly to the court authorities’ decision.
Nailya Allakhverdieva is a well-known Russian art manager, curator, artist, and laureate of the Sergey Kuryokhin Prize. She worked with the PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art for over ten years and became its director in 2019. In November 2024, she was subjected to a search in connection with a case involving the gallerist and PERMM co-founder Marat Gelman, who has been added to Russia’s registry of “terrorists and extremists.” In December of last year, Nailya resigned as PERMM director, stating she had “fully implemented her plans for the museum’s development.” Later, she left Russia.
The Perm-36 team expresses its strong support for our colleague, the talented art manager Nailya Allakhverdieva. Nailya, we are with you!
Photo: Evgeny Ivanov