Some of Russia’s leading contemporary artists have joined forces in an exhibition at the historical Fonarnye Baths in St Petersburg seeking to purify the weary minds of the local visitors. Yet for art critic Pavel Gerasimenko the resulting immersive experience proves to be rather vaporous.

An unusual exhibition staged by Moscow conceptualists at the Sandunovsky Baths in the Soviet capital on 12th of January 1988 later became a classic era-defining art action, one of a larger series of projects conceived by art curator Joseph Backstein in unexpected locations under the aegis of the ‘Avant-Garde Club’. The action took place around a marble pool in the ‘Highest Men's Class’ section of this iconic bathhouse, where the artists bathed naked at their leisure, strolled around wearing sheets among classical columns or jumped with vigour into the water. It is impossible not to think about this extraordinary happening in connection with a current contemporary art show at the Fonarnye Baths in St. Petersburg. Titled ‘Ritual for Clearing the Mind,’ and a joint project between the St. Petersburg MYTH Gallery and the Grabar Gallery Moscow, any hopes that there might be a repeat of the extraordinary cleansing effect of the Sandunovsky action back in the 80s proved futile. Instead, it is a vivid demonstration of the difference between these two eras — today the works are displayed far from the humidity and steam of the baths.

Opened in 1871 and initially named Voroninskiye after owner Mikhail Voronin (1838–1903), the baths, designed by famous St. Petersburg architect Pavel Syuzor, were renamed ‘Fonarnye Bani’ (The Lantern Baths) during the Soviet era due to their location in Fonarny Lane. Although in the very centre of the city close to St. Isaac’s Square and Russia’s Imperial beating heart, they were also not far from places frequented by the heroes of Dostoevsky novels, so they stood on a boundary between two very different realities. In Slavic folklore and mythology bathhouses symbolise this kind of transformational space from one state to another. Long ago the Fornarnye Baths became something of a legend – it is believed that Grigory Rasputin loved to bathe there, not far from the Yusupov Palace, where he eventually met with a sticky end. In 2021, the baths reopened after an ambitious restoration project by Megre Interiors design bureau who over the space of several years restored cast iron mouldings, sculptures, stucco mouldings and the interior décor based on historical drawings and photographs.

You get a sense of the special atmosphere that once prevailed in the Fonarnye Baths from photographs taken in 1989 by renowned St. Petersburg photo artist Alexander Kitaev (b. 1952). In two of the pictures, steam room regulars look like ancient philosophers. One of them is non-conformist artist Rodion Gudzenko (1931–1999), who in his youth made sketches of nude models in the manner of Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, while peeping through a window into the female bathhouse.

In the current exhibition which will run for ten days during June, two dozen contemporary artists, including leading figures from the Moscow and St. Petersburg art scenes, are united in a project whose title is involuntarily perceived with irony. Let ‘A Ritual against Unnecessary Thoughts’ mean the healing practice of meditation and, according to curator Kristina Romanova, ‘offer viewers an understanding of the rules and paths necessary for purifying the mind and body on the way to “earthly paradise”. In the current situation, there is a lack rather than an excess of reflection.

Ultimately, the bathhouse itself and the art on display there have very little in common. The crowds of hot steam lovers and contemporary art enthusiasts are kept apart and you have to pay 1,000 roubles (around 12 USD) to see the art, which seems unjustifiably expensive. As the curator states, ‘viewers will be able to choose a path: to visit the baths, the exhibition, or stop off at Buffet No. 43.’ It seems that all these are signs not only of a crisis in the familiar genre of exhibitions, but also the idea of merging contemporary art with life in general. Perhaps artists are increasingly beginning to act like hired employees of a gallery.

It might come as a surprise that not all of the works on display are site specific. If Ulyana Podkorytova’s (b. 1984) ‘Bathwomen’, two silhouetted figures in ritual poses, installed in the courtyard of the bathhouse or Vadim Mikhailov’s (b. 1979) warning ‘Not Allowed’ in sgraffito on a towel which marks the entrance to the male section, address the location and theme of the project, the works of Olya Kroytor (b. 1986) comprising the art objects ‘Divine Comedy’ and ‘Where Are You Going?’ in the form of a scrabble board, Alexandra Paperno’s (b. 1978) ‘Tape’ with insects and people stuck to it, and Yegor Fedorichev's (b. 1988) huge painting from the ‘Game’ series depicting wounded deer, could be included in any exhibition project.

Unquestionably, regular visitors to the Lantern Baths will feel somewhat puzzled on arrival as they come face to face with a fountain made by Irina Korina (b. 1977) which stands by the entrance. ‘Stone Fountain’ sprays cotton wool pebbles out in different directions, up to three metres high! Korina is known for inverting different materials to amusing effect, and here there is a double act with water being replaced by stones, and stones replaced by cotton wool, all bathed in glitter. The simultaneously static and at times mobile form resembling a strange jet of water or flame is an accurate expression of our time. Movement hidden under a semblance of external constancy, just like a fountain made of stones.