The exhibition “Fifteen Minutes to the City Center” brings together masters of photography such as Ilya Narovlyansky, Boris Mikhalevkin, Vadim Egorovsky, Vladimir Davydov, Valery Degtyarev, Alexander Kitaev, and Lyudmila Tabolina, among others. 

The photographers explore the urban landscape in search of visual textures for artistic expression, while also attempting to decipher and capture the elements that shape the city’s atmosphere and its spirit.

The works span the period from the 1950s to the 2000s. On the one hand, the timeline already feels like “history,” on the other hand, it remains close and tangible, connected to the present moment in which the viewer stands.


“Fifteen Minutes to the City Center,” as rental advertisements often phrase it, refers to a distance one can comfortably walk in good weather.

The notion of “the center” is, however, relative: different residents of St. Petersburg imagine it as different areas on the city map. For some, it is exclusively Palace Square; for others, it encompasses everything from Vosstaniya Square to Petrogradskaya. And this is without even considering geographical or historical interpretations, which blur these boundaries even further.

The calculation of time when estimating distances is equally subjective.

To speak about the beauty of this part of the city seems unnecessary—and perhaps even uninteresting. Its beauty can paralyze even the keenest mind; it resists interpretation or elaboration. Hundreds, if not thousands of people, enchanted by this beauty, take nearly indistinguishable photographs of the same city views every day — yet each is still unique, because only one person could have been in that exact place at that exact moment.

Architecture and photography relate to memory and time in very different ways.

If photography registers a fleeting moment, architecture represents a narrative oriented toward eternity, or at least toward decades.

Николаев А.
Николаев А.
Утро
1970 - 1980 гг.
РОСФОТО КП 126/109
Филиппов А.Б.
Филиппов А.Б.
На парапете
1989
РОСФОТО КП 278/026
Антощенков В.С.
Антощенков В.С.
На крыше
1997 год
РОСФОТО КП 260/015

Yet it is precisely through photography that we can grasp the subtle, almost imperceptible changes taking place in the city center.

The exhibition presents works spanning more than fifty years. It is not difficult to imagine, when looking at each photograph, what unfolds behind the idealized views when one keeps in mind the historical context in which the image was taken.

Ilya Narovlyansky photographed a city that still bore memories of the Siege; Vadim Egorovsky worked in an era when the visual code was shaped by the Soviet press and the creative environment by youth photo clubs; Vladimir Davydov, in turn, captured the urban landscape of the 1990s.

Many motifs and compositional choices recur throughout the exhibition, revealing a recognizable canon of photographing St. Petersburg — one that transcends decades and connects the practices of different artists. Yet, within the subtle differences between similar scenes, we discern each photographer’s individual style and visual language.

Ultimately, what unites all of these authors  and connects them with us, is their quiet wandering through the city center, observing its unhurried daily life against the backdrop of mesmerizing architecture and ever-changing historical circumstances.

The exhibition is dedicated to the anniversary of St. Petersburg, which recently celebrated its 320th year.