Georgy Pinhasov: "Photos shouldn't be beautiful, they should be mysterious"

The Museum of Architecture named after Shchusev hosts an exhibition of experimental laboratory Magnum Live Lab, organized by the Moscow Committee for Tourism together with international photo agency Magnum Photos. Exposition includes 121 best photos from three agency's photographers who worked in Moscow in the winter and summer. Vestnik Kavkaza spole to one of them, photo artist Georgy Pinkhasov, who lives in Paris.

- What did you do for the Magnum Live Lab project in Moscow?

- We filmed for two weeks. I just walked around Moscow, shot everywhere. Alex Webb from the USA and Mark Power from the UK (the other two photographers who participated in the project) Are very talented and interesting photographers. They followed their "tracks", and I followed my own.

- Can you tell more about the "tracks" you followed?

- I went to the most basic places and found something new there - the Red Square, the Izmailovsky Vernissage, where they sell antiques.

- What's so experimental about this exhibition?

- Usually, no one is allowed to visit exhibition before the opening day, but people were able to come here for two weeks, watch how we work.

- Do you visit Moscow often?

- Yes. I have an apartment here. I also have a car, but lately I stopped driving, because transport has become so much better - cheap taxi, WiFi in the metro, which is very important. Unfortunately, neither in Paris nor London have things like that. Moscow is changing. Here, they care about the new generation, about the generation of smartphones.

- You took photos in many cities, which city would you call the most photogenic?

- Photogenic cities are the hardest to work it. Venice is very beautiful, but it's impossible to take photos there. It's just too beautiful. It's a huge flaw. Photos have other values, they should be more mysterious.

- 10 years ago you held "With Love About Baku" exhibition. Can you tell us about it?

- This exhibition was held in the "Manege" Central Exhibition Hall in 2009. We did it together with the "Baku" magazine, and charming Leyla Aliyeva was this project's curator. Baku is a very beautiful city that is changing all the time. 10 years ago, there was a passion for innovation. I was in Baku in my youth. It's an old city. Now it's so modern - new buildings, new relations, new space, everything is clean. It's one of the most beautiful cities of the former Soviet Union.

Then we did an exhibition in London, when Leyla Aliyeva studied there. Now I am waiting for invitation to Baku, to once again take photos there.

- What did you work on in Baku in spring of 2009?

- Interiors, agglomerations with excavations, richness of the dinner table, new perspectives, fountains. It sounds a bit touristy, but I actually tried to take original photos. My task was to take photos that no one did.

- What is your impression of Baku?

- Wonderful architecture, cuisine, people there are amazing. Most importantly, the city is constantly changing. I have friends there, great photographers. We recently met with them in Tbilisi, and they said that Baku continues to change.

- Does Baku have its own school of photographers?

- It does. Just like Tbilisi. This year I held a master class in Tbilisi. I also really enjoy visiting this city. I often come to Tbilisi, meet with friends. I remember taking photos of Georgian ceramics there some time ago, how students work at the ceramics academy. I met with Sergey Paradzhanov, with many other artists. I knew artist Nikolai Ignatov.

- In 1979, at the invitation of Andrey Tarkovsky, you documented shootings of "Stalker". Did you enjoy working with Tarkovsky?

- For me, he's not interesting because I worked with him, he's interesting because of his masterpieces. I love his films very much, I was lucky to be able to work with Tarkovsky, to take photos when he worked. I was lucky to take photos of him. I remember how we walked with him early in the morning on the Lenin Hills, now they are called Vorobyovy Hills. Tarkovsky is a unique person, one of the most talented people I knew. He always talked about important things. But he didn't entertain, he made people think.