‘Everything is Becoming Media’: HSE University Experts Speak at Russian Creative Week
On July 7–10, Gorky Park hosted Russian Creative Week, a major event in the sector of economics linked to intellectual activity. Participants and guests of the event discussed the main tasks and issues in developing a strategy for a national creative product, and experts from HSE University presented effective models for work and life in the new economic reality.
The media market: changes, challenges, and formats
Transformation affects every field in the modern environment, and media is no exception. In the session ‘What (and who) is needed in the media market’, experts discussed how to launch and promote media products in the current circumstances.
The platform was moderated by HSE University Director for Digital Media and Promotion Anna Podpryatova. She started the meeting by asking the participants about the main challenges for modern media. According to Andrey Lavrov, Director of the Brand Media Centre and Senior Director for Communications at HSE University, the biggest challenge for all media today is finding a new business model.
Andrey Lavrov
‘The old business model is dead. Total mediatisation is an irreversible process. Companies, corporations, brands and people are all becoming media,’ he said.
Andrey Lavrov noted that the media brand format is becoming more and more popular. ‘I strongly believe that media brands will develop quickly, not least because they are easy to implement on platforms, and platforms dominate the media market at the moment. They offer the possibility to create new media brands at minimal cost.’
He said that HSE University is investing in media brands instead of traditional media because the format makes it possible to speak to various audiences in various languages.
Vladimir Zmeyushenko
Vladimir Zmeyushenko, Deputy Director of the HSE University Brand Media Centre and founder of the ЛюдиPeople Group, said that media brands and corporate media are not failing like other formats. He also believes that this form of media has started to attract advertisers and that this trend will only grow.
Anna Podpryatova concluded the session by raising the issue of the lack of qualified workers, which the speakers responded to eagerly.
Anna Podpryatova
‘There are currently quite a lot of specialists on the market simply because many media projects have shut down recently. It is difficult for them to change their approaches and start working in the corporate-adjacent zone, as they need to retrain. That’s why I’m impressed by the competition at the HSE University Faculty of Communications, Media, and Design,’ said Vladimir Zmeyushenko.
Contemporary art: prices, a small gathering, and the future
One of the speakers of the session ‘Who spends and makes money in contemporary art’ was Pierre-Christian Brochet, Curator of the ‘Contemporary Art’ subject at the HSE Art and Design School. He noted that at the moment, art in Russia is significantly cheaper than in other countries: ‘I was at an auction in London organised by Simon de Pury. The only items up for bid were contemporary Russian art. One of the paintings sold for £170,000. We realised then that something unreal was happening.’ Pierre-Christian Brochet also noted that the circle of artists and collectors in Russia is small. In other countries, art is a well-developed industry that fosters serious competition: ‘This is not the case in Russia—ours is a small gathering of wonderful artists and collectors.’
Pierre-Christian Brochet
Pierre-Christian Brochet talked about how budding collectors should start out and how he himself buys paintings. ‘You don’t need large amounts of money,’ he explained. ‘Who is valued in Russia today? Whose works are in every museum and regular exhibitions? It’s 80–100 artists, and I was the first to approach 25 of them in their studios and say “I want to buy this piece”. It’s people like Vladislav Monroe, Alexey Kallima, Vlad Kurkov, Misha Most.’ He added that responsibility grows over time—a collector starts to determine who is currently important. ‘By buying works by contemporary artists, we 100% shape the art that will endure in the future, that will be future museum pieces,’ he said. ‘We create the taste, the form of contemporary art of the early 21st century. This is a big responsibility.’
Student practice: investments, benefits, and skills
During the session ‘Student practice: finding a balance between the benefit for media and values for universities and students’, the speakers discussed the usefulness of internships for students and brought up cases of successful collaboration between major companies and universities.
Rimma Pogodina
Rimma Pogodina, Head of Student Internships in Advertising and Public Relations at HSE University, outlined the ideal form of cooperation between companies and students: ‘We invest two weeks so that the students invest two weeks in us.’ Companies are ready to train students and support them at every stage, but they expect a benefit to their business in return. The speaker said that this is a mutually beneficial exchange process.
Urban transformation: business, creativity, and profits
The session ‘Creative cities and territories: practices of successful transformation’ was devoted to the preservation of cultural traditions and the creation of new clusters capable of attracting local residents—particularly young people—and improving the tourism popularity of cities and territories.
Evgeniy Kutsenko, Director of the HSE ISSEK Russian Cluster Observatory, addressed the issue of how to approach the reorganisation of urban spaces, noting that one of the goals of transformation is to have an economic effect. This is not possible without the involvement of businesses, particularly creative ones. He noted that in creative industries, the big winners receive the majority of the profits. For example, 79% of music industry profits go to 1% of performers. The situation is similar in the video game industry.
Evgeniy Kutsenko
The Russian Cluster Observatory conducted a study into brands in nine creative industries (fashion, cinema, animation, video games, advertising, PR, architecture, design, and music) in 20 indicators in 102 countries. Russia ranked 20th. ‘We have our own specialities: literature, advertising, and PR. But the gaming industry, industrial design, and art are growing stronger,’ noted Evgeniy Kutsenko.
He added that cities are key in the development of creative industries. ‘Look at where leading brands originate: 16% of music stars come from Los Angeles, 10% of famous artists come from New York, and there are four fashion capitals. We need cities like that,’ he said.