“While Sabetta’s Construction Is Being Completed”: Practices of Spontaneous Museumification in the Landscape of Revitalization of the Tura River Waterfront in Tyumen

Abstract

The article discusses the spontaneous museumification of the Tura river waterfront (Tyumen, Russia). The depression of the Tyumen river port, which followed after changes in the region’s transportation system in the 1990—2000s, and subsequent municipal revitalization of the waterfront (after 2008) resulted in practices whereby the social actors sharing the area would intend to memorialize the water- front history. We consider these practices, such as the launching of private museums, both real and virtual, as a spontaneous reaction of self-conscious citizens to the municipal development projects that rapidly alter the familiar landscape of streets and neighborhoods. We examine a number of practices aimed not only at conserving historical artefacts and buildings, but also at integrating them into the network of other museums that operate in collaboration with each other, as well as with the urban program of waterfront development, forming a special cultural space.