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The Fifth Dimension of the Bad Apartment
Bulgakov Museum
2010
2010
Winner of the Changing Museum in a Changing World Grant Competition (2010), Socially-Oriented Projects Category
The project aimed to create a series of sound installations within the museum space that would allow visitors who are blind or have low vision to explore the museum not only through touch (all exhibits are tactile) but also through sound. At the same time, the newly developed audio and musical environment filled the museum with a layer of meaning and imagery that traditional literary museum displays could not convey—yet which many of Bulgakov’s admirers had long sought to experience in this cult space since the 1980s.
This was especially significant for the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum, a space that functions simultaneously as a literary and historical site, a 1920s communal apartment, a former dormitory of the Higher Women’s Courses, and the mythical Bad Apartment from The Master and Margarita.
"Those familiar with the fifth dimension will find it no trouble at all to stretch the apartment to the desired limits. In fact, Madam, to limits you can’t even begin to imagine."
(Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita)
Sounds, voices, music, and ambient noise—so central to Bulgakov’s literature—became the museum’s fifth dimension. The idea attracted interest from composers and sound artists working in the field of experimental audio.
The project included two main components:
The museum was equipped with all necessary tools for visitors with visual impairments, including tactile guides and navigation aids.
The project was carried out with the involvement of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Studio for Electroacoustic Music and Center for Contemporary Music), the virtual encyclopedia of Russian phonograph records Russian-records.com, and with the support of the Russian State Library for the Blind and the All-Russian Association of the Blind.
The project aimed to create a series of sound installations within the museum space that would allow visitors who are blind or have low vision to explore the museum not only through touch (all exhibits are tactile) but also through sound. At the same time, the newly developed audio and musical environment filled the museum with a layer of meaning and imagery that traditional literary museum displays could not convey—yet which many of Bulgakov’s admirers had long sought to experience in this cult space since the 1980s.
This was especially significant for the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum, a space that functions simultaneously as a literary and historical site, a 1920s communal apartment, a former dormitory of the Higher Women’s Courses, and the mythical Bad Apartment from The Master and Margarita.
"Those familiar with the fifth dimension will find it no trouble at all to stretch the apartment to the desired limits. In fact, Madam, to limits you can’t even begin to imagine."
(Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita)
Sounds, voices, music, and ambient noise—so central to Bulgakov’s literature—became the museum’s fifth dimension. The idea attracted interest from composers and sound artists working in the field of experimental audio.
The project included two main components:
- An ambient composition (1−1.5 hours long), designed to fill the entire museum, was created by composer Vladimir Kallistov, who is blind, along with sound artists Oleg Makarov and Anton Yakhontov (Patrick K.H.). It was intended for use during guided tours for both visually impaired and sighted visitors.
- Targeted sound installations, placed in specific exhibition zones (such as the communal kitchen, living room, dormitory, Mikhail Bulgakov’s room, and others), created localized musical environments and were designed for independent exploration of the space.
The museum was equipped with all necessary tools for visitors with visual impairments, including tactile guides and navigation aids.
The project was carried out with the involvement of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Studio for Electroacoustic Music and Center for Contemporary Music), the virtual encyclopedia of Russian phonograph records Russian-records.com, and with the support of the Russian State Library for the Blind and the All-Russian Association of the Blind.
Curator
Aleksandra Selivanova
Producer
Aleksandra Kikhai
Composers
Vladimir Kallistov
Oleg Makarov
Patrick K.H.
Music archive research
Alexey Petukhov
Aleksandra Selivanova
Producer
Aleksandra Kikhai
Composers
Vladimir Kallistov
Oleg Makarov
Patrick K.H.
Music archive research
Alexey Petukhov
