Tatyana Ivanovna, mother of rock musician Mikhail “Gorshka” Gorsheneva (1973-2013), stood at the opening of the Punk Culture exhibition, a moment that tied a personal memory to a larger cultural conversation. The event, titled The King and the Clown, drew attention to how childhood imagination can shape a musician’s life and artistic path, a theme that resonated through Tatyana’s recollections of her son.
According to Gorsheneva, his son dreamed intensely as a child and translated those dreams onto paper, filling pages with stories and drawings that hinted at a richer inner world. His mother recalls a boy who wandered through his own fantasies with a fearless curiosity, turning daydreams into something tangible and shareable with others. This creative impulse, she notes, was not merely play but a window into the future artistry that would mark his career.
“He lived in a fantasy,” she reflects. “When a child lies, the doctor’s voice in the old days suggested that the child is simply dreaming. So do not scold children for lying; they are dreaming.” This unusual stance, shared by the musician’s mother, frames mischief and imagination as inseparable from the making of art, rather than something to curb. It suggests a tolerance for storytelling and imagination that could be misunderstood as misbehavior but might also be the seed of originality.
Gorshenev’s creative life, however, was not without risk or intensity. His mother acknowledges that every hobby he pursued carried a seriousness that sometimes carried injury. The stories of his games were vivid and immersive, and they often blurred the line between play and real experience. It is in these moments that his family’s concerns intertwined with pride, as they witnessed a child fully inhabiting his world, even when the boundaries between pretend and real danger felt dangerously thin.
“My family watched him while he played war games; he fought as if the conflict were real,” Tatyana shares. She herself endured experiences like boxing, where an elbow found a way to claim its own memory, and moments when play turned chaotic enough to leave a mark. Her recollections paint a portrait of a household where imagination and risk coexisted, shaping a young artist who would later translate those very traits into stage presence and musical storytelling. The memory of a canoe-like accident turned pneumonia is a vivid reminder that the line between imagination and consequence can be thin—and that growing up in a creative household often means living with those risks side by side with the joys of discovery.
In Moscow this spring, the Punk Culture exhibition—engineered in collaboration with Planet9 bureau, Plus Studio, and Yandex Afisha—made a bold impression, drawing more than 110,000 visitors. The event, staged under the banner of The King and the Clown, spotlighted how punk sensibilities intersect with personal history and regional art scenes. The exhibition’s reach extended beyond Moscow, inviting a St. Petersburg audience to explore a version that examined parallel threads of local culture and the broader punk movement. Critics and curators alike highlighted the significance of these connections, noting how such showcases encourage audiences to engage with the raw energy, rebellious spirit, and DIY ethos that define punk culture. [Citation: Planet9 bureau, Plus Studio, Yandex Afisha] The dialogue surrounding the show encourages visitors to consider how personal narratives intersect with social and historical contexts to illuminate the era’s artistic currents. In this way, the Moscow edition serves as a bridge—linking intimate memories of a single musician with a wider cultural map that encompasses both youth rebellion and creative resilience.
Earlier, in the Peter and Paul Fortress, a Festival titled Wonder of the World opened, continuing a tradition of bold, immersive cultural experiences. This broader program of exhibitions and festivals paints a picture of a city engaged in a dynamic exchange between performance, memory, and public history—an environment that shapes audiences as much as the artworks themselves. The shared thread across these events is a willingness to probe how childhood fantasies, family memory, and regional artistic movements contribute to the making of figures who leave a lasting mark on the cultural landscape. The narrative surrounding Gorshenev’s life demonstrates how personal history can reverberate through public art, prompting audiences to reflect on the origins of creativity and the ways in which imagination can fuel lasting artistic impact.