This drawing relates to his project “Basement”, Van Lieshout was invited by Kaspar Koenig to participate in Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg in 2014. Van Lieshout was commissioned to make a new work in St. Petersberg and he decided to do a project at The Hermitage. Van Lieshout spent 9 weeks in the catacombs of the Hermitage where app. 90 cats are living. Van Lieshout's "Basement" reflects on the social-political aspects of museum life and Russian history in seemingly contradictory ways, by means of both the ridiculous and deeper historical references.
"The Hermitage Winter Palaces's first cats were brought in during the reign of Empress Elizabeth, who was annoyed by the number of mice and rats in the residence- a constant and important problem. Until the October Revolution of 1917, the Hermitage cats were looked after by special servants because it was considered to be the czar's will and were even granted a monthly food allowance from the empire's treasury. In the Soviet period, state finances changed and suddenly there were no more resources available for the Hermitage "guards". The cats had to be fed and cared for by volunteers. All of the Hermitage cats perished during the siege of Leningrad in World War II, but two railway cars of new cats arrived in Leningrad after the war's end. Today, to be a Hermitage cat is to hold a social position with all the corresponding consequences." Text from: Manifesta 10 catalogue, 2014