2010 | Interactive happening
Exhibition: Ural Childhood — Iron Toys
Parallel Programme, 1st Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art
Venue: PoLe Gallery, Yekaterinburg, Russia
Date of action: 10 September 2010
Group: Kazimir Malevich’s Malers’ Brigade
The Exhibition
Ural Childhood — Iron Toys explored childhood memories shaped by the industrial environment of the Urals, where metal, factories and industrial landscapes were part of everyday life.
Within the exhibition, each member of the Brigade presented an “iron toy” of their own, together with instructions for making or playing with it and memories associated with it. The works included paintings, objects and other forms of recollection.
The Junior Group of Kazimir Malevich’s Malers’ Brigade presented Scrap Metal Yard — an interactive game built around collecting metal scrap.
Scrap Metal Yard
The action began with a familiar industrial command: “Everything unnecessary — to the scrap!”
Visitors were invited to collect pieces of metal. The collected objects were then weighed, and the most active participants were honoured.
What began as a simple collection of scrap became a shared game. Visitors searched, collected, weighed and competed, entering the rules of a temporary situation created by the Brigade.
An everyday industrial procedure became a playful social event.
Exhibition Context
Ural Childhood — Iron Toys was curated by Vera Lebedeva, artistic director of PoLe Gallery, and presented as part of the parallel programme of the 1st Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art.
The project brought together paintings, objects, video, a happening and a blacksmithing workshop, exploring childhood memories shaped by the industrial environment of the Urals.
For the Brigade, this context became a space for remembering, inventing and playing.