WALL ELEMENTS

This broad-based study of Russian street art took up 4,500 square metres of exhibition space at Manege, as well as the square by the exhibition hall’s western facade. The exhibition featured art collectives and individual artists from 17 Russian cities, with each one provided the opportunity to create a new work at the confluence of the street and exhibition scenes.

To enter the exhibition, visitors first walked through a tunnel called Kaliningrad to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. This installation united the curatorial and artistic visions of Alex Partola – the curator of Wall Elements.

Large-scale artworks depicting a life-size Moscow metro tunnel were created on the streets of the two cities themselves. These were then projected onto the tunnel.

A series of 39 photographs were placed along the tunnel walls. Each one was taken in the course of research for Wall Elements, and show derelict factories, bridges, radio towers, industrial zones, trains, residential tower blocks, and city centres – there’s a place for graffiti everywhere.

This series of black-and-white, grainy documentary images captured on film often contained blurred figures and large details caught in the flash.

Much of the work on the ground floor of Manege was created on-location especially for the exhibition by artists living in St Petersburg. Visitors were able to view classical graffiti art by figures such as Aroe, Super and Dusto, who made use of abstract elements and lettering.

Turbo’s work depicts the everyday life of a street artist through sketches on canvases. Elsewhere, Sasha Sam, Blot, Muluk presented large-scale works on the walls, with canvases forming part of the artwork.

The Oskolki collective presented an installation resembling an open travel bag containing a map of so-called “colour offences” – works created on the street during the research process. Among the other works displayed on the ground floor were sculptures, paintings, graphics and video art by representatives of street culture from all over Russia.

Two artworks by 0331C and GRISHA were displayed in front of the central staircase. These formed part of a project called Soot, which represented a move away from traditional graffiti motifs, and towards age-old techniques of drawing using fire and etching with soot. Visitors also had the opportunity to express their thoughts on huge plywood walls covered in soot. As they drew on the walls using their fingers, or just scratched the surface, messages left by the artists would reveal themselves.
«Soot»

Another of the sculptures on display was a piece by Dmitry Aske – a visionary of the Russian street wave and one of the most successful artists to come out of Moscow. The work was dedicated to the struggle against walls, both in a literal and metaphorical sense. On the one hand, this referred to internally constructed barriers or stereotypes imposed from outside, which can be overcome without engaging in actual conflict. On the other hand, the work was dedicated to street artists who struggle to express themselves in the urban environment.

On the other hand, the work was dedicated to street artists who struggle to express themselves in the urban environment.

Alexander Zhunev created a work called Manus Manum Lavat, employing a unique technique of combining tape and metal fencing to create pixelated hands. Two canvases were hung in such a way that when the hands were rocked, they began to interact with one another.

An installation by Nikita Stsissor was displayed at the other end of the upper floor. An old sofa, flickering television set and a neon lamp, all painted by graffiti artists, were placed on linoleum which came from the floor of the artist’s workshop. Over the course of 10 years, every guest at his workshop – including most of the people featured at the exhibition and artists from across the country – had left their mark on the linoleum.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to elaborate further on each project in the exhibition. There were 139 expositions was made. Artists: 0331C, 56, 8 rubley, A13, Aber, A.D.E.D., Adno, Akue, Aroe, Aske, Sergey Akramov, Yury Averin, Stas Bags, Blot, Chervi, Concrete Jungle, Stas Dobry, Dusto, Eloom, FrouOne, FSFE Collective, Gia, Giwe, Gold, Gred, GRISHA, Herman IX, IMA, Alexey Kio, Kirill Kto, Kvadrat, Luka, Manos, Misha Mack, Misha Most, Marat Morik, Mozgi, Muluk, Roman Muratkin, Ivan Ninety, Nomerz, Nootk, Nozh, Vadim Nuk, Oskolki, Petro, Rayans, Revansh, Ilya Robe, Rtue, Sakvo, Sam, Sasha RTS, Scissor, Alexey Shidlovsky, Stepan Shobolov, Slak, Stfnv, Super, SY, TOY, Turbo, Vedro, Vitae Viazi, Yury QZX, Zachem, Aleksandr Zhunev, Art group “Zlye”, Zoom, Zukclub. Work/Object by Zoom artist from Moscow, it represents three transformer boxes, which were installed in Neskuchnii Sad (Gorky Park, Moscow). On the front of the cubes the author has depicted “Last day of Pompeii” characters in his traditional stencil technique.

The square by Manege’s western facade was filled with 12 concrete wall panels of a type which is ubiquitous across Russia. Their distinctive square design can invariably be found fencing off construction sites and industrial areas. Artists and visitors alike were able to leave a message on them. This area opened on the first day of the exhibition – a special graffiti jam was held, featuring 16 Russian artists and collectives chosen by curator Alex Partola.