Pawel Althamer came to Moscow with his 'Invisible Hand' project.During several days Pawel and his students worked as yardmen on the streets of Moscow. We spent one day with Pawel and made a photo-report. Here it is:
It was almost impossible to tell them from the real yardmen
On 5 September 2011 from 12:00 to 14:00 at Pekin Hotel Moscow Museum of Modern Art will hold a press conference to announce the opening of the “Impossible Community” exhibition. The press-conference will be followed by the presentation of Vadim Fishkin’s project in the framework of the “Impossible Community”. The press conference will be held at the Pekin Hotel conference hall on the 6th floor. Speakers include Vasili Tsereteli, the Executive Director of Moscow Museum of Modern Art; Viktor Misiano, the project’s curator; the ESCAPE Program artists, and partners of the project. The presentation of Vadim Fishkin’s project will be held on the 13th floor of the Pekin hotel, inside the famous clock tower. Pekin hotel, a heritage landmark built by the architect D.Chechulin, has become a part of the “Lighthouse” installation by Vadim Fishkin. Throughout the exhibition period the tower, like a lighthouse, will be pulsating with red light synchronized with the pulse beats of the artist. Prior accreditation is necessary. Please send your applications to pr@mmoma.ru
Japanese-German artist Shimambuku wanted to travel to Moscow long time ago. After coming here the last year, the street vendors who sit right on the sidewalk don’t surprise him anymore. Moreover, they even inspired him to make a project for the Impossible Community. On the 6th of July the artist decided to explore the streets of Moscow to find these “archaic businessmen” that amazed him so much. This time it wasn’t so easy to find them, but then Shimambuku finally met the main character of his project – a man was sitting on the asphalt and in front of himthere was a 1.5-meter long piece of cardboardwith some goods on it: old boots, a big and bulky calculator from the last century, books of absolutely different genres and other things whose meaning sometimes was totally incomprehensible. When the artist asked the seller about the price of the whole collection, he answered: “One hundred rubles”. Absolutely dumbfounded Shimambuku paid 1000 and asked what this man was going to sell tomorrow. “I still have a lot of things to sell”, - the street vendor reassured him. “Even after selling out everything, he didn’t go away. He continued to sit on the ground. I think the price and the amount of the goods that he sells are not so important for him – he just enjoys sitting on the street. Obviously he didn’t want to go home”, - the artist said. – “When I was in Moscow the last time I saw even more men like this. I guess the police get rid of the street vendors. So it’s possible that I succeeded to engrave one of the last representatives. Who knows, maybe when I come back the next time I won’t find anyone. In this case everything that I bought and filmed that day will be the evidence of this time period”
Italian artist Alberto Garutti visited Moscow during his preparation for the Impossible Community project. Garutti’s work will connect two remote parts of the city – the Center of Family Planning and Reproduction on the Sevastopolsky Avenue and the Patriarshy Bridge. Everytime a child is born in this Center, the most beautiful bridge of Moscow will be illuminated with lights. For the organization of this project the artist visited not only the Patriarshy Bridge, but also the Center of Family Planning itself where he aroused great interest in the doctors and future mothers.
