Contemporary Art at Polytechnic University: the Art Weekend press tour on the campus

23 November 2020 University life 599

The press-tour on the exhibition of art objects of the Termen Project took place at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. The exposition is held in the framework of the 2nd Art Weekend Curatorial Forum and the Open Doors Day of St. Petersburg galleries and art spaces.

Contemporary Art at Polytechnic University: the Art Weekend press tour on the campus

Such an Open Day allows the general public to get acquainted with the modern art, take part in lectures and discussions, and visit performances, exhibitions and excursions on different city platforms. Curatorial Forum events are organized by the North-West branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts with the support of St. Petersburg Foundation for Innovations.

The press-tour at Polytechnic University brought together journalists and art critics of the leading St. Petersburg and Russian media sources. The event began at the art-object “Eyes on a Chain” in the lobby of the Technopolis Polytech Research and Development Building with welcoming speeches by Maria KATTS, head of the North-West branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; Sergey SALKUTSAN, Director General of the St. Petersburg Fund for Initiatives and Deputy Head of the Directorate of the NTI Research and Development Center, and Marianna DIAKOVA, head of the SPbPU Public Relations Department.

Sergey SALKUTSAN, Director General of the St. Petersburg Fund for Initiatives and Deputy Head of the Directorate of the NTI Research and Development Center

“The participation of Polytechnic University in the project is not a coincidence; this year, the Curatorial Forum is actively working with university platforms to show and reveal the potential of the relationship between education, science and contemporary art,” explained S. Salkutsan.

The participants of the press-tour could feel this connection through the amazing harmony of the modern art object with the atmosphere of Technopolis - the main innovation and scientific center of the university. The author of the art object “Eyes on a Chain” Ekaterina SOKOLOVSKAYA told about its concept and creation technology. The work was based on the idea of transformation of memories through bodily images and active experience of one’s own body, looking at it from the inside, from the first-person perspective.

Press tour on the Polytechnic University campus

Then the press tour continued around the Polytechnic University campus, in the yard of the Mechanical Building and near the Hydro Tower. The objects of the Termen Art Project, created by artists Jan POSADSKY and Oleg SOROKO, are located at these points. The authors devoted their works to Lev Termen, a graduate of Polytechnic University, the creator of Thermenvox and “forefather” of electronic music. The art objects of the Termen Project are scattered all over the University: “Thermenvox” is in front of the Water Tower, “Tesla” is in the air duct near the Mechanical Building, and “Hands in the Hemisphere” are covering the fountain “We” near the 1st Academic Building.

AR technologies augmented reality technologies

All three objects were made using AR-technology (augmented reality technologies) - to view them, journalists needed a smartphone, on the screen of which appeared augmented graphics and the thermenvox music accompaniment.

Prepared by the Public Relations Office

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