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TOY STORY
21 October —
15 November 2015

selected works

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Project participants: Ksenia Platanova, Nina Murashkina, Nataliya Korf-Ivaniuk, Tania Malinovskaya, Anna Valieva, Elena Pronkina, Marianna Golembiovskaya, Irina Fedotova, Tatiana Rusetskaua, Olga Selishcheva, Valeria Buchuk, Oksana Solop, Nastia Gudz, Maria Dovgan, Irina Gordeeva, Dmitriy Moldovanov, Viktoria Teletien, Violetta Terliga, Yulia Polyakova, Lyudmila Zavgorodniaya, Nadin Hazan, Nikita Akopov.

Curatorial group: Julia Voloshina, Yulia Nuzhina, Tania Malinovskaya, Nina Murashkina.

During the TOY STORY exhibition the artists explore the concept of toy and its various meanings. A thing for games, a puppet in the hands of others, a symbolic model of man - these and many other issues will be considered in the project. Particular importance is given to the doll and its role in the formation of gender identity of women. Thus, the project raises the problem of rethinking the place of women in modern society. Also, the artists touch on the topic of social games and the children scenario life.

One of the main installations of the project - little boxes which symbolize the «Toy Story» of each of the authors. There is mini-life with a concentrated sound like a dream in childhood disease and it bares the most intimate.

The TOY STORY project enables each artist to show his ot her personal view, tell the story. And the audience will have the opportunity to engage into intellectual game, rethink its own story and come up with a new one according to new rules.

The "Toy Story" exhibition is a collecting image of meanings and interpretations. Stories of the artists represented in painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, video and sound art, fashion and media projects are completely different and ambiguous. Here are plea for the salvation of the subordinate person and praises dedicated to "life for fun", and touching stories about women's happiness, and social drama, and more.

At the same time the stories are demonstrated, despite the individual vision, contradictions of subject and forms mismatch do not exclude but rather complement each other. The emotional atmosphere of the exhibition provides an opportunity not only to understand but also to experience the images. And even to hear your own story "- says the artist and cultural scientist Ulyana Kurganova.

Authors about the project:

Anna Valieva: I see a strong woman who is in close contact with her body, feelings and energy, and she is ready to respond to each moment of her life vividly, without games. Freedom means that a woman feels fulfilled and satisfied with herself, feels the energy flowing through her body, and feels her relation to the life around her.

Nikita Akopov: The first doll told me to save their endangered species. Only some dolls are gifted to make dolls, but most of them are not here. I'm one of the few close to the first doll, and therefore my task is to rescue the abandoned and derelict ones. 

Nadin Hazan: She suffers, and she is silent. Doll is a perfect victim. You are victim as long as you feel like that yourself. There is no silence. Doll laughter.

Ksenia Platanova: My characters are the products of my life. I can not help doing that. I enjoy making them. I feel a connection with the character, but nevertheless I'm ready to refuse or accept the game rules. They, my dolls, know more about me than all the living, who knew me.