Beavers, bronze moose and Gagarin made of hexagons: Moscow's most unusual art objects

Last year, a plenty of unique art objects appeared in parks, public gardens and pedestrian areas. They were mounted during the landscaping under My District program. Each sculpture or installation, a unique symbol of the area, tells the story of a particular place.

You can see art objects on 26–28 March at VDNKh, at the exhibition City: Details 2020. Guests can both visit the display and take part in the business program. Specialists will tell how to turn a historical place into a unique art object the residents will be proud of.

mos.ru tells about the most attractive installations that appeared in Moscow last year.

Trendy Moscow bears

Bears have always been the symbols of the two neighbouring districts, Yuzhnoye and Severnoye Medvedkovo. So, it is not surprising to see sculptures of these animals here.

You will find a two-metre snow-white bear made of architectural concrete next to the playground in Severnaya Medveditsa public garden. The trendy polygonal shape makes the sculpture look like origami or a multifaceted gem. District residents and guests like the art object very much, with a plenty of photos in social media speaking for it.

An unusual purple bear sitting on the ground in Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo is made in the same polygonal technique. The authors were inspired by the district's coat of arms. Its heraldic description says: 'A purple bear with silver eyes and teeth walking in a golden field under a dark-red stripe with a golden sun on (faceless)'.

Severnoye and Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo are not the only area to encounter bears. There is another one on Tsvetnoi Boulevard, also made of polygons painted indigo. This art object is a smaller copy of a 15 m high sculpture located in Denver (the United States).

Bears appeal to Moscow citizens, so sculptures of these animals appeared in many city locations. Most art objects are temporary — for example, three small nacreous bears, looking very much the same as their counterpart from Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo, were sitting next the Moscow Pioneers Palace on Vorobyovy Gory.

In Gorky Park, bear-shaped light installations rejoiced visitors all winter long. Last season, Rostokino residents admired them. A formidable brown predator made of COR-TEN steel by the Hungarian sculptor Gábor Miklós has settled next to the western entrance to Vorobyovy Gory.

Another bear ppeared in Zamoskvorechye, right in the residential complex courtyard, 800 m from the Kremlin. The author of the art object is the bold sculptor Andrei Bartenev.

A bronze moose and a family of beavers

A moose is a symbol of Losinoostrovsky district. There is a large bronze sculpture of this wild animal in Torfyanka Park, at the entrance to the central alley. It is full-size, with a pedestal decorated with moss, and its foot covered with splinters.

Bibirevo’s coat of arms features a yellow beaver. The Light Park was laid out last year and boasts a whole family of the animals. You will find bronze sculptures of a mother beaver and her three cubs next to the light installations. A local belief says you should rub the beavers’ noses and make a wish. Their shiny faces show that it works.

Gagarin's portrait and a plane on the playground

Apart from amazing sculptures, Moscow has other attractive art objects. The building of a heat transfer station on Zvyozdny Boulevard has become a work of art. It has now an installation with a portrait of Yuri Gagarin, assembled from some thousands of hexagonal elements. There is also a panel depicting Apollo-Soyuz-19 spacecraft’s link-up.

One of Lianozovo’s main attractions is its pedestrianised street. After the landscaping, it has snow-white entrance arches stylised as vintage summer houses once occupying this place. Installations are especially beautiful at night with the lighting switches on to render art objects a futuristic look.

Khodynskoye Pole Park (Khoroshyovsky district) was laid out on the site of the former airfield. Now it is a landscaped green area with a unique big playground covering 2,400 sq m,  centred around a 50 m long Il-18 aircraft. Once run by adults, it is a children's toy today.

Inflatable green elephant and red glasses on the building

Last spring, a 23 m inflatable green elephant settled in Kuzminki Park. Artist Mikhail Tsaturyan's art object raises awareness of the extinction of elephants in Africa and Asia. After being presented in Moscow, the installation went to Nevada for the Burning Man festival.

Zaryadye Park opened a gastronomic centre offering foods from various regions of Russia. The centre welcomes visitors with an installation featuring a 2 m spoon and a 5 m meat grinder with a mince of vine-shaped ferns coming out.

VDNKh's Crafts Park has a swing shaped as a huge chair. Anyone is free to enjoy it. There is another object of unusual size — red glasses on the façade of the Business Centre in the area of Vernadskogo Prospekt.

Chermyanka Park in Otradnoye boasts art objects by Nikolai Polissky, the author of Nikola-Lenivets art space. These are wooden poles sticking out of the ground, with wicker pipes crawling up.

Sweethearts Alley appeared in Nekrasovka last year, with a heart-shaped arch and big letters making up 'любовь' (love) word mounted above.