"Contours of Culture" art project launched in Moscow

"Contours of Culture" art project was launched in Moscow. It was organised by the Moscow Production Centre.

Professional artists will paint walls in libraries and other public centres in the capital. There are 26 institutions participating in the programme. Art integration will increase the social and cultural significance of street art.

“There is always a need to have locations, to be heard, to be seen. So in our case, in our project, it is an opportunity for cultural public organisations to receive a kind of modernisation at the expense of art and thus, I think, take a very serious step towards development," said Yulia Yurchenko, art director of the Moscow Production Centre and curator of the project.

The project is planned in several stages - collection of applications, selection of finalists by an expert jury, announcement of the winners and implementation in public spaces. The competition is conducted in two directions. Street art is wall paintings in interiors and public art is freestanding objects.

"Through this project, artists will become a part of the space and will remain in that context. It is very important to connect people who live near cultural institutions to somehow invite them back into arts again," said Maks Gashko-Dankov, artist and curator.

The idea for the project came literally on the walls at the Moscow Production Centre. Last year, the "Art Inwards" project was launched in which an ordinary office was transformed beyond recognition through the visual arts.

This year, the art initiative was continued on a city-wide scale. The experts selected twenty-six sketches for interior murals and nine for art objects. Artists from 55 Russian cities sent their work in. Implementation of projects at the sites of the capital will begin in June.