In the Heart

I decided to look at the exhibition place that is claimed to be “commercially most successful”[1]. “Triumph” gallery was once opened with Damien Hirst work for private view and amongst others exhibited such famous artists like Chapman brothers, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, AES+F, Vinogradov & Dubosarsky etc. My aim was to analyze interior created in a historical place next to the Red Square and how do they deal with stands for objects showcased. Besides, I had a hope that current exhibition would be interesting as the artists are called “Recycle” which is the topic I am constantly concerned about.

This is what I saw:

In the rationale to this project I read that young pop-artists reflect on our ill society where cartoon characters are perceived almost as the saints. As for me that is pretty straight-forward metaphor and not such a horrible issue comparing to what happens today in the real world. On the other hand, it might be exactly the reason to put cartoons into gallery: people are too distracted by pop-culture, overly entertained and thus ignore the crime ouside. Anyway, judging arts was not my plan at this time.

Speaking about stands, I was lucky to see several of them in this place. I think those stands that merge with the background (black box on the black floor) are the most neutral and allow concentrate on the object itself.

Only it is not clear to me why do they need stands at all. Objects are big and heavy so no one would miss them or occasionally ruin. Another function could be room for labels, but again the boxes are too low and I had to sit down or bend over to read the text. In the image above there’s an object “Bender” with steps. I suspect people could try and climb on it so the stand here is to prevent climbing, but the wheels and overall shape look not very considered. The funny fact is that on the website of the gallery they have announcing images[2] of this objects without any stands. It looks much more convenient to me.


In the gallery there was administration girl Marina who politely agreed to answer my questions. She said this was the first time they painted walls after artists’ request. Normally they have them white. Another important note is that the owners never hired professional designers to develop interior or the stands. They do everything by themselves. I read biographies of the two businessmen to find out that one of them is art-collector who also found club-gallery in Rublevka, and the other made his capital by selling antiques. I suppose, saving money is not the issue here which leads me to a conclusion they simply trust their personal tastes and skills. Now let me finally switch to analyzing the space.

I loved the way they left wide window-sills and arranged them for sitting. Although, sitting is not an obvious option, for instance, I used them to store clothes while packing-up and I suppose other visitors can also interpret these surfaces as they wish.
As for the rest area, I found most of the decisions doubtfully successful. For example, placing office room right at the exhibition hall really distracts from exhibition itself. You can see people working, answering phone, some mess on the shelves and boring office furniture. Really disappointing view.

In the corner across the hall there is a cloakroom with a narrow door and clumsy table instead of proper barrier for the staff. It’s a very tiny room and I can imagine people waiting in long queues behind the door when some important artist is showcased in winter time.

The mirror in the cloakroom is partly covered with the door leaf neighbouring with a cupboard that supposedly came here from office room across the hall.

It would be important to mention proportions of this cloakroom comparing to the WC downstairs. Unfortunately, I didn’t make pictures, but the toilet room is pretty huge with wide hall, several mirrors and no inappropriate extras. I would tolerate such choice if this was a pub where people naturally need large toilets, but in a gallery?
Finally, the staircase. I like the way it looks, restraint colours and a nice lightplay allowed by the gaps. They even used the space under stairs for projections and provided surface to sit on. The only trouble, I don’t want anybody's wet shoes to drip on me.

If I were to propose improvements to this place, I would suggest the following changes.
Firstly, I would swap positions for current office area and the cloak room. Moreover, the cloakroom should open immediately into the entrance hall and be closed (with a wall) from the exhibition hall side. Secondly, I feel the need to draw a plan for it.


To conclude, I should say that all the little troubles mentioned above are not a crime of course. Public can still visit the place, observe exclusive arts and be safe. Only for some reason I can’t let go the feeling those imperfections embarrasse the whole ritual of visiting an art-gallery in the very heart of Moscow. There’s so much work for a designer in this city!


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[1] http://www.kommersant.ru/Doc/1585364


[2] http://www.triumph-gallery.ru/events/chast-momenta.html


Gallery visit report
by Alexandra Zyuzina.