We are glad to share with you one of our latest discoveries, the amazing Sharmanka Kinetic Gallery.
Based in Glasgow since 1996, Sharmanka Kinetic Gallery (Russian for Barrel-Organ) was originally founded by sculptor-mechanic Eduard Bersudsky (winner of the Creative Scotland Award in 2005) and theatre director Tatyana Jakovskaya in St. Petersburg (Russia) in 1989.
Eduard Bersudsky studied to be an engineer and then worked as lorry driver, naval skipper or even night watchman. Being a gifted sculptor unsatisfied with static form, he wanted his scultptures to move. To be an artist could be dangerous in communist Russia, thus he created his first ‘kinemat’ in his own house in St. Petersburg back in 1967. Rather than working almost exclusively with wood, his ‘kinemat’s became structured around recycled and salvaged metal objects.
Mechanical apparatus, spooky lights, evocative sounds. Eerie stories narrated by the gear wheels of mute automata. A mechanical ballet that deals with the lights and shadows of the human life.
Bizarre, hilarious, ghoulish, unmissable.
Sunday Times
Sharmanka Kinetic Gallery has been exhibited in several museums and galleries, such as Eretz Israel Museum (Tel-Aviv), Edinburgh Royal Museum, London Theatre Museum, Manchester City Art Gallery, Museum Van Speelklok tot Pierement (Utrecht), science and technology Museums in Granada, Jerusalem, Switzerland and Copenhagen, etc. Commissions include, among others, the ‘Millennium Clock Tower‘ for Edinburgh Royal Museum (in cooperation with Tim Stead and others), ‘The Flight’ for Bloomfield Science Museum, Jerusalem, ‘St.Mungo-at-the-Tron’ in Glasgow and ‘World of Artist’ for Storm P. Museum in Copenhagen.
The following video provides us with a sneak peek of this captivating spectacle.
Sharmanka Promo from Sharmanka on Vimeo.
Official website: www.sharmanka.com