Street Gallery of Smiles appeared in Kyiv
Action “Smile to a New Day!” gathered many Kyiv residents and city guests near the walls of Dynamo stadium in Mariyinsky Park. All who decided to join the action and make the city brighter got good mood, unusual emotions and pleasant memories. The weather forecast promised heavy rain for the whole day, but the bright sun was shining in the morning and during the day – it probably also wanted a holiday of smileys.
The main events of the action were: designing an essential element of parks and cities – benches – by contemporary artists, decoration of Mariyinsky Park with large plate-smileys, participation of the willing in the creation of their own original version of smiley for city decoration, as well as performances by street artists.
Action “Smile to a New Day!” began with hanging smileys on the trees. About 100 plate- smileys were pre-painted by the orphans and artistic hobby groups. Their works now hearten visitors of the Mariyinsky Park.
Among creators of the smileys were students of artistic school, pupils of one of the event organizers, Kostiantyn Skrytutsky, a young, yet already famous city sculptor, the author of “Hedgehog in the fog”, “Ballet dancer” and other extraordinary street sculptures in Kyiv.
During the event, one could paint big smileys. Due to the colorful partner of the action, all the willing were provided with high quality paints “Kaparol” and necessary materials. Some created usual drawings, while others — real masterpieces. Those who did not get smileys drew their paintings on the paper, later adding them to the general gallery of smileys.
An extraordinary wedding couple added even more brightness to the event. Newlyweds, dressed in the costumes of fairy tales heroes, decided to join and paint, leaving behind a wedding smiley on the street gallery of Kyiv.
Guests could also observe the work of more than 20 young painters who were painting a typical grey street object – the bench. Artists were selected at the competition of sketches, in which everyone could participate. The competition was held in advance through social networks, that is why there were professionals and amateurs, both Ukrainian and foreign artists. In particular, artists from France participated in the preparation of the Street Gallery of Smileys.
After the benches were painted, they were presented together with newly created smileys.
An outdoor concert became a bright part of the holiday. “Happy People” from the young mimicry theater “Happy People” impressed the viewers with a specially prepared outdoor performance. Unusual musical accompaniment was arranged by the band TOPORCHESTRA. They arrived to the event in an international team, comprising artists of various street genres: from musicians to clowns. The organizers prepared a surprise – an impromptu performance of artists imitating rhythmic patterns, a beat boxing band, including the student from Jamaica and singer from Georgia.
The newly created exhibits of street gallery of smileys will soon be seen at the festival “I love Kiev”, after which organizers plan to put them in some corner of the Mariyinsky Park. Smileys will be hung all over Kyiv, particularly in parks and playgrounds.
“Urban X” is not going to stop at the achieved: within the Summer Days of Street Culture, they plan to paint concrete columns of Dynamo Stadium fencing and regularly conduct similar activities in the summer and autumn in order to maintain constantly good mood and charge everyone with positive emotions!
For all communication questions, contact Ilona Dubitska (050) 440-09-20, dubitskaya.pr@gmail.com info@urban-x.org
Additional information:
Ukrainian Youth NGO “Centre for Subcultures Initiatives “Urban X” unites the most up-to-date directions in street culture for its development and promotion in Ukraine.
We have created the “URBAN X” in 2010 to make the life in the Ukrainian cities brighter and more interesting, to be able to jointly transform the gloomy urban landscape, fill it with sounds and colors, inspiration and positive mood.
For the first time, in one project, we have gathered the best representatives of street sports and contemporary street art, like graffiti, skateboarding, BMX, Parkour, beat boxing, hip-hop and others.
Our group in social networks:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=364331541672
http://vkontakte.ru/club16089249
Action “Smile to a New Day” is part of the “Days of Street Culture” Project implemented by the Youth NGO “Sport Alliance of Youth”, with the support of the Anti-crisis Humanitarian Program of the International Renaissance Foundation.
