Today, September 22, the State Tretyakov Gallery on the Crimean shaft (Halls 80-82) held the opening of the exhibition "Do not toy !?».

What happened, and what happens to the toy as the material of contemporary art, and how to change identity "plays" of the artist - are the main issues of the exhibition is not a toy!? "prepared by the staff of the newest trends of the Tretyakov Gallery in the Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.

From the era dada and surrealism, toy becomes one of the most accessible and hazardous materials at the same time modern art that can bring down any cultural hierarchy. Throughout the twentieth century artists invariably turn to toys in an effort to go beyond the established boundaries of "serious", "adult" art has lost its game nature. Production of paintings and sculptures in artistic practice merges with the manipulation of "ready" items from the Children's World "- with dolls, stuffed animals, toy soldiers, slot machines and other toys for both industrial and artisanal production. This situation, many psychologists tend to think of as infantile regression - a return to the child's condition. However, any such return would inevitably lead to the most serious results and consequences.

The exhibition brings together works by over fifty authors of Russia, who at various times using a child's toy as a material for the creation of works of art - assemblage, facilities, installations and performances. Organizers were not given special assignments to artists, accustomed to modern curatorial practice, and selected works, already established as a matter of the exhibition environment. A number of works which will be shown at the exhibition, viewers will see Russia for the first time.

The aim of the project - to trace the history of toys in the Russian art in the period from 1930 to the present time: from the "first generation" of toys, created by Russian avant-garde, to contemporary interactive installations.

There are seven sections of the exhibition will open toy as a prototype for future works of art (section "Children's Vanguard" will provide a unique, never before exhibited models of toys, A. Gesner 1930), as a destructive element, blows up picture plane (section "assemblages"), as a fetish and an element of the altar of forms (see "Magical objects and altars) as a stand-alone" abdzhekt, staying on the edge of the living and nonliving (section "manipulated"), as a matter of conceptual and collectible reproduction (section "Toy Museum") and, finally, as a full actor, able to replace not only a work of art, but also of the spectator (section "Museums - Toys »).

Participants: Pavel Aksenov, Tatiana Antoshina , Sergei Anufriev , Vladimir Arkhipov, Farid Bogdalov , Anatol Brusilovsky , Herman Vinogradov , Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarskii , Sergei Volokhov , Sergei Vorontsov, Rimma and Valery Valery Gerlovin , Elena Elagina and Igor Makarevich , Anna Ermolaeva, Konstantin Zvezdochetov ,« Inspection Medical Hermeneutics », Maria Konstantinova , George Kizevalter , "Collective Action", Nikolay Kozlov, Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid , Irina Korina, Alexei Kostroma , Andrew Kuz'kin, Rostislav Lebedev , Boris Matrosov , Diana Machulina, Vyacheslav Mizin, Liza Morozova, Igor Mukhin, Irina Nakhova , Arkady Nasonov, Boris Orlov , George Ostretsov, Nicholas Panitkov, Xenia Peretrukhina, PMP, Larissa Rezun-Zvezdochetova , Cyril Rubtsov, Alexander Sigutin , Victor Skersis, Konstantin Skotnikov, Leonid Juice , Natalia Smolyan, Vitas Stasyunas, Rostan Tavasiev , Vera Klebnikov, Dmitry Tsvetkov, Maria Chuikova, Yuri Shabelnikov , Kirill Shamanov ml., Igor Shelkovskiy , Kirill Shuvalov, Sergei Shutov , Barbara Eliask.

The problems that affect the exhibition proved to be relevant not only for the audience of contemporary art, but also for specialists in the field of education and training, teachers, sociologists, psychologists, and culture experts. To discuss the theme "toy in the context of modern culture" on Oct. 14 will hold a round table.

curatorial team prepared for the exhibition program of lectures, performances, which will be held on Sundays at 16 o'clock, in the conference hall.

The exhibition published an illustrated catalog, prepared with the support of Teaching and Research Center for the Study of Russian culture of the XX century. AG Tischler at RSUH.

The exhibition is open to the public from September 23 to November 8, 2009.

Source : Press release of the State Tretyakov Gallery