UNDERGROUND
PRIVATIZATION

UNDERGROUND 
SUBBOTNIK

THE PEOPLE'S LOVE OF "ART FOR THE PEOPLE"

15 objects at The "Revolution Square" station were privatized. Moscow 1990

"Subbotnik"  the volunteer work with privatized objects.
Moscow 1992

"The Kiss". From the collection of the Weismann Art Museum, Minneapolis, USA. 1991

"Love to a Border Guard" From the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago.

THE UNDERGROUND WEDDING

Preparations for the wedding took a long time- over a year. The difficulty was the question: "how to unite this loving couple?" and the board of directors of the Metropolitan Museum were asked for their input. There were two possibilities. The first was to make Vasiliy alive (like Pigmalion in Greece). The second was to make Irina a sculpture, that is, to make her bronze. We chose the second variant.
At last, the long awaited moment came. Thanks to the directors of the Moscow Subway and Ostankino
TV, the ceremony was made official. The bride was in a special dress, her face, hands and clothes all covered with bronze. There were press correspondents, champagne, signing of documents, a wedding party at the Bride's house, presents and toasts. And thus it was at last accomplished -- the past and present flowed together as one.

THE UNDERGROUND BEAUTY CONTEST,  MISS 38

After the wedding, life resumed to its normal processes for the underground objects.
In March 1993, however, in honor of International Women's day, the board of directors of the Metropolitan Museum together with the Moscow bureau of "Stern" magazine -- its unusual director K. Gloger and excellent photographer H.U. Burkard -- staged the performance: "Beauty Contest, Miss 38" in the "Revolution Square" metro station which accommodates six statues of women and girls of the 1930's. From them three winners were chosen: "Miss 38" was the first; "Miss Photo-Model" was the second; and "Miss Passengers' Sympathies" was the third.
The passengers of that difficult time, naturally, chose the women-worker with the chicken and rooster and an apron full of something tasty.
The committee of 10, voted for "Miss 38" by tossing secret ballots (as it seemed to them) into an urn. However, as would have been appropriate in the epoch we are dealing with, the choice of "Miss 38" was handed down from above. She had to be the woman of proven ability with the rifle and badge saying "Voroshilovskyi Rifleman". The committee was then left to choose "Miss Photo-Model". She turned out to be the almost naked girl-sportsman with a disk in her hand. The contest was conducted in a businesslike and serious atmosphere.

Sponsored by "Stern" Magazine.