28.09.2020
“Engineering As
Art” Techno Art Exhibition dedicated to
the 75th anniversary of
the nuclear industry was opened in
the armory of
Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Head of Government, Minister of Culture of Nizhny Novgorod region Oleg Berkovich, Vice President for Digitalization of ASE EC JSC Olga Tolstunova, special representative of Rosatom department for interaction with regions in Privolzhsky Federal District Roman Skudnyakov, supervisor of the exhibition, Russian drawing artist Igor Gurovich, Director of Volgo-Vyatsky branch of Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts “Armory” Anna Gor.
The Techno Art Exhibition dedicated to innovations, engineering of the future and the people who create it, is a result of collaboration between the nuclear industry designers and the famous artist Igor Gurovich. The theme of the exhibition is high technology solutions that are used during the construction of nuclear power plants.
The main object of the exhibition is the techno art chronometer “Ahead of Time”. The central element of the installation is an important part of a nuclear power plant — a low-pressure steam turbine. “The main unit of an NPP is the reactor, however, the turbine is impressive due to its beauty”, said Mikhail Galov, engineer of JSC Atomenergoproekt, one of the authors of the object, presenting the installation. We are very pleased that the nuclear industry is finding new forms of communication via art. I am glad that such an object has appeared in Nizhny Novgorod, and I hope that similar artistic objects will appear in other nuclear cities."
The guests found themselves in the atmosphere of the exhibition and became the spectators of a performance in the verbatim genre staged by director Boris Royz, graduate of the directing laboratory of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater headed by Konstantin Bogomolov. “The main ideas for the performance were borrowed from the exhibition. Like the artists of the past centuries who depicted the future world in their pictures, we imagined what kind of world and people will exist after us. So we can say that we are ahead of time in every sense”, pointed out the director.
The performance presents pieces by Vysotsky, Balmont, Bryusov, reflections of actors and artists about atoms, nuclear technologies, the work of the nuclear reactor. It is an attempt to explain technical processes with the language of art.
The production team of the performance included costume designer of theater and cinema Varvara Plavinskaya (Moscow) and lighting designer Vladimor Durnov (Moscow). The sound track was composed by Maxim Van, a popular DJ from Moscow.
The event was followed by a panel discussion. Olga Tolstunova, Oleg Berkovich, Igor Gurovich and Anna Gor discussed digital technologies, engineering and their connection with modern art.
Olga Tolstunova mentioned the main areas of digitalization in ASE and pointed out that digital technologies help avoid routine work thanks to which the engineers can concentrate on creation of unique models.
“Bringing together nuclear technologies and creative work is part of modern art. The installation created by the engineers and Igor Gurovich is very up-to-date. Art teaches dreaming, it teaches a new language. At the same time, it is important to make the dreams work for the technologies that are available. Bringing together the scientific and the creative insight is logical in this project”, said Oleg Berkovich.
“I was happy to work with engineers of the nuclear industry. It is a different way of thinking, enormous intelligence and a different understanding of processes that cannot be captured by an artist. It was useful and fascinating”, said Igor Gurovich.
Anna Gor pointed out that the key word that unites artists and engineers is imagination. “It is the most important thing. For the past, the presence and the future of creative development”, she summed up.
Part of the exhibition were video installations illustrating the technologies of Multi-D designing. They are shown on up-to-date exhibition surfaces — interactive cubes.
A selection of covers from popular science journal “Tekhnika-Molodezhi” (Technology for the Youth) of 1940-1970s from the collection of the Moscow Design Museum, which is original in the concept and the presentation, added to the unique character of the exhibition. The authors of many covers had technical education. Among them is Konstantin Artseulov, an ace pilot, designer of gliders, and engineer Nikolay Kolchitsky whose works are presented at the exhibition.
Covers “Tekhnika-Molodezhi” participated in numerous exhibitions in Russia and abroad: “Cars: Acceleration The Modern World” in Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2020), “Industrial Design and Nonconformism” in Zimmerli Art Museum (New Brunswick, 2020-2021), “Into The Unknown” in Barbikan Exhibition Center (London, 2019), “Soviet Design” in Design Museum (Brussels, 2017) and other.
The educational program of the exhibition includes on line lectures on interrelation between engineering and design, urban studies and modern art. Among the experts who have been invited are Igor Gurovich, designer and drawing artist, Ayrat Bagautdinov, historian of the engineering, head of project “Moscow Through The Eyes Of An Engineer”, Stepan Lukyanov, chief designer of Stanislavsky Electrotheater , Olga Druzhinina, deputy scientific director of the Moscow Design Museum, Daria Parkhomenko, founder and director of LABORATORIA Art&Science. All the lectures will be broadcast online.
The project was organized by Information Center for Nuclear Energy of Nizhny Novgorod with the support of Rosatom Corporation Engineering Division. The opening ceremony of exhibition “Engineering As Art” was the final event within the framework of the conference “Digital Industry of Industrial Russia” that is held in Nizhny Novgorod.
The exhibition is open from 25 September to 4 October 2020.
The exhibition is held at the address: Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, building 6.
Entrance is free.
Landing: https://myatom.ru/inzhiniring/
For reference:
Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division unites the leading companies of the nuclear industry: ASE EC JSC (Nizhny Novgorod), JSC Atomstroyexport (Moscow), JSC Atomenergoproekt (Moscow) and JSC ATOMPROEKT (Saint-Petersburg) and others.
The Engineering Division is the leader in terms of project portfolio and the number of NPP projects that are constructed abroad simultaneously.
About 80% of the Division’s income is accounted for by foreign projects.
The Engineering Division implements design and construction projects for high-power NPPs both in Russia and abroad, it renders a full range of EPC, EPC(M) services including project management and designing and develops Multi-D technologies for management of complex engineering facilities. The Engineering Division is guided by the achievements of the nuclear power industry in Russia and innovative state-of-the-art technologies.
We construct reliable and safe NPPs with 3+Gen VVER reactors that are in line with all international requirements and recommendations.
www.ase-ec.ru
Information Center for Nuclear Industry of Nizhny Novgorod is a multi-functional information space equipped with learning interactive exhibits, panorama cinema and a package of multi-media and interactive programs about science and high technologies. Information Center for Nuclear Industry of Nizhny Novgorod is not only a site but also a community of people interested in progress. All the events of the center are free.
Igor Gurovich is a famous designer, founder of Ostengruppe, one of the most popular design bureaus in Russia. Ostengruppe participated in decorating the Moscow Film Festival, Kinotaur and Gold Eagle. Igor Gurovich is holder of a dozen of professional awards; he was in charge of creating the style of the Russian Olympic team.
