Mikhail Shemyakin: about freaks and people. Monument "Children - victims of adult vices" on Bolotnaya Square Children victims of adult vices where is

Monument to Mikhail Shemyakin "Children - victims of adult vices." Installed on Bolotnaya Square on September 02, 2001. The project for the installation of the sculptural composition was made by architects Vyacheslav Bukhaev and Andrey Efimov.
The sculptural composition includes: figures of children - a boy and a girl, who froze in motion with blindfolds, books at their feet: "Russian folk tales" and A.S. Pushkin's "Tales", in a semicircle are figures that personify the vices or evil of the modern world - drug addiction, prostitution, theft, alcoholism, ignorance, pseudoscience, indifference, propaganda of violence, sadism, an instrument of torture with the signature "for the forgetful ...", exploitation of child labor, poverty and war.

Here is what Mikhail Shemyakin himself said about the history of the creation of the monument:
"Luzhkov summoned me and said that he was instructing me to create such a monument. And he gave me a piece of paper on which the vices were listed. The order was unexpected and strange. Luzhkov stunned me. Firstly, I knew that the consciousness of a post-Soviet person was accustomed to urban sculptures. And when they say: "Depict the vice of" child prostitution "or" sadism "(in total 13 vices were named!), you feel great doubts. At first I wanted to refuse, because I had a vague idea of ​​how to bring this composition to life And only six months later, I came to the decision that only symbolic images can stand worthily in this exhibition, so as not to offend the eyes of the audience.
The result is such a symbolic composition, where, for example, a frog in a dress depicts the vices of debauchery, the lack of education is a donkey dancing with a rattle. Etc. The only vice that I had to re-symbolize was drug addiction. Because before our "blessed time" children never suffered from this vice. This vice in the form of a terrible angel of death, holding out an ampoule of heroin, arose in me in this terrible collection of vices. "

This is one of my favorite sculptures in Moscow. You can argue as much as you like about how Shemyakin realized his plan, many even say that this is a monument not to children - victims of vices, but to the vices themselves, there was a lot of controversy that such a "horror" should not be installed in the very center of Moscow, not far from the Kremlin and etc.
But, I believe that this sculptural composition is undoubtedly a talented work, the power of the author's presentation of the idea, frankness and honesty, which not everyone wants to face, and partly and therefore cause rejection. In addition, allegorical figures personifying vices accurately convey the emotions that these vices evoke. The only thing I do not agree with the author is that children are not born as angels, they grow up, acquire psyche, social norms and foundations with age, and therefore it is very important that there is a truly adult significant person next to the children, and if this is not the case, then the children grow, age, but do not mature, and the very evil that surrounds us appears, so I would clarify the name of the sculpture: "Children are victims of the vices of immature adults."

Year of installation: 2001
Sculptor: M. M. Shemyakin
Architects: V. B. Bukhaev, A. V. Efimov
Materials: bronze, metal, granite

The unusual monument is located in the city of Moscow and was made by the sculptor Mikhail Mikhailovich Shemyakin. Its name is based on the very essence of the sculptural ensemble - “Children - Victims of Adult Vices”.

The complete installation work on the installation of the sculptures was completed in 2001.

In the center of the raised plinth, there are sculptures of a boy and a girl, whose eyes are covered with a bandage. The plasticity of the figures is made in such a way that it gives the impression that they seem to be moving forward to the touch with uncertain steps. Under the feet of the children is a book and an impromptu ball.

In a semicircle around the center of the composition, there are sculptures of human adult vices in an ominous amount - 13:

• Addictionpresented as a thin man dressed in a tailcoat and flaunting a bow tie. In one hand there is a sachet with a dose of the drug, and in the other a syringe is clamped.
• Prostitutionappears in the form of a kind of nasty toad with an elongated mouth, bulging eyes and a huge bust. Her decrepit body is dotted with warts, and venomous snakes curl around her waist.
• Theftrepresents a sly pig with its back to the children, hiding a bag with a tinkling coin in its paw.
• Alcoholismassociated with a half-naked man with a sugary physiognomy. He sits on a barrel of laughing wine, holding a snack and a beer goblet.
• Ignorance appears in the form of a donkey - a kind of merry fellow and a carefree personality. There is a big rattle in his paws.
• Pseudoscience is represented by a sculpture of a woman in a robe and a blindfold over her eyes. In one hand she holds a scroll with some pseudo-knowledge, and in the other rests a two-headed dog - the product of a false idea of ​​science and its application.
• Indifference is the central figure of adult vices from which the rest are placed on either side. The sculpture has four arms, a pair of which covers the ears, and the other is crossed over the chest.
• Violence propaganda is somewhat reminiscent of Buratino, beloved by many children. Only this is not a kind fairytale hero, but a vice holding a shield with a weapon in his hand. Next to this figure is a pile of books, among which you can see Hitler's "Mein Kampf".
• Sadism represents a thick-skinned rhinoceros dressed in a butcher's uniform.
• Unconsciousness was sculpted in the form of a pillar of shame, perhaps not finding an animated image for it.
• Exploitation of child labor appears in the form of an ominous bird with a human face, luring children to its little factory.
• Poverty is represented by a withered old woman, in one hand of which is a staff, and the other is stretched out for mercy.
• War is a man in a gas mask, dressed in armor. He hands the children a Mickey Mouse doll chained to a bomb.

It should be noted that the monument "Children - Victims of Adult Vices" appeared in Moscow on the initiative of the then Moscow Mayor Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov. They say that he showed great interest in this work of Mikhail Shemyakin and even became a co-author of the image of Sadism (thick-skinned rhinoceros), spontaneously and emotionally at one of the discussions of the project, the appropriate pose, which the sculptor eventually performed in metal.

Previously, access to this unusual sculptural exposition was open around the clock, but after it was damaged by vandals, the pedestal was surrounded by a fence with a gate that opens at strictly defined hours.

In the article we will consider the monument “Children - Victims of Adult Vices”. This is a rather interesting sculptural composition that definitely deserves our attention. You can find it on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow.

Acquaintance

The monument was created by Mikhail Shemyakin. The author tried to translate into reality the image of the struggle between good and evil. The sculptor created his composition in order to draw the attention of all those who are not indifferent to the influence we have on the present and future of generations. It's never too late to start over.

Description

In the center of the sculptural composition "Children - Victims of Adult Vices" are depicted a boy and a girl who are trying to move forward blindfolded. Under the kids' feet are open books with fairy tales that have been read. Around them are figures - the very same vices. It depicts Addiction, Theft, Ignorance, Alcoholism, Pseudoscience, Prostitution and Indifference. The last vice rises above the rest and is the most important. There is also Sadism, Exploitation of Child Labor, War, Pillory for those who have lost their memory, Poverty, and Propaganda of Violence.

Mikhail Shemyakin worked on this composition on the personal order of Yu. Luzhkov. The Moscow Mayor also took an active part in the process of creating the monument. The press wrote that during one of the meetings between the architect and the mayor, the latter jumped up briskly from his chair in order to personally demonstrate how the figure of Sadism should look like. As a result, this pose of Luzhkov was reflected in the metal.

After the sculptural creation was attacked by vandals, the city authorities decided to open the composition only at certain hours, to enclose it with a fence and set up security. The grate rises at 9 am and lowers at 9 pm.

Criticism

The sculpture "Children - Victims of Adult Vices" on Bolotnaya Square has been criticized many times. Most often these were statements by especially religious people. They do not like that vices are depicted too accented. V. Ambramenkova - Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences and Research Fellow of the Russian Academy of Education - believes that such a sculpture can negatively affect the child's psyche. She also focuses on the fact that it is rather a monument to vices, and not to children.

Addiction and Prostitution

We start with the figure of Drug Addiction in the description of "Children - Victims of Adult Vices". The author of the composition showed this image in the form of Count Dracula, clothed in a tailcoat - a kind of angel of death. In his hands is a small packet of heroin and a syringe. Dracula offers for an affordable price, as it were, to "fly away" from the problems of this world.

Shemyakin depicts prostitution in the image of a toad, and in this sense there are some coincidences with the image of the frog princess. The creature has curvaceous forms and a seductive body, but it is all covered with nasty warts, and snakes are visible on the belt. In a broader sense than just prostitution, this sculpture refers to the hypocrisy and complete immorality of a person who does not experience sincere feelings. One well-known blogger wrote that hypocrisy should be understood as even the slightest of its manifestations: criticism behind the back, lies, insincere smile.

Theft

In the sculpture "Children - Victims of Adult Vices" in Moscow, theft is shown by the author in the form of an ugly and cunning pig, waving its nasty fingers, holding stolen money in its hand. Behind this creature are bank details and a bag signed with the word "offshore". In modern life, this vice manifests itself not only in the fact that people give and take bribes, but also in the fact that for many, the goal of life is the accumulation of material wealth, and luxurious things begin to mean more than human feelings. A small child interprets all this in his own way, sees the picture in a different light and therefore takes a false picture of the world for a real one.

Alcoholism, Ignorance, Pseudoscience

In the monument Children - Victims of Adult Vices, alcoholism is portrayed as a cheerful mythical god who sits on a barrel with a smug expression on his face. This is an ugly old man with a big belly and a double chin.

Ignorance is shown in the form of a carefree, stupid donkey holding a watch in one hand and a rattle in the other. This is an allegorical image of the fact that fun is given all the time, not the hour.

The image of Pseudoscience is denounced as a monastic robe. He holds in his hands a scroll with supposedly useful knowledge, but the eyes of the creature are closed, and it itself does not know what it is doing. The point is that some knowledge is harmful to humanity as a whole. This is the production of dangerous weapons, and genetic engineering, and an attempt to clone people, etc. To emphasize this, a mutated figure is depicted near the figure, which Pseudoscience leads like a puppet. To show all the horror of pseudoscience, Mikhail Shemyakin suggests recalling a story that happened in America. Popular sedatives, advertisements of which were at every step, served to ensure that women were born with babies without arms and legs.

War and Poverty

This skin is very similar to the droid from Star Wars. Represents the angel of death. The image of the war appears in which the gas mask is worn. He himself is in armor, and in his hands is a bomb sewn into Mickey Mouse. He offers it to children without a twinge of conscience.

In the monument "Children - Victims of Adult Vices" the image of Poverty is presented in the form of an old woman who stands leaning on a staff. She is barefoot and very skinny. Despite being almost completely powerless, she stretches out her hand, begging for alms. Here disputes arose between people on the account of whether poverty could be considered a vice. Someone recalled Ostrovsky's play, and someone else the words of Dostoevsky. The point is that you can live in poverty. You can and keep your dignity, not the name of an extra piece of bread. But in poverty, everyone is equal, and here you cannot remain special. But the one through whose fault others become beggars is definitely condemned.

Child Labor Exploitation, Unconsciousness and Sadism

The architect presented it in the form of a bird with a huge beak. She invites the onlookers to follow her to the factory, where there are prints of children's handprints on every wall. In a simpler sense, it means a poor childhood, routine at the most beautiful time in life, manipulation of a sense of duty.

Unconsciousness is depicted as a pillar of shame on which snakes crawl. This means complete insensitivity to what happened in the past, to memory, respect. Snakes enveloped the insensible pillar, consciousness clouded.

Sadism is shown in the form of a terrible rhinoceros that looks at a person with open arms. Not sensitive to the pain and feelings of other people, he supports his huge sagging belly with a rope. In an allegorical sense, it conveys the desire of adults to exercise their power over children, to teach them according to their own convictions, even false ones. Many seek to dominate and suppress children, thus pouring out their complexes.

Violence propaganda is portrayed as Pinocchio, who offers a host of tools for harm. By the way, today the propaganda of violence is manifested most of all in games, cartoons and children's films.

Above all these monsters, the most important of them rises - Indifference. This is the worst of vices, because from it all others flow. It is a creature with an unfeeling body, closed eyes and plugged ears. It is insensitivity and unwillingness to understand the other that are the root of many troubles. The monument "Children - Victims of Adult Vices" carries the message that if, committing evil, a person changed his mind for at least 10 minutes, many sad events could have been avoided. After all, we all know how to "turn off" your inner voice and silently do what you need, even if it may harm someone else.

A large, interesting and not very well-known monument is located in the very center of Moscow, in a public garden on Bolotnaya Square. It is called "Children - Victims of Adult Vices." Although a monument, in the classical sense of the word, probably it cannot be called. This is a whole sculptural composition, a whole story that cannot be told in two words.

He appeared in the capital on September 2, 2001, on the City Day. Its author is Mikhail Shemyakin. According to the artist, when he first conceived the composition, he wanted one thing - for people to think about saving today's and future generations. Many, by the way, at that time were against its installation near the Kremlin. They even gathered a special commission in the capital's Duma, and she also spoke out against. But the then mayor Yuri Luzhkov weighed everything and gave the go-ahead.

The monument really looks ambiguous and unusual. It is in the top 10 of the most scandalous monuments in Moscow. The composition consists of 15 figures, two of which are small children - a boy and a girl about 10 years old. They are located in the very center. Like everyone else at this age, they play ball, books of fairy tales lie under their feet. But the children are blindfolded, they do not see that 13 terrible tall figures are standing around, pulling tentacle arms towards them. Each statue personifies some kind of vice that can corrupt children's souls and take possession of them forever.

It is worth describing each in detail (from left to right):

• Addiction. A thin man in a tailcoat and a bow tie, somewhat reminiscent of Count Dracula. There is a syringe in one hand and a packet of heroin in the other.
• Prostitution. This defect is presented in the form of a vile toad with bulging eyes, a deliberately elongated mouth and a magnificent bust. Her whole body is covered with warts, and snakes curl at her belt.
• Theft. A sly pig, which turned its back, obviously hiding something. She has a bag of money in one hand.
• Alcoholism. A fat, sugary half-naked man sitting on a barrel of wine. In one hand he has a jug with something "hot" in the other a beer goblet.
• Ignorance. A cheerful and carefree donkey with a big rattle in his hands. A living illustration of the saying "you know the less, you sleep better." True, here it is better to say "no knowledge, no problems."
• Pseudoscience. A woman (probably) in a monk's cassock with her eyes closed. In one hand she has a scroll with pseudo-knowledge. Nearby is an incomprehensible mechanical device, and in the other hand is the result of misapplication of science - a two-headed dog, which is held like a puppet.
• Indifference.“Murderers and traitors are not so terrible, they can only kill and betray. The worst thing is the indifferent. With their tacit consent, the worst happens in this world. " Apparently, the author fully agrees with this saying. He placed Indifference at the very center of vices. The figure has four arms - two are crossed on the chest, and the other two cover the ears.
• Violence propaganda. The figure resembles Pinocchio. Only he has a shield in his hand, on which a weapon is depicted, and next to it is a stack of books, one of which is "Mein Kampf".
• Sadism. The thick-skinned rhino is great for illustrating this flaw, and it also wears a butcher's outfit.
• Unconsciousness. The pillar of shame is the only inanimate figure in the overall composition.
• Exploitation of child labor. Either an eagle or a raven. The bird-man invites everyone to the little factory where the children work.
• Poverty. A withered, barefoot old woman with a staff stretches out her hand, begging for alms.
• War. The last character on the list of vices. A man, clad in armor, and with gas masks on his face, holds out a toy to the children - everyone's favorite Mickey Mouse, but the mouse is chained in a bomb.

It is very difficult to unmistakably recognize a specific sin or vice in each figure, so the author signed each sculpture in Russian and English.

Initially, the monument was permanently inaugurated. But after those who like to profit from non-ferrous metal opened a hunt for it, the composition was fenced off, guards were put in place and visiting hours were introduced from 9 am to 9 pm.

People often come to the square on Bolotnaya Square. Newlyweds are photographed against the background of bizarre statues, not particularly attaching importance to the meaning hidden in the sculpture. Many criticize the composition, consider it absurd. Probably the most ardent opponent, Doctor of Psychology Vera Abramenkova. She believes that Mikhail Shemyakin erected a monument to giant vices, it is they, and not small children, who are the central characters. But most people treat the monument with understanding, they call it correct, to the place and to the time. The sculptor raised a problem that should not be talked about, but shouted about. Only Shemyakin did it not with the help of words, the author immortalized his views and beliefs in bronze.

"Children - Victims of Adult Vices" is a sculptural composition by the artist and sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin, staged in a public garden near Bolotnaya Square, staged in 2001. List of vices (from left to right): Drug addiction, Prostitution, Theft, Alcoholism, Ignorance, Pseudoscience (Irresponsible science), Indifference (center), Propaganda of violence, Sadism, Pillory for those with no memory, Exploitation of child labor, Poverty and War ...
For some reason, I don’t want to speak about this monument in my own words, I’d rather give a few quotes from the artist himself and not only, about his life and how this composition appeared.

"Luzhkov summoned me and said that he was instructing me to create such a monument. And he gave me a piece of paper on which the vices were listed. The order was unexpected and strange. Luzhkov stunned me. Firstly, I knew that the consciousness of a post-Soviet person was accustomed to urban sculptures. And when they say: "Depict the vice of" child prostitution "or" sadism "(a total of 13 vices were named!), you have great doubts. At first I wanted to refuse, because I had a vague idea of ​​how to bring this composition to life . And only six months later I came to a decision ... "

In my opinion, this is not a monument to vices, and not a monument to "children - victims of vices", but a monument to us adults, what we become by committing vicious actions knowingly or accidentally - with donkey heads, fat bellies, closed eyes and money bags. This is a very powerful monument, serious, by no means entertaining and certainly not for children, but completely adult. Natalya Leonova, ethnographer.

The monument was erected not to children, but to vices ... This frightening symbolism is quite in the spirit of Masonic lodges, secret orders such as the Rosicrucians, occult sects ... Identifying ourselves with them (children from the sculptural composition), our living children will learn the psychology of the victim and will not be able resist violence, evil ...
The meaning (of the installation of the monument) is in the legalization of that satanic content, which has always been hidden, has not been pulled to the surface. They probably want to teach him, to this satanic element, to tame people, they want to show that this is not so scary, but very good ...
The main thing is not to come to terms with evil. You never know that the monument has been erected? How many monuments stood, and then they were demolished, and this happened even throughout our life. It is necessary to demand that the "monument to vices" be removed from the Russian land. Vera Avramenkova, Doctor of Psychology, one of the authors of the examination in the Pussy Riot case. Fragments from a 2001 interview.

Mikhail Shemyakin worked as a postman, watchman, rigger in the Hermitage. In the 60s he was subjected to compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital, after which he lived in the Pskov-Pechersky monastery as a novice. In 1971 he was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and expelled from the country.

I was not engaged in any "dissidence", I was simply registered as a dissident. And I just painted pictures and tried to see the world with my own eyes.

Shemyakin lives in Paris, then moves to New York. In 1989, Shemyakin's work began to return to post-communist Russia.

“I serve Russia, but here today I still feel like a foreigner, an alien, because I do not fit into this society. ... I live in Russia, which is not here, but somewhere higher. But, as they say, relatives are not chosen, and I belong to this country with my heart and soul. I serve her and I will serve her - this is my duty, this is my duty, this is my love for her, for the people, which I feel very, very sorry for. "

It is better to watch Shemyakin not in Moscow, but in St. Petersburg, where his work is presented quite versatile: monuments (including the Peter and Paul Fortress), and window dressing of the Eliseevsky store, and ballets at the Mariinsky Theater. But in Moscow there is also an opportunity to get acquainted with one more facet of his work - in company stores.