The Keyboard Monument is the first land art sculpture in Yekaterinburg dedicated to a computer keyboard, located on the second tier of the Iset River embankment, from Gogol Street. Opened on October 5, 2005. Author - Anatoly Vyatkin.
History of creation
The keyboard was created in 2005 as a special project of the festival " Long stories Yekaterinburg" based on the project of Anatoly Vyatkin. The producers and curators of the project were Nailya Allahverdieva and Arseniy Sergeev, who at that time represented the cultural agency ArtPolitika. The production of the project was carried out with the technical support of the Atomstroykompleks company. Despite the high popularity among citizens and guests of the city, the project never acquired the official status of a monument or landmark. In fact, not recognized by local authorities as a culturally significant object, the keyboard was nevertheless included in many unofficial guides to Yekaterinburg. In the spring of 2011, painting began on the asphalt of the “Red Line”, passing through 32 main attractions of the city center.
Design features
The monument is a replica of a concrete keyboard on a scale of 30:1. Consists of 104 keys made of concrete weighing from 100 to 500 kg, arranged in a QWERTY layout. The keys are located in recesses at intervals of 15 cm. The total area of the project is 16 4 m. The surface of the keys is flat with raised symbols of the alphabet and functional symbols, placed in the same order as on a regular computer keyboard.
Cultural features and assessments
The concrete “Keyboard” can be considered simultaneously both as a fetish of the computer era and as an industrial “rock garden”, a large-scale environmental experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the city embankment of Yekaterinburg. Each button on the concrete keyboard is also a makeshift bench. The monument has become a cultural landmark of the city’s modern image and a new “brand”.
A positive response to the project is observed among all segments of the city's population. Monitoring the reaction of passers-by on the embankment showed that in 80% of cases the reaction of passers-by is enthusiastic, in other cases it is interested. Residents of the city are proud of the implementation of such a project on the territory of the city, in which they are primarily attracted by the non-standard implementation and modernity of the image.
Object security issues
Anatoly Vyatkin and Anton Borisenko restore lost keys
Until June 2011, several keys from the monument were stolen (keys F1, F2, F3, Y), and the Apple logo was applied to the Windows key.
In this regard, in June 2011, the head of the public art program of the Perm Museum contemporary art PERMM Nailya Allahverdieva proposed to postpone keyboard monument to neighboring Perm. According to her, no one cared about it in Yekaterinburg, but the Perm museum was very interested in this art object.
But through the efforts of the Yekaterinburg initiative group, which included Evgeny Zorin, Lidia Karelina, and director of Litek LLC Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh, on August 17, 2011, the lost keys were restored. The renovation of the monument was made possible thanks to Anton Borisenko, director of the Union Trucks company, which sells and services trucks. The author of the monument, Anatoly Vyatkin, was present during the restoration work.
According to the project coordinator, Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh, thanks to the renovation, the famous Ekaterinburg landmark will now definitely not leave for Perm. “But the problem remains, I would like the largest keyboard in the world to be included in the register of monuments, protected by the state and no one could ever take it away from us. To do this, we have compiled a collective appeal to add the keyboard monument to the register cultural values, On July 30, 2011, System Administrator Day, we collected more than 100 signatures and on August 4, 2011, we handed over everything to the city administration. We are still waiting for an answer,” noted Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh.
Every city has local attractions that attract tourists with their uniqueness. In Yekaterinburg, for example, there is a huge grater, a monument to a bank card and a huge keyboard on the banks of the fast Iset River.
interests many, because it still looks great, despite the daily active use of it “for its intended purpose.” Let's find out more about him!
History of the Ekaterinburg keyboard Artist Anatoly Vyatkin, preparing for the next art exhibition, almost all his work and free time spent time at the computer keyboard and suddenly realized that new symbol modern history
- it's a keyboard! Each of us spends a lot of time typing texts or playing games. And you can’t do this without a keyboard. Therefore, there definitely needs to be a monument to the keyboard!
If you are wondering in what year Vyatkin’s idea was accepted with a bang and yet a monument to the keyboard was built, then the answer is that they did it in 2005. The final idea was developed by Arseny Sergeev and his colleague Nailya Allahverdieva. Of course, the design of the monument is simple and uncomplicated - a huge monument to the keyboard was installed on a fairly large scale of 30:1 on a huge area. The modern keyboard is more than a hundred years old and all this time it has been an indivisible part of any computer device.
Keys and the material from which they are made They allowed to decorate the landscape of the Iset bank quite quickly - it was included in the program of the festival, which is held regularly, “long stories of Yekaterinburg.” The material from which the keyboard monument is made is raises many questions - every day he takes on not only the blows of the elements, but also active actions
from the people.
When deciding what high-quality and inexpensive material the keyboard monument would ultimately be made from, the creators decided to choose concrete. It is quite durable and still gives the appearance of the smooth white keys of the original.
On the lower tier of the embankment, in the rain in October, 104 concrete keys were placed. They were not only bulky, but also heavy - the weight of the “space” reaches 500 kg! The keys still display all the symbols that can be seen on a home keyboard - letters, numbers, symbols. Many people don't know where is concrete keyboard monument,
- As already mentioned, the monument to the keyboard is an unofficial landmark, but it was from here that they began to draw a red line uniting interesting places city of Yekaterinburg.
- It was also important to decide what material the keyboard monument would be made of in order to minimize the risk of theft of part of the exhibition. This happened in 2011 - craftsmen were found who stole the top 4 concrete keys. True, why they need them remains unclear.
- When you arrive in Yekaterinburg, be sure to find out where the unusual but wonderful monument to the keyboard is located - local residents are sure that with its help it is quite possible to change their lives. This is easy to do - you need to step on certain keys to create a word (or phrase) that expresses a higher desire (health, money, promotion) and at the end be sure to press Enter. And if you want to completely “reboot” your current life, just jump on the delete, ctrl, alt keys.
The only concrete keyboard in the world attracts the attention of everyone who walks along the Iset embankment. They allowed to decorate the landscape of the Iset bank quite quickly - it was included in the program of the festival, which is held regularly, “long stories of Yekaterinburg.” its history and beliefs are interesting to many, and we were glad to surprise you with such an unusual landscape sculpture.
There is a monument in Yekaterinburg, the existence of which most residents of the city do not even suspect - this is a monument to the keyboard.
The keyboard was created in 2005 as a special project of the festival "Long Stories of Yekaterinburg" according to the design of Anatoly Vyatkin. The producers and curators of the project were Nailya Allahverdieva and Arseniy Sergeev, who at that time represented the cultural agency ArtPolitika. The production of the project was carried out with the technical support of the Atomstroykompleks company. Despite the high popularity among citizens and guests of the city, the project never acquired the official status of a monument or landmark. In fact, not recognized by local authorities as a culturally significant object, the keyboard was nevertheless included in many unofficial guides to Yekaterinburg. In the spring of 2011, she began painting on the asphalt of the “Red Line”, passing through 32 main attractions of the city center.
The monument is a replica of a concrete keyboard on a scale of 30:1. Consists of 104 keys made of concrete weighing from 100 to 500 kg, arranged in a QWERTY layout. The keys are located in recesses at intervals of 15 cm. The total area of the project is 16 × 4 m. The surface of the keys is flat with raised alphabet and functional symbols, placed in the same order as on a regular computer keyboard.
The concrete “Keyboard” can be considered simultaneously both as a fetish of the computer era and as an industrial “rock garden”, a large-scale environmental experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the city embankment of Yekaterinburg. Each button on the concrete keyboard is also a makeshift bench. The monument has become a cultural landmark of the city’s modern image and a new “brand”.
A positive response to the project is observed among all segments of the city's population. Monitoring the reaction of passers-by on the embankment showed that in 80% of cases the reaction of passers-by is enthusiastic, in other cases it is interested. Residents of the city are proud of the implementation of such a project on the territory of the city, in which they are primarily attracted by the non-standard implementation and modernity of the image.
Interesting Facts about the monument:
1. Professor Niklaus Wirth, inventor of the Pascal language, who visited Yekaterinburg, expressed a desire to visit the project even at the installation stage.
2. The main city river Iset is now written on Internet forums as “I-network”, and next to the “Keyboard” it is proposed to place a monument to the modem. Residents of Yekaterinburg fantasize about the possible placement of a monument to the Monitor and the computer Mouse.
The Keyboard Monument is the first sculpture in the land art style realized in Yekaterinburg. It is dedicated to one of the greatest discoveries of mankind - an information input device, better known as a keyboard or simply keyboard. The sculptural complex is located on the embankment of the Iset River, within walking distance to Gogol Street. The author of the monument to the keyboard, which opened on October 5, 2005, was Anatoly Vyatkin.
The history of the creation of the keyboard monument
The Ekaterinburg keyboard was created in 2005 as an example of a special project for the city festival "Long Stories of Ekaterinburg". The curators of the project were Arseny Sergeev and Nailya Allahverdieva, who presented this conceptual solution to the jury and the public. The author of the project and performer was Anatoly Vyatkin. The Atomstroykompleks company was involved as a contractor. The project was promoted through the cultural agency ArtPolitika.
What is curious, despite the high popularity original idea and project execution among local residents and guests of Yekaterinburg, it never acquired the status of an official monument or landmark. In fact, the composition, not recognized by municipal authorities, was nevertheless included in the register of the most popular and recommended places in the city by many guidebooks. It was from here that at the beginning of 2011 the drawing of the “Red Line” on the asphalt began, which passed through 32 main attractions of the central part of Yekaterinburg.
The monument is an exact concrete copy computer keyboard on a scale of 1:30. The composition consists of 104 closely spaced keys made of concrete and laid out in a QWERTY layout. The weight of individual keys reaches 500 kg. They are mounted in recesses at intervals of up to 15 cm. The total area of the project reaches 64 m2;. The base of the concrete keys repeats the symbols and letters from the alphabet, and the arrangement is exactly the same as on a standard keyboard.
Keyboard monument - a fetish or a tribute to a super popular gadget?
The concrete keyboard, surrounded by greenery, can be viewed from different angles. On the one hand, it is an architectural fetish, symbolizing the achievement of the endgame of the computer era. On the other hand, this is an industrial stone garden, grandiose and striking. For many, the monument is associated with an architectural experiment, which is designed to create a fundamentally new communication environment in the area of the Yekaterinburg embankment.
Moreover, each keyboard button is an example of an improvised bench. The object immediately earned the attention of young people, becoming a kind of cult. Therefore, many city residents are advocating for the inclusion of the keyboard monument in the official register of attractions of the capital of the Urals.
Positive resonance is observed among all ages and segments of the population. Monitoring has demonstrated that in 80% of cases the attitude of passers-by is purely positive. Moreover, many are delighted that something has appeared in their beloved Yekaterinburg that proves the progress of modern art in the improvement of the city. All respondents are haunted by pride in the embankment, and are also attracted by the unconventionality of creative thought.
Interesting facts about the keyboard monument
Unfortunately, the monument was damaged as a result of acts of vandalism. It seems that someone liked the composition so much that they could not take one of the bench keys with them, despite the minimum weight of 100 kg. In addition, the Apple logo was applied to the Windows key. Let's not blame marketing wars for what happened. Apparently, iPhone fans decided to play a joke. The F1 (help), F2, F3 and Y keys were also stolen from the art object.
The organizers even wanted to transport the keyboard to neighboring Perm as an art exhibit. But through the efforts of a local initiative group, the lost keys were restored. The author of the composition was present during the restoration work.
During installation, the site was visited by Professor Niklaus Wirth, author computer language Pascal. Such is the love of foreigners for the symbol of the era.
And in 2011, according to the results of an online survey, the monument was included in the top 10 most famous sights of Yekaterinburg.
As the authors of the project say, the monument managed to influence the symbolic reinterpretation of the surrounding space. Thanks to this, the surroundings of the park sparkled with completely new creative colors. For example, the ancient stone house located next door is now proudly called a system unit for its similarity to a computer element. The Iset River is now written in the online space as the I-net. Well, in close proximity to the keyboard it is proposed to install a monument to the modem, as one of greatest inventions world of electronics.
Which is popularly called the “System Unit” - due to its convenient location next to the Keyboard Monument. So it’s only logical that the next stop on our route will be the keyboard itself...
Since, according to our data, there is nothing like this anywhere except Yekaterinburg, we can say that the capital of the Urals has the largest keyboard in the world!
The monument was born from a simple idea - the artist was looking for a kind of “symbol of the era”, something that descendants would associate with our days. Already in the process of working on the project, another thought appeared - the artist suddenly saw this monument as a place where two spaces intersect: real and virtual. We communicate so often on the Internet today that sometimes we forget about simple human communication. Therefore, each key is also an improvised bench.
In September 2005, when the monument was being installed, Swiss scientist Niklaus Wirth, author of the Pascal language, flew to Yekaterinburg. Having learned that a monument to the keyboard was about to appear in the city, he became very interested in the project and became its first visitor.
And after the installation of the monument, another meaning was born - already among cultural experts. “Klava” began to be perceived as a symbol of the union of Europe and Asia, which is especially important given the position of Yekaterinburg. Why? Yes, because the sculpture itself is dedicated to technology that came from Europe and symbolizes Western values: instant search for information, inclusion in the news flow, computerized world... But the object itself reminds many of the eastern “rock garden”. And the values there are already completely opposite: the ability to contemplate, reflect, observe... A keyboard that is conducive to live communication is an absurd phrase in itself, but for Yekaterinburg residents it has quite certain meaning. Meetings are often made at Klava, people come here for dates, and here you can meet people who like to read, dream, and draw. Naturally, they also come with laptops. There is enough seating for everyone.
Photo by Alexander Zaitsev.
Despite the considerable weight of the keys, by June 2011 several of them were... stolen. How this was done and who (and most importantly, why) needed the 80-kilogram concrete key is unknown. In August 2011, the monument was reconstructed.
