International Art-Project «Hello!» took place in Ekaterinburg (Greenwich Shopping Center) on June 19th – July 5th. A group of professional artists from Ekaterinburg was working for two weeks under the guidance of the Vienna artists with inclusive participation of the people with particular mental development.

The art of the “special” participants was taken out of the exhibition halls into an open public space which became a powerful emotional resource for creating festive mood among the citizens and for changing patterns of an open-air public celebration. In the framework of the «Hello!» project the public events attracted the citizens’ attention to the program «Looking for Van Gogh» and showed further prospects for socialization and adaptation of the artists with particular mental development.

The final installation by Anthia Loizou, the author of the concept of the art objects (Athens-Vienna), united all the art works of the participants created in their collaborative work.

The parade organized and prepared by Mario Strk (Vienna) was held for everybody and finished with a performance in a form of tablo vivant in the summer square of the National Center for Contemporary Art in Ekaterinburg.

In the course of communications between international artists and with the special artists, all the participants broadened their horizons in terms of communication. The special participants of the project got acquainted with new artistic techniques while their art got integrated into the culture environment of the city.

MarioStrk:
Through art we have the possibility to overcome borders of language and culture. I am proud that the Project „Hello“ gave me the chance to work with various kinds of artists, who showed impressively not only their artistic skills but also a deep understanding of social interaction. I hope to visit Yekaterinburg soon and wish that the project will grow.

AnthiaLoizou:
Cultural Transit Foundation offered the space and conditions, where people who love to express freely through art, worked together, experimentated, exchanged ideas and emotions. Those meaningful days that we shared – which are reflected on our constructions and brushstrokes - will be remembered as days that we absolutely seized. I am looking forward returning to Yekaterinburg and meeting again all my new friends. Moreover, some new universes are waiting to be created by us.

Idea: Anthia Loizou (Вена), Mario Strk (Вена).
Installation and performance: Anthia Loizou (Вена), Mario Strk (Вена), and the artists of Ekaterinburg – Sergey Laushkin, Sergey Rozhin, Maria Plaksina, Stanislava Vetrova, Kirill Borodin, Ivan Snegirev, Alexander Yushin, Regina Kovaleva, Mickhail Pulnikov, Yulia Malkova, Yana Malkova, Natalia Gladyreva, Denis Trushin, Ivan Kopylov, Vera Nikolaeva, Lyolya Sobenina and others.

The project was made by Non-Profitable Organization – “Cult Transit Foundation” in partnership with Children School of Arts №4 “Art Sozvezdie” and the Ural branch of the National Center of Contemporary Art.

In association with and financial support of:
Charity Fund “Sinara”
Charity Fund Obschestvo “Malysheva, 73” “Dobroye Delo”
Honorary Consulate of Austria in Ekaterinburg,
Fund of the First Russian President B.Yeltsin,
Center CK,
Bumaga.su

Project by:
Kurator: Evgenia Nikitina, Elena Mironova
Teacher: Yulia Malkova
Disigner: Daria Shevyrenkova
Photographers: Sergey Poteryaev, Anna Marchenkova