Permian good. From what happiness grows

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Permian good. From what happiness grows?

165 × 240 mm

216 p

This is a catalogue for the exhibition of DEZ№5 in Museum of modern art in Perm.

The DEZ NO. 5 Studio, a group of Moscow artists and architects invited to work on this exhibition, treats children art in a different way. It follows the principles of openness to contemporary art (something children and teenagers going through traditional educational programs need dramatically), where the child is perceived as an active subject and artist, to the freedom of creation, of action, of the choice of ideas and the selection of materials. DEZ NO. 5 artists raise the question whether it is fair to regard art as a “grownup” phenomenon. Children and their tutors pass all the stages of creation, starting with invention and ending with the production of a large object with their own hands. And these artists have great respect to childhood — its outlook, ideas and fantasies. They urge children in a subtle way to follow a certain path: the final object is an exact copy of the initial drawing made by the child (in its shape, color, texture, rhythm, composition and dynamics). This results in very honest and “natural” works of art which are not burdened by the contemplation of whether they are actual, modern, and whether they will be approved by the artistic community.

The exhibition titled Permian Good. From What Happiness Grows? sums up the cooperation of Perm secondary school students aged 7–14 and DEZ NO. 5 studio. The artists believed that the Perm art object titled Happiness is not Far Off raises the same question: if it is not far off, where is it? So, they decided to answer this question together with the children. 26 objects embodying material values, living creatures, feelings, emotions, and even fictional happiness machines created in the process. So, the exhibition had the space not only for children’s imagination, but also for serious discussion of important issues.