Projects
International Forum «Animal style»
The First International Forum «Animal style» in the collections of museums» was held on June 7-12, 2011 in Perm. The Forum was organized by «Kamwa». One of the main themes of the Forum was the «Perm zoomorphic style». «Perm zoomorphic (or animal) style» is a name given to the famous bronze castings of the native people of the Urals. This is a relevant symbol, mark, brand of Perm region. The events presented at the Forum aroused intense interest among the academic community of Russia and Finland, as well as among Perm public.
The feature of the “Kamwa”, the Forum organizer, is always to follow the idea of combining various formats and directions while creating its projects, thus emphasizing the diversity of cultural phenomena. This time was not an exception: the theme of «animal, zoomorphic style» was presented in a full variety of genres.
There was an exhibition of bronze castings from the collections of the Perm Regional Museum and Local History Museum of Cherdyn’, open public lectures, panel discussions, art sessions, workshops and a special program for kids. The Forum became a venue for meetings and communication of archaeologists, local historians, artists, mass-media representatives and everybody who was interested in «Perm animal style».
The Forum was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Perm region, Perm Regional Museum and the Perm State Pedagogical University.
The Forum was attended by representatives of the National Museum of Finland, the State Hermitage Museum, St-Petersburg, Sverdlovsk Regional Museum, The National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, Yamal-Nenets regional museum and exhibition complex and The National Museum of the Republic of Komi.
«Perm animal style» was introduced in the context of other «zoomorphic styles» of the peoples of Eurasia – the Bulgars, the Ural-Siberians, Scythians and Sarmatians. Because of this it was possible to trace the common roots, origins and context, to find common themes and principles of creating «zoomorphic style» stuff, to indentify and emphasize the uniqueness of the local ancient castings. Researchers have concluded that the «perm animal style» is absolutely unique cultural phenomenon.
The exhibition of «perm zoomorphic style» artefacts from the collection of the Perm Regional Museum was open during the Forum. Usually these objects are not available for visitors on the main permanent museum exhibition. It was the first time when Perm residents and visitors could see the cast bronze items presented on the principle of basic plots and images of the «Perm animal style».
Among the Forum participants there were representatives of Perm regional museums, as well as guests from Izhevsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk. There was a two-days workshop as a part of the Forum program, which resulted in a final discussion with very important ideas and proposals for preservation and enhancement of such cultural legacy. The participants came to the conclusion on the necessity of mutual cooperation among the Museum community, scientific and artistic worlds.
For the first time "Perm animal style" souvenirs were presented at the Forum. Visitors of the exhibition and Forum participants had an opportunity to buy inexpensive elegant things or even special VIP products and designer clothes with the elements of "zoomorphic style".
Participants noted the progressive format of the Forum. The material was presented in a variety of forms: strictly scientific, popular scientific and artistic ones. This approach contributes to the promotion of cultural and historical phenomena among various social groups. All public lectures were broadcast on-line.
A special and unique part of the Forum program was also a children's program. Taking part in small tours around the exhibition, children became translators and creators of new scenes and images of the "Perm animal style", embodying them by their own hands, using plastic, clay and watercolors.
The Forum attracted attention to Perm region and abroad and has shown great interest in the «perm zoomorphic style». The Forum has become a good launching pad for further cooperation of museums and the establishment of new joint popular scientific and educational projects.
foto http://kamwa.kdenisb.org/photo/a_15/
Official website http://www.permianstyle.ru