Ulli Böhmelmann
(Cologne, Germany)
BLUE RIBBON
Installations

May 12-31, 2011 (OkNo gallery)
"Interweaving / Gespinst" and "Contemplation / Einkehr"

May 13 - September 30, 2011 (Pushkin park, Chelyabinsk)
"Blue Ribbon / Blaues Band"

Press release

BLAUES BAND -- BLUE RIBBON

Exhibition project in cooperation with OkNo Gallery
Chelyabinsk, South Ural, Russian Federation

Openings:
Thursday, 12 May 2011, 6 p.m.
in the OkNo Gallery, Chelyabinsk

Friday, 13 May 2011, 4 p.m.
in the Pushkin Park, Chelyabinsk

Duration Gallery: 16 May - 31 May 2011
Duration Park: 13 May - 30 September 2011

The artwork of Ulli Böhmelmann is concentrated on site-specific installations.

Together with the non commercial OkNo Gallery the artist (born 1970 in Mainz, Germany) will present three installations inside the OkNo Gallery as well as in Pushkin Park in the very centre of the town, counting 1 Million inhabitants.

The exhibition in the gallery space will present two accessible installations, one made of nylon threads and one made of very thin paper.
The outside installation Blaues Band - Blue Ribbon will take a large part of the popular and strongly visited park in Chelyabinsk. The Blue Ribbon, suspended among the trees in a height of 4 metres, is crossing several times the walks and meadows.
Underneath the crossings there will be four different poems written in Russian and German on the park lanes. The poems originate from two classical and two contemporary authors:

The poem Er ist's / That's him of Eduard Mörike (1804-1875)
The poem The Rose of Alexander Puschkin (1799-1837)
The poem Vögel / Birds of Udo Tiffert (1963)
The poem Sky of Janis Grants (1968) from Chelyabinsk.

All the poems deal with spring and dawn in the broadest sense.

In Russia, independent art projects in public space are very unusual and rarely done. The Blue Ribbon will be the first outside installation of that kind in Chelyabinsk.

The Goethe Institute Moscow is supporting the Blue ribbon project. The artist's origin county of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen in German) is the second large sponsor of the project. Several companies are offering their material to support the Blue ribbon. The town of Chelyabinsk accounts for publicity and logistics.

In Chelyabinsk, there is a notably chance to provoke a long-standing impact. Because of its high amount of students in the town people are interested in new impressions and ideas. The Blue Ribbon might be the starting point for further activities in public space. The town offers a lot of opportunities with the river side, several parks and in the town centre.

Contacts:

Objektkunst
Ulli Böhmelmann
www.ulli-boehmelmann.de
mail@ulli-boehmelmann.de

OkNo Gallery
Dmitry Latukhin
www.oknogallery.ru
info@oknogallery.ru