ZIP GROUP. SMOKING AREA. 2018

Metal, glass, plastic

ZIP Group is a Russian art group created in 2009 in Krasnodar. In their practice, the members of ZIP Group often address the issues of labor, community, and self-organization. Their artworks are not merely aestheticized objects, but rather utopian spaces for work, recreation, communication and search for new connections.

For the territory of the Zarya Factory, the artists constructed a gazebo that is an open street sculpture, which serves as a smoking area and a shelter from Vladivostok violent wind. The gazebo visually resembles Chinese pavilions with their intense neon lights, and each of its eight sides is decorated with the "smoking area" signs in different languages. It refers to the openness of Vladivostok and its location at the intersection of various influences.