Mayor’s special prize to go to Yakutsk
Photo by Vitaly Koksharov The winners of the 6th open competition of Russia’s Ice and Snow Sculptures Cup “Winter Vernissage” received their prizes at the closing ceremony. The team from Ryazan for the second time won the top prize of the competition and the special prize from the Major of Perm City went to the team from Yakutsk.
A week ago the Ice Town in front of the Theatre-Theatre became an open-air workshop for 22 sculptors who, following a competitive selection, came to Perm to participate in one of the Russia’s most prestigious ice sculpture competition. For 5 days the residents and guests of Perm could watch them working on ice cubes - a difficult yet a very unique material.
January 18, 2019 was the final day for the festival participants form Russia, Singapore and Malaysia to give a finishing touch to their sculptures. The total of 11 sculptures reflecting Japan as a general topic were erected in the Ice Town, each team presenting its own interpretation: the Chinese team produced a Japanese anime figure from the 1970-1980s, the team from Saint Petersburg presented an ice theatre and the two brothers from Ryazan created bamboo bushes rising the frozen water.
On January 19, the professional jury headed by Yuri Lapshin, undertook a 2-hour close examination of the sculptures looking both at artistic level and techniques.
The evening closing gala of the competition was joined by the Mayor of Perm City Dmitry Samoilov, Perm Region Minister of Culture Vyacheslav Torchinsky, the Vice-Chair of the Perm City Duma Alexey Gribanov and the Chair of Russia’s Sculptors Union “Yedinenie (Unity)” Alexey Tyutnev.
“We were looking forward to holding the 6th Ice Sculpture Cup. This time it was held in a new venue and under difficult weather conditions; however, you all proved again you can create a miracle. We will be looking forward to hosting a new Cup in two years from now and already started to think of something exciting to do in the meantime”, said Dmitry Samilov, handing over his prize – a set of special instruments to work with ice – to the contestants from Yakutsk Pyotr and Roman Petukovs (sculpture “The Guardian”)
The Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky sent his address to the participants of the contest which was presented by the co-chair of the jury, Maria Sparzhina, head of Arts Department at Russian Ministry of Culture.
“This unique projects has grown into an important cultural event not only for the Perm Region but for the whole Russia. Moreover, this competition has won a world’s recognition with the professional artists, making Perm City one of the “ice capitals” of the world”, the address says.
The closing gala then made public the names of the winners and prizes. Yuri and Vladimir Mistyukov from Ryazan became the second time Cup winners with their sculpture “One Swing of a Blade”. The second prize went to Ivan Zverev and Vadim Parkhomenko from Saint Petersburg (“The Ice Theatre”) and the third - to Andrey and Nokolay Kokorin from Yekaterinburg (“Tokyo: Technology and Tradition”). The prize in memory of Nikolay Polukarov was awarded to Nataly and Arseny Beloborodovs (Perm-Moscow) for their “Giant Sumo Players”.
Starting January 20, 2019 the Ice Town will open up the ice gallery for the general public who will be able to take a closer look at the sculptures and choose their favorites joining the Internet vote at #ЗимнийВернисаж (Winter Vernissage)
The competition is organized jointly by the administration of Perm City, the Russia’s Sculptors Foundation “Yedinenie” (Unity) and is sponsored by the culture ministries of Russia and the Perm Region. The competition is part of the “Perm Period: the New Time” Festival.
