Creative-minded artists certainly change the face of cities for the better. In Norway there is a monument to a paper clip that was once invented there; in the USA, a white-toothed smile pleases a peanut monument with passers-by. In the Russian city of Tomsk, a monument to home slippers flaunts, St. Petersburg sculptors immortalized bread in bronze, and Krasnodar put a huge granite wallet at the crossroads (its stone twin lies in the Austrian city of Melbourne). In this non-standard row there is a monument to the keyboard, which was installed in Yekaterinburg.
A bit of history
Whatever we do at the computer, we invariably use this convenient and familiar device. The grandmother of the modern keyboard was “born” in the century before last with the invention of a mechanical device with a set of keys, when pressed, a corresponding sign was printed on paper. At first, the symbols on the buttons followed each other in alphabetical order, but typing comfort was achieved only with the QWERTY layout, which continues to live on modern keyboard panels.
Stone ode to the clave
The idea to create a monument to the keyboard dawned on the Urals Anatoly Vyatkin. He came up with it, reflecting on projects for the annual festival "Long Stories of Yekaterinburg." The sculptural composition is located on the embankment of the Iset River. It is a huge copy of a real computer keyboard in a 30: 1 ratio. Each of one hundred and four concrete buttons weighs from one hundred to five hundred kilograms and is at the same time benches on which you can sit down and relax. On the surface of the concrete buttons are marked, as expected, symbols. Between them there are gaps of 15 centimeters. The author worked on his brainchild for about a month, another week the monument to the keyboard was installed using special equipment. The opening of the original sculpture took place in October 2005.
Modern city brand
The monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg was not impressed by the official authorities, therefore it does not have the status of a landmark of the Ural capital. However, he was fond of the people of Yekaterinburg, who consider it one of the most interesting and informative objects of the city. Travel agencies, without thinking twice, included a monument to the keyboard in the list of attractions and proudly show it to guests. It is with a concrete keyboard that the pedestrian route of the cultural project “Red Line” begins, introducing the history and inhabitants of Yekaterinburg. And, by the way, the monument was among the ten most popular and significant places in the city. Moreover, the project is a contender for the title of one of the seven wonders of Russia. Children with pleasure jump on concrete buttons, simultaneously studying the Russian and English alphabets. Loving couples make appointments here, and young people have long coded a meeting place with a password: "Click on Claudia."
Good idea
The author of the sculptural composition Anatoly Vyatkin claims that the monument personifies and perpetuates a new era in the development of human communication. According to the artist, the keyboard is an attribute of the modern feeling of freedom and unity, the ability to feel like part of the modern world. Of course, the image of Yekaterinburg greatly benefits from this uncomplicated and extremely successful monument, the first land art sculpture in the city.
A curious sight presents a monument to the keyboard in a certain perspective. The photo shows her and the stone house standing on the right, very reminiscent of the system unit. This composition is an inexhaustible source for the imagination of citizens who have already informally renamed the river flowing near the sculpture into “I-network” and dream of seeing a monument to the modem and monitor, and maybe also a computer mouse, next to the concrete keyboard.