Society and Culture: New street art project "Thirty-three Letters", devoted to the Cyrillic alphabet, showcased at cultural sites in the centre of Saint-Petersburg

On August 14, 2020, the Manege Central Exhibition Hall (Saint-Petersburg) launched a new street art project "Thirty-three Letters". A series of installations devoted to the Cyrillic alphabet are showcased at cultural sites in the centre of Saint-Petersburg.

The project brings together the works of contemporary Russian artists and type designers.

The exhibition features a series of street installations devoted to the Cyrillic alphabet. It represents the relationship of traditional Russian culture, contemporary art, modern type design and typography with the unique urban space of Saint-Petersburg.

The exposition is arranged by the Manege specialists within the framework of the Museum Line program. It aims to create open cultural spaces and develop a comfortable urban environment.

The central exhibition object is the installation "Cyrillic Alphabet Labyrinth", created by the artist and designer Yuri Gordon and architect Andrei Punin, on the square near the western facade of the Manege. It is a great labyrinth - a lowercase letter "a" in the plan. Anyone may walk inside a large installation and get a new idea of familiar letters and symbols.

As part of the project, contemporary Russian artists and type designers created 15 installations in the form of "living" Cyrillic letters.

The installations are located on the territory of museums, main cultural venues and in modern urban spaces of Saint-Petersburg. The project was supported by the State Russian Museum, the State Museum of the History of Saint-Petersburg, the Saint-Petersburg State Museum of Theater and Music, Planetarium No. 1, Peter and Paul Fortress, Stieglitz Academy, Sevkabel Port and Nikolsky Market.