The First Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art, dubbed Shockworkers of the Mobile Image. Fifty-nine works by fifty-four artists from Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Israel, Spain, Mexico, Poland, the United States, Finland, and China are displayed. The exhibition’s main venue is the building of Ural Worker Printing Press at 49 Lenin St. Visitors to the show can see production prints, copies, and reproductions, as well as bits of video, documentaries, and feature films.

The biennale’s site-specific projects are housed at Yekaterinburg’s four largest operating enterprises whose area totals to over 40,000 sq m. These are Verkh-Isetskiy Metallurgical Plant and its division OAO VIZ-Stal, Uralmash plant, and Sverdlovsk Worsted Factory.

The Ural Biennale of Contemporary Art was set up in the year 2010.

‘This project is not a typical one for Russia. The participant artists tried to play up the theme of the industrial, but the biennale isn’t only about plants and factories but also about the effect of the industrial on one’s view of the world, one’s daily routine, and the human interaction,’ says the event’s Commissar Alisa Prudnikova.

Prudnikova explained 5 million RUR were directed to the organization of the biennale by Russia’s Culture Ministry and Yekaterinburg city council.

‘We received 3 million RUR from the Ministry and 2 million RUR from the council. Some sponsors also contributed to the project. All in all, the event’s budget comes to 9.5 million RUR,’ she said.