UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 13, 2010. Alatyr and Gringo shopping malls based in Yekaterinburg won most of the votes in the interactive project dubbed Vote for Demolition. Alatyr is supposed to be pulled down since it makes the downtown look ugly, the coordinators of the First Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art say. Now the biennale closed up last weekend, and Vote for Demolition, devised and implemented by a Mexican artist Gustavo Artigas, was part of the program. Artigas was pleased with both the way the project went along in Yekaterinburg and with the public discussion that followed.
The votes were collected throughout September 1-19, 2010 via votedemolition.com and at some of the biennale’s exhibition sites: Sverdlovsk Worsted Factory, Ordzhonikidzevskiy Cultural Center, Ural State University, V.G. Belinsky Library, Dom Metenkova (a museum), and Uralmashzavod’s Shop No.1 cafeteria. Over 2,000 people placed their votes altogether, with 29% of votes placed for the demolition of Alatyr Shopping Center, 24% of votes given to Gringo Girls-market, 16% given to the house of Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly, and 14%, 9%, and 8% of votes placed for the demolition of the third extension to Antey Business Center, Atrium Palace Hotel, and the Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District’s new residence, respectively.
In addition, the paper ballot also had a write-in option, so some people voted for the demolition of the Temple on Blood, for instance.