Nightmare Playgrounds
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"QUANTUM SHOT" #374link
These grounds are NOT for the "kid in all of us"
These creepy masterpieces of sculpture and landscaping can be found in playgrounds not only in Russia (even though this is where the majority of photos come from) but also in China, East European Countries, and even in the US - anywhere the grass-roots creativity goes bad and the bad taste gets promoted, often unintentionally.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the bizarre stuff for kids, and some of the sculptures here are downright fascinating; but others are... well, ugly as hell.
Not only kids, but some more impressionable adults are in danger to become psychologically scarred from thinking too much about these monsters and letting them into their dreams. In some cases, visits to such playgrounds can even be considered an insurable hazard - leading to some successful lawsuits (just kidding).
At least this playground has a limited access:
But the following ones are all open to the public, including possibly the worst sculpture in history:
Did you ever dream of killing a crocodile with cutlery?
Here is your chance:
This sculpture was actually pretty cool (displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). But back to the miserable playground examples:
Let's have an intermission, so that you could take a breather from all this ugliness.
These are some of the locations for the playgrounds above:
- Moscow & St.Petersburg, of course
- Kharkov, Ukraine
- Minsk, Belarus
- Ivanteevka, Russia
- Odessa, Ukraine
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Akko, Israel
- even Basel, Switzerland
We would like to put a label "abandoned" on this photo series, but in most cases, these playgrounds are still in use, and children are playing freely among the manic sculptor's nightmares.
OK, here is more! More of the surreal art NOT for kids:
And this is our favorite (the creepiest... do not bring your kids anywhere near)
Cool, Deeply Weird, Freaky - in everything in between
Some sculpted kids are climbing the TV tower in Prague - this is at least a deliberate art installation by David Cherny:
Cows also want to climb higher:
More weirdness in Prague:
The zombie sculptures are rising from the graves:
Cthulhu invites you for the ride! -
At least this Cthulhu has some class:
These rides are pretty much unmentionable:
If you're tired of attractions, you can go play some cards:
or go see neighborly aliens:
Leaving playground for the streets actually does not help much:
(example from Uzbekistan)
We have to stop here (even though they are dozens of similar examples). Too much of that sculptural madness can make you very, very sad:
Sources: Detsky Dvor, English Russia, Exler
CONTINUE TO PAGE TWO!
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Category: Architecture,Weird
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COMMENTS:
72 Comments:
So much for the theory that "at least Communism supported the arts"...
Correct.
Howver,just change "supported" to deformed and ...
I did recognize one of the sculptures as a representation of a Russian folk story about a farmer trying to pull a huge beet or turnip from the ground. It only looks scary in sculpture.
Cthulhu for President in '08.
Why vote for the lesser evil?
Children appreciate any playground. Even if it is creepy.
I actually liked the little bears with light-up eyes though, and I'd love to have the Cthulhu chair in my study; maybe I could sit next to him while reading the Necronomicon...
This really scares the shit out of me and leaves one word in my mouth... WHY!? Why on earth would you do something so ugly!
haha some of this stuff is really creepy but some of it it is funny :] i geusse kids would have fun on anything
Well, it was kind of like a bad accident... horrible and scary, but yet... I want to see more...
http://lh5.google.ca/abramsv/R5mGIO9HheI/AAAAAAAAE4c/Ol7kgwMiVbA/post-1200088287.jpg
its hungarian fountain :-)
Lovely Art Goddess: there is going to be more! We have lots more photos sent to us for part 2... btw, great nick :)
Picture number six shows the 'Grün 80' in Münchenstein near Basel/Switzerland. There was a exhibition in 1980 when this strange thing was built. I played there sometimes in my childhood, it isnt that bad :)
http://www.migrosbasel.ch/parkgruen/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-183//218_read-345
there are not SCARY sculptures. the problem is in your HEAD/BRAIN, you create SCARY thoughts from that, and kids are not brainwashed like you.
"...are in danger to become psychologically scarred from thinking too much about these monsters..."
If anyone actually did successfully sue somebody over this, they and anyone that thinks it was a good idea should get impaled, stuffed, and made into a creepy statue for a playground somewhere.
Some of these are creepy, but some I found quite endearing. The turtle and snail sculptures were pretty cute. I also liked the black bear looking little guys that were just a picture or two after the "intermission".
The one sculptures that I don't think kids will enjoy are the lady with the bloody eyes (though that could be later-added graffiti), and the giant bugs. Still, only SOME kids wont like the giant bugs.
You have some very interesting images here. Like very much the sports collection...
i really find most of these images beautiful and interesting. maybe the problem is that you have a very narrow concept of what beauty must be. you know, boy used to disney and all that things. not that it's bad, but you can't judge other cultures just because they are different to/ oh, wait, you are an american! sorry, forget it, my fault...
found another picture http://flickr.com/photos/pyr0_de/141003780/
" not that it's bad, but you can't judge other cultures just because they are different to/ oh, wait, you are an american! sorry, forget it, my fault..." um? does anyone else see the irony in this?
So you wanted to prove with this gallery that you have a very narrow concept of art? And what has this to do with playgrounds? Besides - i find the playgrounds at a typical McDonnalds way scarier.
These are freaking cool! I would've loved to have something like this growing up. In your mind it might be scary for children, but to children, it's the starting point for imagination (except maybe the one with the bleeding eyes). A little bit of scariness can be exciting!
I agree with the Mcdonalds comment. Ronald Mcdonald is surely the most scary thing on earth!
I would welcome some of these in our school playgrounds to frighten the crap out of gobby kids before they come into school.
you obviously have a poor conception of what art is. Allot of that is interesting abstract art, you are way to ignorant to realize how this could add to a kids imagination. And if a kid doesn't like whats at the park go to a different one. Or the parent should explain to the kid that theirs nothing scary about it.
Most of you people are just ignorant to any kind of abstract art any ways.
I was flicking through the pictures and I spotted one I knew.
but its not Russian...
its in the centre of Stockholm, Sweden.
its the one with four mole looking creatures.
its in the middle of a bigger park, the moles are heated if you sit on them (handy in Stockholm!) and the eyes are lit up with halogen bulbs.
they are actually pretty cool.
pity its all just punk kids drinking on them most of the time.
Thanks for all the location info - I updated the post. Api-punk, Abstract art is a wonderful thing when done tastefully. Some of the sculptures shown here are cool, but not all kids might appreciate it.
"even sweden", "even america" - as if... looks like art to me... read a Grimm tale, lately?
it's not art vs. art so much as creepy vs. creepy. and i love the little black bears - they're great! but the woman with the bleeding eyes needs to be repainted.
Awww, they're all so wonderful! I especially loved the bird creatures (pic# 7). Why don't we have more of that here in The States. *sigh*
If anyone has ever successfully sued because a park scarred them...they need to be locked in a room with the bleeding eye lady! (whom I think is fine just the way she is!) :D
I don't really get how a lot of these pieces are supposed to be creepy, outside of like... the elephant slide and the bleeding eye lady. Everything else is pretty benign. this story did not live up to the hype.
Dude...those are just freaky. XD
That bleeding eyed-lady is gunna give me nightmares or something.
o.0
And I really WOULDN'T want to play on a playground with a huge statue of a doctor holding a large NEEDLE...
An ode to toejam!
Stinky? Yes!
But it doesn't come in strawberry or grape.
What a shame.
I actually live in the city where are those weird pink and orange female and male figures.. You can climb on them... They ARE actually kinda scary...
i tend to agree that the scariness of these playgrounds is overblown.
maybe you'd have been better off calling them "ugly playgrounds."
i'm guessing you don't have kids?
since i had a son my playground aesthetics have changed a lot. safety and fun are a hell of a lot more important than cosmetics. and actually, "ugly" things can be cool to play on.
Here's a submission for the topic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahdonahue/2422670999/sizes/l/
Captured on our recent trip to Chile.
I can't WAIT to subject my kids to this! Good psychological learning for the formative years.
The giant reptile with knives in its back is not displayed at the Guggenheim. It's on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum.
Yes, some of these playgrounds are a little odd, even creepy. I think some of the them are kind of cool with kids climbing on sculptures. You aren't taking into account the culture or the amount of money they have to work with for building playgrounds.
I'd like to have the skeletons playing cards for my yard, way cool.
A couple I can see is not for kids, but the majority of them are fine. Nothing is wrong about getting your imagination going. Most great writers have very creative minds. I'm in the USA and I wish I could see playgrounds with a child's mind as the focus, not what we think is suitable. It's not what you play with, but how you play is what is important. ( the elephant, it's better than going in the rear and out the mouth) now that would be gross!!!
My sons would have loved the elephant as it combines fun with the potty talk so common in childhood. The other sculptures are obviously not professional but look like something a child would make. (I made somethin simliar to the mermaid in 3rd grade.) The skeletons playing cards was a little weird.
Yeah, I agree on the McDonald's idea. The scary playgrounds are the generic cookie-cutter playgrounds as the place for our children to learn about "creative play." When I was in school we got to design our own playground including a maze that had "scary creatures" at the dead ends. We painted the creatures ourselves. I still remember how much fun that maze was. I don't remember a particularly joyful McDonald's playground ... just empty fun.
These freaking rock! Thanks for the collection.
(And yes the "judging cultures .. oh wait you're American" comment was pretty funny ... but whatever, typical internet ridiculousness.)
I found these stimulating and enjoyable. My daughters would be terrified of them, but I wish they were exposed to more unusual things here in the US. It would be good for them to expand their idea of fun. Disney Princesses leave me cold, and I think whimsical sculptures are better than Barbie for promoting the outside-the-box thinking that I cherish. Then again, I'm an artist, so I'm not sure you'd want my opinion on art.
most of its abstract art. a child can have hours of fun , using their imaginations. perhaps playing on a sculpture that may be scary(doctor w/ needle) will help aleve their fears.can't be that bad if you can play and have fun. some of the playgrounds are run down, but to a child, its better than nothing and they don't see things the way adults see them.oh ya, not all americans feel the way some of the comments will lead you to believe.
Does anyone happen to know where the metal Cthulu sitting on the chair, and the skeletons playing cards happen to be? I'd lovelovelove to visit them.
I really like the skeletons playing cards too. someone let us know where it is please
I think they are great. The woman with the bleeding eyes was the only one that was disturbing and I agree, that it could have been vandalism. Children are fascinated with ideas that are different than adults. They are fascinated with monsters and bugs and gooey things. These sculptures feed imagination. Oh, and by the way, I'm an American too.
Wow, what are you all so up-in-arms about? So the author thinks that these playground sculptures are freaky... and? This offends you somehow? Do we all have to have the same opinion about everything? No. Everyone (for the most part) has differences in aesthetic taste, thankfully.
Personally, i love all things spooky and abhor most things plastic/McDonald's/cookie-cutter, but even i found a lot of these sculptures frightening, to say the least. I loooooved the four little black bears with glowing eyes, but do think that a fair percentage of children, upon being introduced to them, would cry. But maybe that's ok? Maybe that helps them to recognize the truly scary things when they get older.
Anyway, i enjoyed the photos a lot. Actually, i almost feel like the very first photo was the most unsettling, somehow!
Moral: different strokes for different folks.
Well... As far as "miserable playgrounds" go, let me tell you – they're pretty representative of childhood in Eastern Europe in general, but it was all there was. (I grew up in Bulgaria.) Because of the utter lack of funding, a lot of them were made by local artists or even parents, hungry to provide something – anything – for the kids to play on. You can't blame them for not being MoMA-worthy, they were doing their best.
And I think there's a bit of cultural misinterpretation going on. For example, the one sculpture where a man is pulling on something with a woman behind him, a child behind her, and a puppy on the end. It's actually an iconic folk culture image from a tale called something like "Grandpa Pulls The Giant Radish" – it's something like Jack and the Bean Stalk, except it's a radish that grows huge. And that's the family trying to plug it from the ground...not the orgy-like scenario it looks like here.
Anyway, point is, although many of these are laughable today in contemporary Eastern Europe as well, they didn't necessarily come from a bad place.
I agree with the comment from "silvergirl".... TAKE IT EASY PEOPLE) ..Comments are a way of stating your opinion, get it? Name calling & defensiveness just proves your ignorance not everyone else's. The opinions & captions are perfectly understandable. They ARE creepy. That is an opinion! They are also funny, disgusting, sad, morbid & cool. So what people! Now wonder everyone needs meds!
I can't believe that you didn't include the sculpture of "The Awakening" in Haines Point Park Near Washington DC. It is super scary, especially that big open mouth with teeth. My kids used to play on the leg and foot though. They didn't care. Here is a link to view. http://www.senate.gov/visiting/common/image/The-Awakening.htm The sculpture has been moved. Where you ask? Who knows, maybe Prague?
Well, to me it seems that these peolpe in these cultures have been hidden from the real world for a LONG time, perhaps behind a curtain!
Maybe that curtain was made of IRON!
Ya think?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a grip on the rest of the world its history, folks!
When we lived in Ukraine, we had a fun but oh-so-dangerous playground in the courtyard of our highrise. It was concrete and metal and designed with ne'er a thought to safety.
Hunh. . . don't have a pic online, let me see if I can find one to upload. . .
These aren't scary, not for kids. They are just old and run down. I'm sure they were quite pretty when new. Like someone else said, kids will play on anything and be happy to have something to play on. Something is better than nothing.
Actually, being a Russian and having grown up in Russia, yes, the strong "opinion" in the form of introduction of the article offends me. The majority of the playgrounds' statues found in Russia represent the characters from our good old Russian folklore fairytales. What exactly is wrong with the brown monkey? Oh, it looks old and disgusting to you? Did it even occur to you that the only reason they look so “ugly” is because they are old? Yes, someone should have replaced them, but in the country twice as big as the US, there are other problems more important than renovating the statues of the characters that everybody still loves and recognized. And honestly, it drives me nuts when someone with McDonald’s playgrounds mentioned here earlier goes to the country as old as Russia and begins to critique what they see. Why don’t you critique those “real” playgrounds here that are, let’s be honest here, completely absent from the landscape?! Or shall we look at the lovely schoolyards with nothing but black concrete and wire fences? Or maybe we should look at the private backyards with swings identical to each other because all of them were bought in the same store??!! Please, nobody is perfect!!
Excuse me, what exactly is that "real world" you refer to? A country with 400-year old history -a self-proclaimed world savior? Iron curtain means nothing to you-nothing has changed here since the communism broke down. It's the people on the other side of the curtain are the ones who had lived the real life, not you! Oh, and why don't you check your native language grammar-it is kinda hard to understand your last sentence!
Interesting collection. Thanks for assembling them.
Many of them beautiful, very few of them scary.
Says more to me about the limited education of the weberati if the consensus is that these are scary.
Scary is: cultural myopia; global blanding; having a functional illiterate in the White House.
I know a lot of Europeans who grew up playing in these type of parks. They are, without exception, cultured, bright, modest and hard-working professionals.
Thankfully, those qualities will eventually overcome the cultural hegemony of The Land of Dumbo.
I don't think it moved but when I was in NYC last summer the crocodile with the cutlery was on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, not the Guggenheim. On the other front, people can say your view of art is narrow but they're just trying to put you down because their own view is closed to all but what they think has artistic value.
Has anyone checked out the City Museum in St. Louis? The entire building is one giant playground, with a jungle gym of old jets perched 5 stories about the ground and an entire cave in the basement.
Also the turtle park outside the St. Louis zoo is also a little wierd.
just my $.02
matt
They have imaginative parks in the States as well. I grew up in New Orleans and we have a beautiful one there called storyland. It has sculptures of all types of creatures - scary and not. My favorite was always the whale that you can walk inside - a representation of Pinnochio.
http://neworleanscitypark.com/storyland_kids.html