"QUANTUM SHOT" #550(rev) Link - article by Avi Abrams
When you are trapped in a nightmare, you might as well enjoy a swing and a kiddie-slide
As we mentioned in our Part 1, these hilarious and often ugly sculptural atrocities for kids are seen generally in Eastern Europe and Asia, with only a few of them located in America. It seems that these monuments to bad taste are the results of either builders being lazy (perhaps on drugs?), or artists sincerely believing in freedom of artistic expression but lacking skills to convincingly pull it off. The weird thing is, we really like to see such crazy playgrounds sprout everywhere - yes, bring them on! - because then, your typical urban landscape would change overnight from "soul-deadening" to "mind-boggling".
1. Aaah! I hope this thing is not going to roll after me (like a wild unshaven Katamari)
Open the gates! Fun awaits "beyond thrice nine lands, in the thirtieth kingdom" (Russian idiom, written in the image below) -
2 - 20. Various awesome examples of Russian playgrounds, including the "Cheburashka" character, via
23. Pig? from Saratov kindergarten - photo by Tatiana Mitrofanowa
24. Wolf, threatening to sing (don't let him!) in playground in Tomsk - image via
25. "Swan Lake Ballet" by Mikhail Dronov, seen in Moscow - image via
26. Is this... Jar-Jar Binks?? - photo by Lyudmila Juhimec
27, 28 - Again, Cheburashka - and Dr. Aibolit "healing" animals;
Bottom image 29, 30, 31 - various abominations
32. Abandoned playground in North Chertanovo, Moscow - via
Mushroom Land! I like it -
33. unknown location
Japanese Manga Monster Land! (I like it even more) -
Drunken statue and its dog (turns out to be a memorial to Russian poet Sergei Esenin... come to think of it, this is quite an original and charming interpretation):
Many Soviet pioneer camps in the 1930s through the 1950s featured standard-issue pioneer statues, which since then fell in awesome disrepair (it's pretty common to find headless, limbless statues of young athletes, spread all over the lush forest). These statues often were erected just outside children playgrounds... see the one below, telling a tragic tale of "love triangle gone wrong":
36.
This is a winner (Peter Straub, author of "Shadowland", take note!) - from the Soviet pioneer camp Petrushkovo:
Playground representations of animals just keep getting weirder (and why not? I ask you, why not). This cow is one of many wonderful cow installations in Madison, Wisconsin:
Not at a playground, but located close to it, in a family park - "The Mother" (Maman) installation in Paris, by Louise Bourgeois (more info and a gallery):
Also not a playground, but so cool a structure that I just had to include it (imagine yourself relaxing on this bench after playing around - but beware, time starts to flow differently once you sit down...) -
65. Bench at the Dali museum entrance in St.Petersburgh, Florida - photo via
Androids and robots get into play:
67, 68. somewhere in Moscow
Back to the miserable kiddie grounds... Babushkas seem to like it, as well:
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When I was growing up in the 70's, our nearby park near Los Angeles installed the "Giganta" robot slide. Very popular; it wasn't just fun to climb inside of...many an intrepid explorer climbed up the outside as well and would slide down the tops of the arms (very safe!)
"24. Wolf, threatening to sing (don't let him!) in playground in Tomsk"
It is not so much a playground element, but rather a statue to a cartoon character. In the cartoon, the wolf was led covertly to a house to eat and drink, as a return gesture for the wolves previous actiones which led to the dog's being accepted back to the household after it had been kicked out for gross negligence.
having eaten and drunk a lot, whiule hidden under the table at a marriage party, the wolf said "And now I shall sing", and thus revealed its presence, to the dismay of the dog and those in the room.
there was one of those big robot things in my local playground. wonderful structure, but they boarded up the head bit when i was young to keep kids from getting stuck/doing drugs up there and eventually tore the whole thing down. now the park is "safe," and i have to say, much less awesome.
I like it! It remind me on my childhood. Dr. Aibolit, the tale of the turnip, and Nu, pogodi! (the wolf and the rabbit, the East-European Tom and Jerry) were popular in Hungary too. There is some weirdness that in found in the internet: a collection: http://itscoolweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/most-weird-russian-kids-playgrounds.html Playgrounds from Hungary: http://www.szoborlap.hu/2099_bohoc_kut_budapest_halasz_arisztid_1983.html?f=photo&id=8316 http://www.retronom.hu/node/8304 http://www.retronom.hu/node/14577 http://retronom.hu/files/RotyiLice/M%C3%A1solat%202008%20M%C3%A1j%2002_05970_0.JPG http://retronom.hu/index.php?q=node/15863 http://hemhet.deviantart.com/gallery/10745624?offset=24#/d1n0g9z http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Space-program-99130423?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=20 http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Playground-99120060?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=23 http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Train-145918546?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=5 http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Monster-137134165?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=7 http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/The-big-snail-and-Me-108532135?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=18 http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/S3700365_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/j_tsz_t_r_016_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/j_tsz_t_r_012_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/j_tsz_t_r_009_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/S3700356_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
16 Comments:
It looks like the Manga Monster is crying.
LOL @ phallic slide
I love your blog. I asked myself: Where do you get these terrific pictures from.
Your blog lighten my days!
No. 11 (the concrete robot thing) is called Tilli-Willi. You can find it in a book by Alexander Melentyevich Volkov called "The Yellow Fog".
picture 1 , picture 2
Number 48 is a sculpture of children on a giant book in down town Charlotte. the sculpture is located in a park called the green.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98894271@N00/59412847
http://www.thegreenuptown.com/index.php
When I was growing up in the 70's, our nearby park near Los Angeles installed the "Giganta" robot slide. Very popular; it wasn't just fun to climb inside of...many an intrepid explorer climbed up the outside as well and would slide down the tops of the arms (very safe!)
I think the Mushroom land thing is in Göteborg, Sweden. I vaguely remember this...
#47 is in Fira, on the island of Santorini in Greece.
Giganta reminds me of the Wicker Man.
"24. Wolf, threatening to sing (don't let him!) in playground in Tomsk"
It is not so much a playground element, but rather a statue to a cartoon character. In the cartoon, the wolf was led covertly to a house to eat and drink, as a return gesture for the wolves previous actiones which led to the dog's being accepted back to the household after it had been kicked out for gross negligence.
having eaten and drunk a lot, whiule hidden under the table at a marriage party, the wolf said "And now I shall sing", and thus revealed its presence, to the dismay of the dog and those in the room.
there was one of those big robot things in my local playground. wonderful structure, but they boarded up the head bit when i was young to keep kids from getting stuck/doing drugs up there and eventually tore the whole thing down. now the park is "safe," and i have to say, much less awesome.
I never get tired of looking at these.
I´ve seen the spider in reallife thay had it in sweden for a while it´s really big but cool. :D
Steampunk doesn't mean what it appears that you think it does.
I like it! It remind me on my childhood. Dr. Aibolit, the tale of the turnip, and Nu, pogodi! (the wolf and the rabbit, the East-European Tom and Jerry) were popular in Hungary too.
There is some weirdness that in found in the internet:
a collection: http://itscoolweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/most-weird-russian-kids-playgrounds.html
Playgrounds from Hungary:
http://www.szoborlap.hu/2099_bohoc_kut_budapest_halasz_arisztid_1983.html?f=photo&id=8316
http://www.retronom.hu/node/8304
http://www.retronom.hu/node/14577
http://retronom.hu/files/RotyiLice/M%C3%A1solat%202008%20M%C3%A1j%2002_05970_0.JPG
http://retronom.hu/index.php?q=node/15863
http://hemhet.deviantart.com/gallery/10745624?offset=24#/d1n0g9z
http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Space-program-99130423?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=20
http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Playground-99120060?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=23
http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Train-145918546?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=5
http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/Monster-137134165?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=7
http://hemhet.deviantart.com/art/The-big-snail-and-Me-108532135?q=gallery%3Ahemhet%2F10745624&qo=18
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/S3700365_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/j_tsz_t_r_016_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/j_tsz_t_r_012_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/j_tsz_t_r_009_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/101223/S3700356_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
What the hell is Walter White doing to that bear?
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