It’s situated between a newsagent and an old amusement arcade, and at first glance, it appears to be just a print studio.
However, 103 Trongate boasts one of Glasgow’s understated attractions that is steeped in history – the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre.
A theatre and gallery of kinetic sculpture, the museum features mechanical figures that perform shows. While it may be one of Glasgow’s lesser-known attractions, the hidden gem will get a boost when it features in Doors Open Day later this week, and locals and tourists will get the chance to explore its fascinating origins.
The Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre will take part in Doors Open Day in Glasgow for the first time this year.
The attraction was originally established in 1989 in Soviet Union controlled St Petersburg (Russia) and was founded by sculptor-mechanic Eduard Bersudsky and theatre critic and director Tatyana Jakovskaya.
It was run by a group of volunteers who worked as actors, musicians, and theatre technicians.
The mechanical movement of the kinemats was combined with music, sound effects, light and shadow play, and sometimes acting and miming for the first time.
READ MORE: Glasgow gears up for annual Doors Open Days Festival
Sharmanka was eventually driven out of Russia by the economic depression and lack of support for the arts in the mid-90s, forcing Eduard and Tatyana to come to Scotland.
The pair based Sharmanka in the Scottish Borders village of Blainslie between 1993 and 1995, with help from sculptor and furniture-maker Tim Stead and his wife Maggy.
When it first came to Scotland, the then Director of Glasgow Museums, Julian Spalding bought three kinemats for the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art and invited Sharmanka to put on an exhibition at McLellan Galleries on Sauchiehall Street.
(Image: Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre)
In 1996 Sharmanka Kinetic Gallery/Workshop made the move to Glasgow and opened in the dilapidated premises of the 2nd floor of 14 King Street, Merchant City.
Eduard himself was a self-taught artist when he started carving and sculpting in his late 20s. Between 1974 and 1980 he took part in some exhibitions of “non-conformist art” – a movement started by artists who wanted to avoid the control of the official Soviet ideology.
Eduard met Tatyana years later, and after moving to Scotland officially brought on the third member Sergey Jakovsky. But Jakovsky had actually been working with Sharmanka in Russia at the age of 12 before it moved to Scotland.
Eduard and Tatyana’s team were awarded a grant in 1999 to build the Millennium Clock Tower at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh.
The tower is now in the permanent collection of the National Museums of Scotland in the capital.
(Image: Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre)
Eduard also received a Creative Scotland Award for a joint project with award-winning Russian Dance Company Derevo, in 2005.
In 2009, Sharmanka moved into its current residence with 2024 marking 15 years of the attraction in Trongate's Centre for Arts & Creativity.
Although the team has taken Sharmanka across the world, including exhibits in Europe, and the Middle & Far East, the main base “proudly” remains in Glasgow where it plays its part in the city’s cultural programme as a popular tourist attraction.
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