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 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.
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.
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.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here