Park of Forged Figures as an Art Practice of Ukrainian Blacksmithing

Abstract

The Park of Forged Figures in Donetsk is a unique artistic, sociocultural, and political phenomenon. There is no other suchexhibition space for contemporary blacksmithing art neither in Ukraine nor abroad. This creative and subsequently museum space was setup by the blacksmithing community of Ukraine; its size and number of works on display makes it probably the largest in Ukraine up to date. During the period of 2001–2013, the Park of Forged Figures was a place for the annual gatherings for the blacksmiths from all regionsof Ukraine and from abroad. This outstanding platform included blacksmithing workshops, specialized conferences, as well as informalmeetings focusing on professional experiments in this field of creative art. Along with the annual Blacksmiths Festival in Ivano-Frankivsk,the Park of Forged Figures in Donetsk during the mentioned period became an unparalleled site for creative experiments and practicingblacksmithing craft, for expressive innovations and stylistic diversity. Thus, the relevance of the research is based on the conceptual load ofthe Park’s projects that needs to be studied; also the landmark role of the Park in the social-cultural advance of the country should be outlined.