The Brighton Beach Memory Exchange

A vending table on the Brighton Beach Boardwalk with 5x7 inch watercolors

The Brighton Beach Memory Exchange was a pop-up gallery that involved community interaction which took place on May 6th, 2012. Situated at the Brighton Beach Boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York, this public art project fostered conversations between artists and Brighton Beach residents by creating and displaying artwork about material life in the Soviet Union. The day-long interaction was filmed and exhibited as part of “My America” art project at the Museum of the Moving Image (under the umbrella of CEC ArtsLink’s “One Big City” initiative).

Public participation with artwork, anthropology and video camera

The pop-up gallery was the result of a collaboration between artists, an anthropologist, the Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association, and Café Tatiana. Artists—Daniel Gallegos and Diana Yun—created close to 100 watercolors on 5x7-size paper. Diana shared the memories of her former life in Almaty, Kazakhstan by creating paintings of artifacts such as bread, toys, buses, milk cartons, and candy wrappers. Daniel’s watercolors were snapshots from iconic Soviet movies.

Photo by Thessa Mooij

In consultation with the Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association’s Pat Singer, the artists approached Café Tatiana located at the Boardwalk, and the establishment’s administration agreed to host the pop-up gallery on its premises.

When the artwork was displayed at the table on the Boardwalk, the conversation with the passerby was facilitated by anthropologist Zhanara Nauruzbayeva. Filmmaker Mikhail Zheleznikov also interviewed and filmed the testimonies elicited by the interaction. In exchange for their interviews, participants chose a painting they liked from the vending table.

Zhanara, interviewing a participant

The goal of our pop-up gallery was to learn the stories of immigration of the former Soviet Union community to New York. The location of the pop-up gallery, Brighton Beach, is considered to be the first home to many Russian-speaking people who come to the United States. Like the rest of New York, it is a constantly shifting space of immigrant populations making their first stake in “The American Dream.” Through the lens of this project, we could see the landscape of New York becoming inflected with elements of this particular community.

Executive Director of CEC ArtsLink, Fritzie Brown (Center Right) with project participants

Video by Mikhail Zheleznikov with Daniel Gallegos, Diana Yun and Zhanara Nauruzbayeva

Many thanks to Diana Yun, Bella Barmak, Maxim Tumenev, Ellena Ryabova, Pat Singer, Cafe Tatiana and to the community of Brighton Beach in New York City.

The Brighton Beach Memory Exchange was a pop-up gallery that involved community interaction. Situated at the Brighton Beach Boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York, this public art project fostered conversations between artists and Brighton Beach residents by creating and displaying artwork about material life in the Soviet Union. The day-long interaction was filmed and exhibited as part of “Моя Америка (My America)” art project at the Museum of the Moving Image (under the umbrella of CEC ArtsLink’s “One Big City” initiative).