The VGUES Museum-Exhibition Complex is a new, very state-of-the-art exhibition space dedicated to telling the history of the university, and through this lens, also a bit of the history of Vladivostok in general, in order to give the visitor an idea of the world into which the university was born. It also hosts temporary exhibitions on various subjects. The complex is free and open to the public.
Visting the VGUES Museum (2012)
I decided to try something that has been right under my nose this whole month, but which I did not discover until a few weeks ago – VGUES has its own museum! Man, this place really is a mini-city!
The tour, which you can do yourself by just browsing around or which can be led by the curator/staff, begins with an introduction to Vladivostok at the turn of the 20th century, and is equipped with touch-screen history monitors and informational displays under glass. There is even a full-scale room, recreated to show what a typical Russian living room looked like in the late 1960s when VGUES first opened its doors. I found this part of the tour quite interesting as it also focused on the influence of the neighboring Asian cultures, especially of Korea and Japan, on the shaping of Vladivostok as a city.
The other two halls of the museum are dedicated to the school in general, and feature things such as blown-up pictures of all the rectors of the university, pictures and biographies of successful graduates, past designs created by students from the fashion department and artwork from students in the design department. All of the space was quite well-arranged and very well-lit, if somewhat lacking in substance as compared to the first hall of the museum.
Last, but not least, if one exits the museum proper from the back door, there are three complete replica classic cars on display. For what reason they are displayed is anyone’s guess, although it most likely has something to do with the fact they were in production around the time of VGUES’s rise. I can say, however, that they are pretty sweet!
The museum-display complex is located right to the left if you come into the main entrance of VGUES (41 Gogolya Street). Its hours of operation are from 10 am – 4 pm, Monday through Friday, and entrance is free and open to the public!
AutoVladCar at the VGUES Museum-Exhibition Complex
Being from Chicago, one event that I especially miss when I’m abroad is the annual Auto Show. It’s a huge deal back home, and is truly an interesting and exciting time, as you roam among the concept cars and see what are likely to be the newest technology and design concepts ruling the automotive world within the next few years. It was in this spirit that I decided to attend the AutoVladCar exhibition, which took place in the display hall of the Champion Gym connected to VGUES.
What I did not understand is that while there was a car show, it wasn’t really of a kind to which I was accustomed. AutoVladCar, which is basically a truck and work-automobile dealing conglomerate in Vladivostok that focuses on Korean models, rented out the exhibition floor in order to promote the regular car models of their Korean partner companies (Daewoo, Kia, Hyundai, etc.), and in turn garner publicity for themselves. This was definitely not my definition of “car show,” but there were some interesting points nonetheless.
One of the most striking things about the exhibit was that each car was accompanied by a model. Now this concept is not uncommon if you’ve ever been to a boat or bike show in the US, but what did differ markedly was the dress; where one would expect to see bikinis and as much skin as possible at a US exhibition, here the models were in full evening dress with gowns down to their ankles. There is perhaps an interesting nugget of social analysis to be gleaned in this, as the amount of skin shown by Russian woman 30 and under in everyday circumstances is on par with or perhaps even supersedes that shown by women in the US. I should also note that the models played a crucial selling role, as all the cars on the floor were actually for sale and could be driven off the lot.
The other interesting aspect of the car show was an area in the back of the hall that was basically empty except for a huge wooden maze. Through said maze, visitors to the exhibition could drive a remote-controlled car, and above it, fly a remote-controlled plane (what the plane had to do with an automobile exhibition is unclear, however). On the long table that closed this area off from the rest of the exhibition there was also an interesting collection of miniature car models.
All in all, while completely not what I thought it would be, the AutoVladCar exhibition was fun to stop by if only for the people-watching and, of course, the lovely ladies!
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