Event-Coverage: Lunohod-1 Character Expo / Q&A with Sergey Safonov

I'm pretty much certain that's Sergey Safonov serenading (or "Trololo-ing") the crowd above (my apologies if tis not), at the venue of his CHARACTER EXPO, which was held in Moscow/Russia, April 15th 2010 ~ which saw the space invaded by larger-than-life cutouts of characters from all over the world ~ in celebration of the 5th anniversary of Lunohod-1 (Sergey's Russia-based toy-store).

I remember being very intrigued when I first posted about his call for submissions in March, and what an event like this would entail. The notion of introducing your character creations in countries and spaces where they might not necessarily be able to travel to (beyond cyber-space), appeals to me greatly.

And while character cutouts at Conventions for photo-ops, or full-on dedicated-Conventions (like Pictoplasma) are appealing in their own way, nothing feels quite as "personal" as a pseudo-grassroots level style of introduction and involvement, IMHO.

CLICK THRU for a little Q&A I had with Sergey, about the setting up and running of the Character Expo, as well as it's future.


TOYSREVIL: What happened during/before/after the Character Expo event?

SERGEY SAFONOV: Before the event I received over 250 character designs from 60 designers and decided to split all of the chars between lifesize contour figures, prints and projections. About 50 was printed, glued to cardboard and cut-out by myself, my wife and two generous helpers in my home studio.

On the day of event I was notified that banners cannot be printed in time and after the crowd started to form, I was told that projectors is not operational. So not everything went as planned :(


SERGEY SAFONOV: (The) Event was started with my lecture on modern character design and artistic approach to character design. Then (there) was drinking, partying and good times. After the event most of the figures was given to visitors to live at their homes and offices. :)


TOYSREVIL: That sounds like one of the coolest events I have ever heard, IMHO! Where the event was held?

SERGEY SAFONOV: Event was held in Copenhagen loft-club located in old factory building in the middle of the renovated central part of Moscow.


TOYSREVIL: How did you think the event was received?

SERGEY SAFONOV: I've got mixed responses. From agressively negative to over the top positive.

For me it was also 5th celebration of my toy store Lunohod-1 so it was great time to exhibit our friends artwork, meet a some of them and show something new to our clients, partners and followers.


[66 x images in slideshow above / CLICK for full-screen viewing]
TOYSREVIL. Excellent! Folks should be taking a leaf from your operational-booklet, IMHO. With the event, did it reach the objective/s you were looking/aiming for, Sergey?

SERGEY SAFONOV: First step was great. Actually I am dreaming of Character Expo to become a open source festival, when anyone could make his own expo anywhere in the world using the base of artists who's interested in exhibiting their work and formats I am offering. Just find the place, print characters large, pour some drinks, invite as much people as you can and have fun.


["Punkiest" by Snork]
TOYSREVIL: Have I said "Excellent" already? Well, let me state it again, EXCELLENT! What's next for the Lunohod-1 Character EXPO?

SERGEY SAFONOV: Next step - we're traveling to Saint Petersburg, Russia for our second attempt. :) It should be early June.

TOYSREVIL: Cheers for your time and trouble, Sergey! And for you folks reading this, and are interested to get involved in this project, get your characters ready and stay tuned for updates, in time!