ao2018

project team

2019

ART OVRAG «USEFUL ART»
Vyksa, Nizhny Novgorod region
2019

area: 300 ha
program: cultural festival
more than 10 sites

The largest festival outside Moscow was held in the city of Vyksa for the eighth time. An extensive program was distributed at more than ten sites of the city and many high-profile names were announced at home. More than 12 thousand guests from all over the country plunged into the atmosphere filled with creativity and air of a wonderful transformation of the space of a harsh metallurgical city into a center of art.

That year the theme of the festival sounded like «Useful Art». On the one hand, this phrase is paradoxical, because in the literal sense art cannot be useful, nevertheless we are sure that art can not only be useful, but should also be useful! And one of our main tasks was to attract and involve the city in this topic through participation in a parallel program.

Especially for Vyksa, street artist Timofey Radya (T-Radya), one of the most promising young artists according to Forbes magazine, created a neon installation in the center of Vyksa. The multimedia exhibition «Everyday transformations» was prepared by curator Natalya Fuchs along with media artists Elena Nikolole, Dmitry Morozov and Ildar Yakubov. Avant-garde factories, the legacy of architect Vladimir Shukhov, historical chronicles and personal stories of citizens inspired the authors to create works of art using new technologies.

ZASTOLYE

zaSTOLye is a noticeable artistic event of the festival, which united the townspeople in the same way as a joint lunch usually unites the family. A hundred-meter table, covered with a roulette tablecloth, temporarily became a new public space on the square: for three days, residents of the city of Vyksa treated each other to food, joined poetic improvisations, listened and sang songs, danced, and also participated in non-standard sessions of simultaneous chess and checkers.

Designed by French artist Bertrand Gosselin and stage designer Lawrence Falzon, implemented the Lepse House of Culture, the SPAM Theater and the TRAXCE team.

RAFTS

Art rafts were traditionally «responsible» for the opening and closing of the festival. These are full-fledged small vessels that will continue to roll everyone on board all summer.

TIMOTHY RADYA INSTALLATION

The light installation of one of the most famous young Russian street artists Timofey Radya «It is not a dream» is located in the abandoned Posadka forest park at the intersection of Ostrovsky and Chernyshevsky streets. The abandoned park has become a new point of attraction in the city.

As the artist himself notes, «a dream, whether it is nightmarish or beautiful, remains a dream. And it often seems to me that the city is the darkest forest that deceives a person, makes him wander in himself for many years. Therefore, we need an antidote, a short, radiant, nihilistic spell».

PASSION FOR MARTIN

The theatrical performance of the director and choreographer Anna Abalikhina «Passion for Martin» went all over the festival days. The action of the five-part steel production mystery unfolded at the current metallurgical plant! The sounds of huge moving cranes and vocals merged with a musical score, which used recordings of a working open-hearth workshop. The event is dedicated to the end of the entire era of production - the last open-hearth workshop in Russia was closed in March 2018.

Factory workers, volunteers and students of the local music school participated in the suspension.

In total, three performances took place - one on each day of the festival. «Passion for Martin» received high ratings from theater critics.

ART OVRAG STOPS

That year the festival presented Vykse with an ensemble of art stops, which are opened at a certain angle and folded into the words ART and OVRAG. Stopping pavilions were developed by the Druzhba Bureau as part of the All-Russian Open Competition. The letters are made of locally made metal pipes and painted with bright red paint.

The main theme of the art object is the communication environment, several ports for charging phones and a communication system are built into the pipes, with which waiting vehicles can have fun transmitting messages to each other.

PIROGOV'S ART YARD 6

The opening of the children's art square took place on the second day of the festival. The space of the courtyard of Pirogov was developed together with the residents of Vyksa – children and adults. Between the sports school and the children's art school, instead of dusty parking, there is now a bright multifunctional platform.