In a sense, this happened because of the problems with finding a suitable platform. Mystetsky Arsenal, which used to host the festival, refused to do that a few years ago, thus placing the existence of the event under a threat.
This year, the masterminds found a new site, which seems to be even better than both Arsenal and the Dovzhenko Studio, where the fest was held last year. The fest will take place at the Kyiv Vydubychi Reinforced Concrete Constructions Plant. This is a cluster of abandoned industrial buildings, a city within the city.
It is a proven fact that industrial architecture suits all the genres of contemporary art almost perfectly. Art galleries, experimental theaters, concert halls all around the world are moved to former factories, power stations, and even mines. This tendency has reached Ukraine as well: an Art Center Isolation is open at the Donetsk Insulating Materials Plant.
When GogolFest guests got to the plant premises, they entered a small but genuine art country. The plant management was unexpectedly liberal, when they gave the artists full freedom of action. And it turned out that our artists are capable of so much, all you need to do is just keep out of their way.
The visual art program can be called the most successful part of the fest. The main workshop of the plant hosted a usual curator project by Pavlo Hudimov, an exhibition of the artists who have been working with the Ya Gallery. But the most interesting things happened outside. Paint, brushes, and large plywood sheets were given to all comers. Children, who came there with parents or grandparents, took pleasure in painting on walls and fences. Seeing a grandmother holding her grandkid up, so he could paint a flower on the window of the workshop, was what art festivals should be held for in the first place.
Professional artists did not lag behind: along the wall of the main workshop, they organized an exhibition of freshly created paintings, drawings, photos, mannequins, and other interesting pieces of rubbish that they found at the place.
A small concrete building with a deep basement near the plant entrance turned into a mix of an installation, a photo gallery, and a concert hall. Huge photo posters were hung on the walls of the basement, including works by one of the best Ukrainian photographers Oleksandr Chekmeniov.
Street artists became a real triumph. Not only were they allowed to paint, but a perfect space was given to them to do that: kilometers of concrete and brick walls. It turned out that when our graffiti artists are not bothered, they paint just as fine as their American colleagues. The plant walls turned into a huge gallery with real murals and installations to fit any taste.
Music was another strong compound of the festival. Rock music platforms were organized at the indie stage and Labkombinat gallery stage. A DJ was playing sets near the indie stage. Besides, peoples outside united for all kinds of music performances, they used guitars, drums, wind instruments. But the genre diversity was noticed here too, because the main stage was given to academic music performers. The “master class” consisted of a very interesting program of academic avant-garde with the best singers and extraordinary composers. The concert “18 songs for an actor who can sing” deserves special attention. These songs were written by the Kyiv composer Viktoria Poliova and performed by the wonderful Lviv actor and singer Natalka Polovynka. “Sleepy music,” a night concert by four talented Ukrainian authors (Sviatoslav Luniov, Alla Sahaikevych, Maksym Shalyhin, and Oleksii Retynsky), is worth mentioning too. During it, the audience made themselves comfortable at a… hayloft.
A cinema with an extremely interesting program, a number of lectures and master classes, theater plays and performances on numerous stages were among the most exciting events too. Art was everywhere, it literally floated in the air with music, smells of bonfires and Oriental spices.
GogolFest can be criticized for some moments concerning organization, or for some individual performers. But in Ukrainian a festival means “feast,” and this festival became a feast beyond any doubt. A feast of art and freedom, which we lack so much now.
