Festival as blueprint of future

This year’s GogolFest is perhaps particular in being held in wartime – for the first time in all the years of its existence. Its most conspicuous mark are Azov battalion fighters who stand in various points in the groups of two or three, holding the colors of their unit and wearing black from head to toe, with covered faces, and collect donations for their battalion’s needs.

Luckily, this does not hinder the festival. GogolFest has clearly gained in scope. The classical music hall is now much more comfortable, while the cinema theater has moved to the better-equipped premises. There also are two new venues: Fresh Stage and Slow Speed. Situated in a long hangar, the Fresh Stage is for an alternative musical program, with performers themselves taking care of this space.

As for the Slow Speed, it is by far the most romantic location. It is near the works at a Dnipro motorboat marina. “Slow speed” is in fact a number of warning notices at the entrance to and exit from the pontoon-protected part of the river body, where boats moor. The place is full of hammocks, people exchange things here, beat the drums, practice yoga, draw on paper, and produce electricity for evening movie shows by turning the pedals of a bicycle-based generator.

So, GogolFest is on the top again thanks to a spectacular venue and the atmosphere of an uninterrupted multi-genre soiree. Compared to the previous years, there are much more open-air small restaurants and cafes of all kinds and shops that sell souvenirs, pollution-free and other items. There are more music, pictures on the walls, and merrymaking. In a way, it is Kyiv’s most artistic marketplace, where art and commerce have intertwined in a most bizarre manner.

You can just wander from shop to shop and from concert to concert, which seem to be endless. You can get dressed from head to toe, for there is a big fair of trademark clothes and accessories. You can bring children here – they were taken care of this year: there are several places where kids can play around, draw, or learn something, while the former Auditorium hall isnow a big children’s area. On the whole, you can feel a stronger emphasis on interaction with the city community. There are master classes, seminars, and lectures every day. You can choose things to your taste, such as listening to a recorded play, watching a film, making something from paper, straw or clay (the ceramics class is just called “It’s Clay”), or simply lounging in a hammock or on the straw.

All this helped turn – for 10 days – the monotonous shop floor into a self-contained area of not just freedom but of a continuous creative elan, when everybody can feel that s/he is an artist.

As for the main program, our splendid septet – the female freak cabaret Dakh Daughters – seems to be the star attraction. You can only envy the talent and hard work of these seven girls. They take part in the opening performance. They appear on stage with the French electronic band Orkestronika and totally outdo the French performers, as far as vivacity and drive are concerned. They are also the liveliest part of In-Depth Dreams, a docudrama by Virliana Tkach dedicated to the Donbas. On September 19 they will give a concert with similar naughty youngsters – cult electro punks from the band Hammerman Kills Viruses. They are also bound to knock down everybody at the close of the festival, for they are going to perform together with the poet and prose writer Serhii Zhadan.

But still, the social component is above all. You can spend the whole day with your family at GogolFest, not only entertaining, but also learning something new or making something with your own hands.

It is here that the future shows up. If we really keep moving to Europe, there will be more places like this, but the reverse is also true – this kind of initiatives will bring us closer to Europe. GogolFest is the sketch of a new civilizational reality in Ukraine, which is being born in such throes.