vyksa steel works

Jul 22, 2023

goodwordnews 10 seconds ago 0 Vyksa is a small mono-industrial town, located in the southwest of the Nizhny Novgorod region, some 360 ​​km from Moscow. Its livelihood is a gigantic metallurgical plant, employing a quarter of its 58,000 inhabitants. But steel, ore, fire and foundries coexist side by side with more than a hundred street art pieces, numerous murals and sculptures scattered around the city, turning it into an open-air art center. The artworks were all created within the last 12 years, with the main catalyst being the Vyksa festival (ex Art-Ovrag festival). And it’s not just an in-between art festival, but an annual celebration of modern Russian culture, the first of its kind in the country, with the participation of the whole city. Vyksa is an example of a successful urban planning story in a so-called mono-city. It has escaped the grim fate faced by many post-Soviet industrial towns, of which there are more than 300, from the westernmost province of Kaliningrad to the Far East. What is a monocity A monocity or monotown is a settlement built around a factory of a single industry, in order to keep it in continuous operation. Some, like Vyksa, emerged in the Russian Empire, with the majority materializing under the planned economy of the Soviet Union. The post-Soviet reality of privatization proved disastrous for many single cities. Among the problems were the exodus of young people, infrastructure problems and the low activity of the population. But Vyksa persevered and managed to find her calling, transforming herself through modern art and urban culture. Vyksa Festival: Art and City Festival This year’s edition was held over two weekends at the end of June, bringing together dozens of events in the field of visual, musical, theatrical, architectural and even gastronomic performance. The entire program was created by residents of Vyksa in collaboration with famous artists, musicians, actors and directors. Organizers reported more than 35,000 visitors. “Such projects are growing and put Vyksa on the map of cultural events in the country. Not so long ago, no one even knew what kind of town it was, and now anyone interested in art and culture should know about Vyksa.Ekaterina Bochavar, curator of this year’s festival and director of the Moscow gallery, told reporters. Every two years the festival has a different art curator from the top of the Russian cultural scene. It is the synthesis of street culture and community engagement that helps form the city’s vibrant cultural landscape. All the art is on the street, and that’s specific to Vyksa. As an interactive part of the festival, locals act as guides in a kind of field trip. During one of them, called “To the houses”, tourists were invited to visit the houses of the inhabitants of Vyksa, try homemade dishes and listen to life stories. Others involved an urban exploration of art and parks, and there was also the chance to see how the steelworks work. “Contemporary art is not an object, contemporary art is a language, it is an opportunity to communicate with each other”noted Bochavar, adding that “the city changes incredibly from year to year and the people change”. The factory leading change Behind the transformation of the city is the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) factory, which operates six factories, occupying one third of the total area of ​​the city. Vyksa Steel Works forges the pipes used in Nord Stream and its foundries heat the ore that turns into wheels for high-speed trains. About 15,000 people work at the plant. It operates continuously, 24 hours a day, all year round. The objective was to invest in its workers and in a comfortable urban environment by creating the foundation ‘OMK-Uchastie’ (Participation). It started with social projects, before expanding to Vyksa festival and more. “For more than 10 years, from the idea of ​​a small festival, we have arrived at large-scale projects in culture, urban planning and social issues”Irina Sedykh, president of the foundation, said in an interview with the festival newspaper Vyksa. The largest mural in the world created by an artist The foundation also created the unique Industrial Street Art Park on the factory premises. The idea is that every year different street artists from Russia will put a mural on one of the walls of the factory. In 2017, one of the country’s first graffiti artists, Misha Most, painted the world’s largest mural created by a single artist, according to organizers at creative studio Artmossphere. And in 2020, the foundation commissioned what has become Erik Bulatov’s greatest work. The Soviet-born artist is one of the founders of the so-called Sots Art movement, the Soviet response to Andy Warhol’s Pop Art, “Sots” being a contraction of socialism and art. “Vyksa beckons and attracts. Today, hundreds of bright and creative people from all over Russia come here. They are looking for new emotions, inspiration, ideas and communication”Sedykh said, adding that “all of this helps people to look at the city in a new light, to be enchanted by it and to fall in love again”. Entertainment Not all news on the site expresses the point of view of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor. goodwordnews 10 seconds ago