Tobolsk hosted the Iconic Place festival for the second year in a row
25 july 2022
Tobolsk’s main square was chosen as the venue of The Iconic Place,
a city-wide festival of contemporary art. The project is being implemented with the support of SIBUR and its Formula for Good Deeds social investment program. RASKRASIMVSYO, a team of professional artists, is responsible for the project’s execution. The festival’s primary mission is to help establish a creative community of the city’s residents while involving individuals belonging to various age groups in spending their leisure time together and in helping develop cultural traditions.
The festival’s busy program spans a diverse range of contemporary art activities including master classes on customizing shopping bags, assembling and stylizing traditional Russian headdresses, the kokoshniks, workshops on gold-plating and calligraphy, and interactive performances on adorning art objects with drawings.
The festival also featured a lecture program where visitors could attend a series lectures on the origins and history of the Russian folk dress, on various types of prints on fabrics, and on the evolution of the old Russian garments, given by Natalia Kalashnikova, professor of cultural studies with the Russian Ethnography Museum.
The festival’s guests were offered to share their impressions of the event and evaluate SIBUR’s contribution to the development of Tobolsk residents’ creative potential:
The Krivovs, Vladislav and Tamara: The festival was a lot of fun. We were able to take part in a workshop on crafting shopping bags and had a great time dancing to folk tunes. Many thanks to the organizers for such a festive gathering and a fun way to spend one’s weekend.
Tatyana Magucheva: What a great event! This is my second visit here and every time the festival’s organizers manage to come up with something new. I found the lectures about the folk dress particularly informative and interesting as they were presented by someone who devoted all her career to this topic. We exchanged our contact details with many of attending artists so that we can continue following their work and successes. The festival’s organization was top-notch: there was a map with the schedule of all events and there were volunteers who helped us and answered all our questions.
In just one day, the festival’s events were attended by 2,000 visitors of whom some 550 could take part in the workshops put on by the festival’s craftsmen and artists, and attend lectures. The festival culminated in a prize drawing ceremony featuring gifts prepared by SIBUR for the festival’s participants, and a concert given by local music bands and by the event’s headliners: EtnoZapiL and CANTADORA.