600 people took part in the Beskhaznoe Mesto project in Tobolsk

28 august 2023

Tobolsk has just seen the completion of a theatrical and artistic project about the past, present and future of the building of the former Vocational Lyceum No. 11 known as the Beskhaznoe Mesto. The project was implemented as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program. The project's name is an amalgamation of the educational institution's popular nickname and a description of its current state.

The project's masterminds which include the association for the development of the cultural scene "From Time to Time", the Free Youth Theater, and students of the design department of the A. A. Alyabiev Children's School of Arts and Culture tried to look at the place without any preconceptions and explore its real history together with the visitors. Simultaneously, artists, designers, actors and directors experimented with the building in its future new capacity: as part of the True Tobolsk urban environment development program implemented jointly by the regional government, the Tobolsk city administration and SIBUR, the building will be refurbished and converted into a cultural center.

Some 600 people have taken part in the project. Weekend events in August ran up to a total of 24 hours of immersion in the history of the ex-professional lyceum by means of art including walks around the building with an audio guide narrative that is based on the memoirs of former students of what was once Vocational school No. 11, and an exhibition of artwork by design students inspired by the artifacts discovered at the site. The artifacts themselves were displayed at an archival exposition that invited visitors to get involved in exploring the building's past. One could stay face to face with Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker movie in the space of the building's abandoned library.

Olga Solodova, director of the Free Youth Theater:

We came up the idea of a series of activities that would not have fit within the framework of our core work, while this rundown space allows us to try something that is not customary for us. Whether it's creating an artistic audio guide or an exclusive movie theater, these aren't really theatrical activities, they're on the periphery of theatrical forms.

In addition, every weekend was filled with premieres. The dance performance titled "GPTU" offered an opportunity to reflect on the history of the place through the body language, while the show "How the janitor and the painter read Pushkin" was an invitation to think about life's two major forces - love and destruction.

Evgeny Popov, a member of the cast of the "How the janitor and the painter read Pushkin" show:

For me, this was a string of amazing discoveries. I discovered Pushkin's "Songs of the Western Slavs", marveled at the wealth of various connotations found in an abandoned building, and saw from within how shows are produced!

Antonina Kramchanina, spectator:

It seems to me that I had so planned my time that I could attend all of these events every weekend. I managed to attend almost all of them, except for the screening, as the registration window was closing quickly because there were so many people who had wanted to go. But thanks to the audio guide, I learned a lot about the history of the place.

The project came to fruition thanks to SIBUR's social investment program The Formula for Good Deeds and Tobolsk City Administration's Department of Culture and Tourism, as well as the contribution of caring residents.