Despite the severe frost and the "unlucky" number of the festival, Zhar. Gorod was a success, delighting the visitors with a varied program and a whole series of architectural objects and installations made of snow and ice. A total of 14 such objects were completed - and each of them in its own way revealed the theme of the festival "Fire and Ice". According to the organizers, many teams decided what they would build directly on the "Archfarm", fully feeling the spirit of the place and breathing in the frosty air.
One of the brightest and most remote works from the center of the "Archfarm" was "The Edge of a Huge Disc Falling into the Lake" by the "Tyagai" team. According to the authors, this shape should embody “solid bulk heat”. The disc is made of ice cubes, located at the edge of the lake and resembles the rising sun, especially when illuminated at night. Like most of the teams at the current festival, Tyagai consisted mainly of girls, and they themselves did the hardest work on the construction of a large-scale ice facility. The object turned out to be beautiful and spectacular from any angle - both from the side of the lake and from the top of the hill that approaches the lake.
There were also teams at the festival that built two objects at a time. Among them is the team "Khiteka" (Ufa) with the objects "Echo of the Coming" and "Yolki", and the architects have developed their own technology for creating sculptures out of ice. So, for example, "Fir-trees" are a composition consisting of many plastic bags filled with water, which naturally froze in the cold. The corners of the packages form "thorns" - an integral part of the image of a coniferous tree.
The Affect team amazed the visitors with their Gas Station. The minimalist interior of the "column", in which there were not only pickles, but also strong drinks, traditional for the Russian winter, was brought to mind with the help of … irons. The hot soles of these household appliances proved to be indispensable for giving the icy surface a ceremonial gloss and transparency.
One of the main characters in Zhar. Gorod, of course, was frost - the architects said that even in the daytime the temperature at the Archfarm sometimes dropped below -27 degrees, which required a lot of courage from the sculptors. However, for many teams the frost even played into their hands, not only helping to build objects out of ice, but also inspiring the most unexpected images. So, the Milk team owes its CENO project to the unprecedented cold February: dreaming of warmth and comfort, seven girls came up with an installation of 11 cows emitting an even light. The animals, created from the icy fabric stretched at different angles, were housed in the premises of the former state farm calf barn. Therefore, the working title of this project - "Ghosts of Summer" - looks even more accurate than "CENO": as if before us are the ghosts of the former inhabitants of these walls. According to the unanimous opinion of the guests of the festival, the Moloko team has created the most lyrical and touching object in Zhar. Torod.
And the team “Easier” on the second floor of the same building, in the space of the former “Rodilka” (the place where cows calved), presented “Cradle” - a large-scale urbanistic installation made of snow and ice, amazing with its intimacy and subtlety of execution.
Of course, the weather made adjustments to the plans of the festival: there were fewer participants than the sketches sent. However, Olga Shanina, coordinator of Zhar. Gorod, noted that the frost did not spoil the general atmosphere of the holiday and collective architecture in the least: “Yes, initially many more participants were announced, but as a result many real polar explorers came.” “On the other hand, this is our first winter stay at Arkhfarm,” continues Olga Shanina, “so maybe it's even good that this festival turned out to be so chamber and homey, there was a place for everyone, everyone felt warm and comfortable.”
The composition of the festival itself has undergone noticeable changes this time: it has become younger, young people from Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Voronezh, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities have joined the ranks of its participants. The energy and optimism of the young teams in many ways formed the pleasant, relaxed atmosphere that distinguished the current Zhar. Gorod. The program of the festival also contributed to the maintenance of the team spirit: a large skating rink was flooded for active entertainment, and evening gatherings were organically combined with exciting lectures on architecture, which critic Nikolai Malinin sometimes read up to two in the morning. In general, despite its intimate nature, Zhar. Gorod was in no way inferior to the scale and audacity of the "Green City" and the romance of Zurbagan, and many guests and participants of this festival will feel really hot in their souls for many years to come.
[additional press photos from the organizers can be found here:
