“Apparently it’s karma to save objects from strong winds at night.
In a blizzard, in the weak light of the moon, at a height and with a screwdriver in hand."
Ivan Ovchinnikov, facebook, March 2012
On April 1, ArchFarm in the Tula region was exactly one year old. The organizers survived the first winter, two festivals - summer and winter, the farm has its own production, where they make wooden furniture, stands, and custom-made objects. Now guests of the ArchFarm do not need to pitch tents in the hayloft - they can quite comfortably accommodate in different-colored houses with well-thought-out compact sleeping places. Every weekend there are guests - local schoolchildren come to the "skillful hands" circle, Moscow friends-architects, photographers, artists and editors of fashion magazines come to practice in the preparation of complex dishes in the local cuisine. The cows, who greeted the guests with thoughtful hums last summer, have moved to another farm. In winter, their place was taken by ghostly ice brothers - the heroes of the installation created in February for the Zhar. Gorod festival. By the spring, however, the ice cows had melted, making room for new experiments.
The clock shows three nights. The lecture on wooden constructivism has just ended. Previously, Vanya simply could not get it over with. And I need to ask about so many …
Yulia Zinkevich: What are ArchFarm's plans for the near future?
Ivan Ovchinnikov:
Already in May, the beginning of an experiment with permaculture and a street-art festival in nature, then in July the SEASONS festival, and most importantly, the first tenants begin to populate the farm.
This year we want to try a new format of the GORODA festival. The name of the festival "V_meste" is both about a place and about collective creativity. Anyone, not necessarily an architect, can take part in a competition for an object that would be a continuation of the Place, and, growing out of the environment and circumstances, would reveal its inner potential. Implementation is possible throughout the summer, and for two weeks in August there will be intensive construction with traditional seminars and lectures. In order to feel and understand the space with which we have to work, we are organizing on April 29 a seminar with a field trip. And at ArchMoscow we want to show the result - the works sent to the competition.
The beginning of the way
After graduating from Moscow Architectural Institute in 2003, did you immediately feel like an independent unit?
Well, probably, whoever has enough impudence, he feels so much.
Yes, to design a small house, but I still have not been able to design a really large building. Now it’s not interesting to me. Designing large objects takes many years, from idea to implementation, and I don't have enough patience, because here I have several objects per day. I solve everything: from large planning tasks to small fixing details.
That is, you are a sprinter, not a marathon runner. You like to run quickly and so that here it is, and you can feel it.
I like the result. Because for several years of work in the workshop of Andrey Asadov, I have not received any tangible result.
In the Assad workshop, do they build something all the time?
Yes, but here's an example - one building in Chimkent, on the project of which I worked. We designed it, gave the sketch, and the customer said that it was expensive for him to work with us and disappeared. Two years later, he sends a letter, photographs and invites, come … It was similar. They brought in some of their own local flavor, Kazakh, and it turned out wonderfully.
Are there any houses in Moscow about which you can say that you had a hand?
Yes. Now the Olympic bowling center is being completed on the Olympic Avenue. They came up with a general image before me, but I led it for a year and a half.
Prison and bag
“The topic of the diploma was not in vain.
You are from any room meter by meter now
you can create a six-bed bedroom"
Galya's wife
Between graduation from the institute and the beginning of work in the architectural studio, Ivan managed not only to travel, but also to sit in prison.
(Laughs) My thesis project was "Reconstruction of the Prison" at the Department of "Prom" by Andrei Leonidovich Gnezdilov, he works at "Ostozhenka". A prison is a very interesting, technological, structured object, with a rather rigid function; Piranesi was also inspired by this theme. I like it when the project has a clear framework, and not just a crazy flight of fantasy. For another year I did my diploma: I studied all sorts of fables, jokes, learned all the prison jokes via the Internet. Among my acquaintances, I could not find a person who would sit. In general, I passed my diploma …
That is, figuratively "sat in jail"?
No, and in life I had to. In my life I am a tourist-traveler, all my childhood I traveled on catamarans in the former USSR. And after passing the diploma I hitchhiked around Europe. Switzerland was not yet Schengen at that time, and I decided to visit my family friends in Zurich and illegally crossed the border between France and Switzerland. I was stopped by the traffic police, and I am without a visa. I spent three days in a pre-trial detention center in Zurich. There was no ruler, but they gave me paper to write letters, I knew that A4 paper is 210 by 297 mm, and I measured all the dimensions for it, all the dimensions of the skylight, calculated whether it corresponded to the norms, in general, I had a good time. Then I was deported.
Daddy's genes
Are you from an architectural family?
Yes, my dad studied at the Moscow Architectural Institute, graduated with honors. For two years he designed bomb shelters, and then made the best models for the whole country, which also moved, for the Cosmos pavilions at VDNKh and the Polytechnic Museum. It was know-how. There was such a factory of visual aids. He went there as a junior layout designer and in six months became the youngest foreman in the entire history of this office. And then I started decorating all sorts of holidays - we had a flatmate - the director of the pioneers' palace on Lengori.
He opened his business at the beginning of perestroika. Dad did not just invent, but also did it with his hands. From there I have such a love for manual work, for tools, for machines. And then dad began to make furniture for banks, and he still does it. Everything comes up "inside and out". They were among the first in Russia - the main suppliers of Sberbank, non-standard furniture, armored checkout points.
And you participated in this?
I grew up on all this. My dad taught me how to saw and plan from an early age. He worked a lot and for a long time with his father. Furniture assembler, constructor, manager. The first time I came before school. And I skipped half of the institute, because it was more interesting for me to assemble furniture in the workshop. And then for several years I led bank projects, starting with layouts and ending with all the "working" of this furniture.
Why then did you go to Asadov and not stay with your dad?
Because there was an idea to learn great architecture, gain knowledge. As a result, I learned how to draw beautiful pictures, but I didn't learn how to build.
How did you get into the workshop?
After the Swiss prison, he traveled, returned home and decided that he had to go to study architecture. I had several options, and first I went to Bashkaev. He says: come, I can take you as an assistant to the architect, you will design the apartment, which we have now, for the first six months, and then we'll see. And almost on the same day I just went for an interview with Asadov Sr., he looked at my nondescript portfolio at that time and said: "Oh!" …
And what was there in the portfolio?
Prison, my layouts are institute. Asadov says: great, we are now building a large multifunctional complex, you will be a leading architect. And I thought it was more interesting than helping to design an apartment for the first six months. The next morning I came to Asadov, but the complex had already fallen off. I sat for two weeks, and then moved on to the youngest, to Andrei Asadov. He worked for him for two years, and then began combining with "public" activities.
Scouts A and I
How did the City Festival come about?
It all started in 2005. I worked in the workshop of Andrey Asadov. It was with him that we came up with the first sortie, such a one-off open air. The backbone of the first festivals consisted of Moscow workshops.
Was this your general idea?
Yes, Andrey and I are very good at coming up with ideas. There is such a game "English scouts" … You must first say one word, then the second must guess the continuation, and in such games we perfectly complement each other. We just think in the same way, and besides, that Andrey was the boss, I was never ashamed to tell him what I think.
And until now, I often consult with Andrey, although Andrey is hardly involved in the organization anymore, his opinion is often important to me.
Did he become uninterested?
He is also interested in all this, just the festival is a crazy job, but Andrei still pulls the workshop.
That is, the organization of the festival requires a lot of effort, cannot be combined?
The festival has an organizational part and real construction. And here it is necessary not only to be able to swing an ax and to saw with a chainsaw, but to really know how to make sure that the water does not freeze in the hose. I have to solve such questions hundreds of times a day: how to conduct an electrician, how to make a particular unit. This is a job.
Trees and Cities
How did the first festival take place?
Galya, my wife, wanted our son to go to the New Years in the Union of Architects. And how can I enter there so young? And in the Union they tell me - now we are organizing a volunteer clean-up in Sukhanovo, come, maybe you can think of something interesting, we will take it right away. We went with Andrey Asadov, walked around, looked and thought that it would be great to get together with a get-together of architects for the weekend and build something at the same time. For example, to restore the destroyed pier. This is how the first "City" was invented. By the way, Danilka, my son, once went to a Christmas tree at the Union of Architects. And I never joined the Union because I didn't want to.
And how did it go in Sukhanovo?
The first open air was called "City on the Water", we restored the marina, and a hundred and fifty people gathered in an area twenty meters long and two to five meters wide.
I distinctly remember how I myself unloaded the first KAMAZ materials that arrived there. Then it was associated with the Union of Architects.
Were these short stories for the weekend?
Yes, this is how we held three festivals. In winter they built mainly from snow, because then we did not know ice technologies … It was a weekend trip, crazy, with some experiments. And after the third festival in Sukhanovo I got tired of it, especially since most of the objects were immediately dismantled by local residents for materials. I almost let go of this whole festival idea, until they started to fiddle with me, where will the next winter be? And I blurted out as a joke - let's spend it in Kirillov! The idea that some people get together and travel together seven hundred kilometers in a thirty-degree frost, then seemed complete nonsense.
And one hundred and fifty people followed you to Kirillov?
Two hundred even in my opinion. It was just complete madness.
That is, were they following you, or would you say that you will not go, but they would have gone on their own?
We went for the festival. I was the same age as the majority of the participants. Now I am already a little older for the guys. Now there are a huge number of these festivals, but then there was no particular movement. And for many, this was almost the only chance to escape somewhere together and to realize something. For many, the festival facilities were the first chance to build something. As the guys from Irkutsk and Vladivostok told us later on Baikal, they practically have no opportunity to communicate with Muscovites. There is Zodchestvo, where Muscovites usually do not exhibit, because it is not cool to stand next to the regions, and there is ArchMoscow, where there is no one except Muscovites.
And here we are creating an event where half a thousand people live together in tents, where everything is washed … Who cares who has a dad there - the chief architect of a city or a tractor driver?
Kirillov, Baikal, Altai, then everywhere …
Was it the first large-scale festival?
Yes, we were given a place right inside the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. We built installations that were arranged according to the plan of the fortress itself. And one evening Andrei and I were sitting in the refectory, silence, peace, and then Andrei just suggested - let's go to Baikal?
Grace descended on the territory of the monastery. After all, it's one thing to go to Vologda, and quite another to go to Baikal. It's wildly expensive and wildly far away. That is, this is a very serious decision. You also gathered two hundred people there?
Five hundred. It was Olkhon Island, a nature reserve near Shamanka Rock. We have always tried to connect the theme of the festival with the place, if it was Kirillov, then “Fortress City”, if Baikal, then “Shaman-City”, if Altai, then “Green City”, eco-friendly …
The most legendary festival was in Crimea at an abandoned military base - we were invited there by the site's investors - old friends of Asadov's workshop. We named our festival "Zurbagan" as the ideal city from Green's story.
Investors invited you not to build art objects, but to figure out what to do with the military base?
Each team had to draw a master plan as an additional task, but the main task was to build an art object. Seven hundred people gathered - a huge party. On the part of investors and owners, there were large investments.
Investments in what?
Investments in the organization. They then invited Grebenshchikov and staged amazing fireworks. There were crazy compositions, with music, with lights on the water, with lights in the sky.
What year is this?
2008. "Zurbagan" was when the crisis began. After the crisis, Andrey and I decided that I completely abandon big architecture and take up a small festival. From that time, in fact, I became completely autonomous …
How did it go further with autonomy from Asadov?
There was a winter festival in Kargopol, the next one was in Altai.
Did they last longer than the first festivals?
Altai - two weeks, winter - a week, Greece was also two weeks. It rolled like that, but at some point I already realized that I began to grow out of this and that the philosophy of wandering was beautiful in my youth …
We came to a new place, made a bright event there, left objects, they were immediately dismantled, these were investments in someone else's site, and investments that were not supported … But on the other hand, it was pure art.
From nomads to farmers
And where does the idea of "ArchFarm" come from? It's one thing to go on a hike, it's just a change of picture, and another thing to "settle down forever", this is a very definite consciousness, inaccessible to a city dweller.
It was born as a permanent festival site where it would be possible to create, and where objects would be preserved, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that something more could come of it, and the idea of an architectural farm was born. I found the site after I came up with the whole concept.
Nobody was chasing a real farm?
We thought that there would be either a field or a village. I was looking for a place: in Adygea, somewhere in the mountains, across Europe, I almost bought an abandoned village with Nikolai Belousov on the shores of Lake Galich.
How did Nikolay Belousov appear in "Cities" and "ArchFarm"?
We met Nikolai Vladimirovich before Greece, I invited him as a master of wooden architecture. He is in a good way crazy and young at heart, he fired up our idea and supported us.
How did you find this particular place?
We came up with a project - a house in a day - "Archpriyut" in Shukolovo (he was your winner at the last ARCHIWOOD). By the time the construction began, I had not slept for almost a week - it was necessary to make blanks … There was a whole truck of materials, with polycarbonate, with a bar, with everything else. We sawed and drilled everything with our own hands. The house was assembled in a day. Then everything was done on some kind of insane enthusiasm.
And then a young man comes up at a construction site and says that he has found us on the Internet and wants to help. "On," I say, "bring a log to you."
He plowed with us there until nightfall, and then said: "I heard that you are looking for land - come to us in the Zaoksky district." Before that, I talked there with the local administration, so, apparently, the head of the administration told him that there is interest. He spent the whole month that we lived there in "Archpriyut", came to us …
How much does this person have to do with architecture?
He does not have, but he is a very interested person who always learns something … The concept of new urbanism, which we want to implement here, also came from him.
The concept of the festival has also changed - do you teach technology to children now?
I try, yes. Students worry that they are not being taught. Because there is really not enough knowledge, there is no practice. We are trying to make up for this somehow and teach. I went through everything myself, starting with my father's school and ending with broken ribs at festivals, when the step between the lags took more than necessary, and the boards just fell through under me.
It sounds beautiful, "measured the step between the lags with my own ribs" …
I did not study everything under normal conditions. And now all this festival history has grown into an architectural farm project. And now the main idea is not a festival site, but a suburban creative cluster, where a person can not only create and work, but also live.
Do you really think that a conglomerate of people who want to move out of the city can gather on ArchFarm?
Yes. This is already self-organization. Someone comes and leaves, someone stays.
That is, this is a living process, you do not know how many there will be and who are they?
The cultural program of the festivals at ArchFarm is formed at the expense of those people who came here suddenly and brought with them absolutely amazing acquaintances. And this coincides with my thoughts … This is how it should be, so that people themselves are attracted.
Not by bread alone
Who finances you? How do you manage to make money?
Everyone always travels at their own expense. The festival is not a loss-making business, but simply unprofitable. Zero. I always wanted to make some money on this, but it never worked out, since for me the main thing was always creativity, not earnings, it didn’t work, but there was enough for bread. Eight years existed somehow.
There is no such thing as a salary?
Not. My head is set for creativity, although I understand that all this cannot exist for a long time without some kind of financial support, so now I am trying to make some money. So far, this has been doing well due to the production that supports us. Over the past year, we have created objects for the festivals Sretenka Design Week, Seasons, came up with a bar in the Hermitage garden, a playground in the microtown “In the forest” and much more. Now we are developing facilities for Gorky Park.
Local
You say that ordinary men from the surrounding villages work in your production. How do you get along with the locals?
The first negative experiences of communicating with the local population were in the summer, when cars with locals arrived. They just went out, tinkling with keys: we have been here since childhood, and you blocked our entrance to the lake. We said that we designated a water protection zone, one hundred meters. They asked to leave the car aside and go swimming in the water. And they want to have a fire, and a car at the same time, and hang out in it. The stoves were stolen from the baths that were built at the summer festival.
And how did you solve this issue?
We spent the winter at the ArchFarm together, friends came only on weekends. And we decided to establish contact with local people. The biggest heroine here is Olga Shanina, the coordinator of the ArchFarm programs. The locals wanted to start a war with us with pitchforks and shovels. Olya was not scared, she told them: come, we have chainsaws.
And then we decided to be friends with the locals.
The concept was this: to introduce culture through children. We came up with classes for local schoolchildren at ArchFarm. At first, they wanted me to work with the elders in production, because the boys do not have labor lessons. But I don't have enough time. Therefore, so far only Olya is engaged with younger students on Fridays. Is free. Now up to thirty children come to us.
That is, classes for children are a way to build relationships?
Yes, because it is impossible for adults who live in the village to hammer into their heads that they need to share garbage, they don’t need to throw cigarettes, they don’t need to use foul language. And the children see how everything is arranged with us and tell their parents. We are already perceived normally, and I think that relations with the surrounding population are changing in a positive direction. Children tell us that we are normal and that they like it here. And parents are unlikely to do badly to a place where their children feel good.
With your own hands
But do you continue to create something yourself besides organizing the festival?
At the last three or four festivals, I made sure to create my own object … This summer there was a "floating office". I built a very light structure, a tiny house that can be covered with an awning. The concept is as follows: I sailed from the shore, I loaded everything into the house, I have a solar battery, I have a laptop, wi-fi here catches on the territory, and I don't need anyone else. Either it was a joke, or really half of the commission was going to award him first place at the summer festival. But when they started actively discussing this, I said that I was not participating in the competition. In Greece, I made a "bridge to nowhere."
On a tree like this? My favorite. And then he collapsed?
Unknown. It was made hard enough.
In Veliky Ustyug we made Izbar as a big team. This is a fifty-meter ice bar, passing through a snowy hut. Moreover, the rack was still on fire. We filled the hut with a whole brigade for two weeks. It was necessary to block the three-meter span with snow, it was a great experiment, if it will stand it, it will not stand it. Some local guy came and said that all this would collapse, and the guys immediately became depressed. I myself was not completely sure that I would hold on, but I broke off and told them that they are all not architects, if they listen to the local peasant, and not think with their own heads.
What technology is there? Formwork is made and covered with snow from above. And then it needs to be cut out from the inside with a chainsaw. I went to do it at night, so that no one could see, alone … In the end, everything survived, stood. Now my main object is the whole Architectural Farm. Starting from the table at which we are sitting.
This year, as well as in previous years, there are many objects from ArchFerma in the ARCHIWOOD competition, including those made with your own hands. What is a tree for you?
This material is just beginning to reveal its possibilities to me. As I unloaded Kamaz alone with lumber for the first festival, I still only work with it. It all started with the usual edged material, then they mastered round timber, the topic of forest conservation and the use of dead wood began to develop. Recently there was a series of objects using scraps. In the "Shop of Architectural Forms", another of our projects, we begin to make furniture from old boards - really old ones, and not artificially rubbed.
