XXI festival “Zodchesvo in Siberia 2021”

The Festival “Zodchestvo of Eastern Siberia” was founded at the turn of the millennium. The first Festival was held in 2001 at Irkutsk Sibexpocenter and caused a massive outcry among the architectural community in Siberia and throughout the country. Later the Festival “Zodchestvo of Eastern Siberia” became one of the most important annual architectural events in Russia. The first participants of the Festival were the architects from Eastern Siberia (such cities as Irkutsk, Angarsk, Bratsk, Chita and Krasnoyarsk, republics of Buryatia, Tyva, Khakassia, as well as Ust-Ordynsky and Aginsky national districts of Buryatia). Since 2007 architects from Western Siberia (Omsk and Barnaul) have also participated in the Festival. The Festival becomes open. The most topical issues are discussed at the Discussion Club of the Festival. Among the most prominent experts are A. Rappaport, O. Vendina, L. Kogan, A. Vysokovsky, A. Gimelstein, A.Kaftanov, M. Rozhansky, V. Dyatlov, A. Ivanov, D. Fesenko, A. Sirina, A. Finogenov. Prominent Russian architects give master classes, which enjoy great popularity. Thanks to the Festival, within twenty years, Siberian architects have met with masters from the capitals: Y. Gnedovsky, A. Asadov, S. Kiselev, A. Skokan, A. Bavykin, V. Plotkin, A. Savin, A. Cheltsov, A. Pavlova, S. Skuratov, N. Yavein, T. Kuzembaev, M. Mamoshin, Yu. Zemtsov, A. Bokov, T. Bashkaev, S. Gnedovsky, A. Chernikhov, V. Kuzmin, foreign architects M. Drahovsky, D. Dendra, G. Stanishev, as well as Siberian experts I. Popovsky, A. Myakota, P. Anisiforov, A. Dering and many other colleagues. The organizers consider the Festival to be a preparation stage for the International Festival “Zodchestvo” in Moscow. “Zodchestvo of Eastern Siberia” is traditionally held in Irkutsk. In 2014 it was first held in Krasnoyarsk, and in 2017 Krasnoyarsk housed the Festival for the second time. In the same year, Altai architects proposed to hold the next Festival in Barnaul. Thus, the Festival went beyond the borders of Eastern Siberia. We decided to maintain the name of the Festival, filling it with a new geographical meaning: “Zodchestvo in Siberia”. In 2018 the Festival was held in Barnaul, the capital of Altai, and in 2019 it was held in Tomsk. The twentieth-anniversary event took place on the native land, the city of Irkutsk. This year, Kemerovo celebrates the 300th anniversary of Kuzbass and hospitably hosts the Festival “Zodchestvo in Siberia 2021”.

The Survivor's Suite: The Life of the International Festival of Ethnological Film in Belgrade through Interesting Times

This paper is an attempt, based on many years of following the International Festival of Ethnological Film, organized by the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, to provide insight into the way in which it has so far fulfilled its purpose, while at the same time experiencing tumultuous, occasionally even tragic events and processes. The main question concerns the way in which “interesting times” have left their mark on and shaped the world of human experience of people who have lived through them, thus also film production and festival practice. The phrase “interesting times” is used in the sense in which it was used by the historian Eric Hobsbawm, who used it as a label for “the most extraordinary and terrible century in human history”. Two elements are of prime importance in the paper – the assumption that “interesting times” can exist simultaneously with, and can cause or heighten emotional and creative tension, and also the fact that the limited possibilities that the resulting states of mind and initiatives can be fulfilled through the usual channels, such as political ones, can lead to attempts to satisfy them through art or cultural forms. Film production and festival activities can, under certain circumstances, offer alternative channels for expressing moods and content that arise or are enhanced during “interesting times”. On the one hand, the framework for analysis will provide reflections on the nature and the possible social roles of film festivals, including festivals of documentary and ethnographic films. Essentially, it will be necessary to consider the questions of the types of experiences provided by the Festival to its participants and attendees, the cinematic experiences it offers, and the specific aims and ideologies advocated as part of it. On the other hand, relying on valuable testimony in the form of the Festival Catalogue, words and images which testify to the achievements of the Festival will be identified. At the very beginning, in the turbulent times when political orders were overthrown, along with legal and ethical frameworks, it seemed that the Festival had managed to be conceptually ahead of its time. It was a dream come true and a model for many, a place where “miracles” happened. After a number of years, its long history temporarily weakened the Festival's creative potential. The times became somewhat less interesting, slightly dull even, and the Festival followed suit. And yet through all the changes, the Festival has not ceased to be a place where people meet and learn; a place where images inspire thoughts, and thoughts seek visual means of expression; a place where, by meeting Others, we learn something about ourselves as well, but also a place where by seeking to find a way to represent ourselves, we enrich Others.

A HISTORY OF THE MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY “MEDIATING CAMERA”

The Ninth International FestivalBiennale “Mediating Camera” was held in Moscow in May 2021. This is the first Russian festival organized on the principles of visual anthropology and still adhering to that vision. The present article reports on the festival, the history of its establishment and development, and the changes it endured in the first twenty years since the turn of the millennium. The introduction briefly discusses visual anthropology and its situation in the USSR on the eve of Perestroika. The next section describes the first Russian documentary film festivals with similar angles. Further in the article, the authors discuss the approaches and principles adopted by the festival’s creators, a volunteer group of Moscow State University’s Center for Visual Anthropology. The main focus of attention is the initial period of the festival’s formation, when the organizers’ approaches to organizing the festival first took shape.

Remembering Molly MacEwen: Sue Harries and Alasdair MacEwen in Conversation

Molly MacEwen’s design career took off after serving as Micheál mac Liammóir’s apprentice at the Dublin Gate during the mid-1930s and following her design work on the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. MacEwen went on to make a significant contribution to Irish and Scottish theatre design that has received little recognition in existing theatre scholarship. Illustrated by images of materials from (for the most part) the Scottish Theatre Archive’s Molly MacEwen collection (1948-1961), this article comprises an introduction to MacEwen, followed by a composite of selected conversations from interviews with MacEwen’s niece, Sue Harries, and nephew, Alasdair MacEwen. We learn of MacEwan’s familial and personal links to continental Europe, her unrequited devotion to mac Liammóir, and her successes in designing at Glasgow’s Citizens’ Theatre and for the Edinburgh International Festival after leaving the Gate in 1947 to work in Scotland. The dialogues in this article also reveal that MacEwen was a very shy and retiring woman, and that the men with whom she worked – including Edwards, mac Liammóir, and Tyrone Guthrie – took her for granted and possibly diminished the extent of her work. This situation, combined with gender inequalities and the collaborative nature of MacEwen’s design roles, may have led to her work being overlooked at the time and in pertinent publications on design and theatre. This article seeks to go some way towards recovering MacEwen’s important achievements for theatre history. Key Words: Molly MacEwen, Dublin Gate Theatre, Scottish theatre, design, women in theatre, Edinburgh International Festival, Michéal mac Liammóir

Carillon: History and Performing Capabilities of the Musical Instrument, its “Philosophy” and Prospects of Development in Ukrainian Culture

The article focuses on the history of origin, the specifics of sound production, the philosophy of performance of the carillon – a European musical instrument, which in recent decades has become active in Ukraine. The purpose of the research is to analyze the history of the carillon origin, its design, technical and expressive means of sound extraction and musical representation of composition and performance. Research methodology. The article uses historical, axiological, musicological and culturological approaches and corresponding methods. The historical-chronological method is used to consider the history of origin, stages of carillon distribution in Europe and the world, axiological – to determine the artistic and psychotherapeutic value of bell (carillon) sound, musicological and culturological methods contribute to various analysis’ aspects of the place and meaning of Ukrainian carillon. Scientific novelty of research. A historical retrospective of the carillon’s spread has been carried out; generalizations regarding its constructive, melodic-intonation, technical, figurative-artistic properties, in particular, in the Ukrainian sound space, have been introduced into the scientific circulation of Ukrainian musicology. Conclusions. The history of the creation of stationary and mobile carillons in Ukraine, stages of entering the specified musical instrument into the Ukrainian sound space, the character of the repertoire performed on it, pedagogical and performing aspects of its popularization have been analyzed. The dynamics of the International Festival of Bell and Carillon Art ‘Bells of Yasna Hora Unite Everyone’ is noted. The performance possibilities of the timbre combination of the carillon with other instruments and singing voices are noted. The technical and expressive significance of synthesizing carillon and the ensemble of bandurists has been highlighted and analyzed. Textural variation of ensemble combination of carillon and ensemble of bandurists and possibilities of thematic and genre extension of repertoire has been proposed.

Bridging the gap between novel and stage play : Interview with Simmer Chinodya on Harvest of Thorns

This interview is based on Shimmer Chinodya's internationally acclaimed novel of 1989, Harvest of Thorns, which was adapted by the author himself for stage and presented during 2013 the Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa) as a stage drama. It was staged to a capacity crowd on April 30, 2013 at 7 Arts Theatre in Harare, Zimbabwe. I caught up with Shimmer Chinodya on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 and interviewed him about the goings on behind the scenes because he had adapted his own novel to a stage play and was producing it himself. I wanted Shimmer Chinodya to tackle directly the general issues and problematic of the subject of adaptation; what do you choose to pick (and why?) from events in a huge novel such as Harvest of Thorns? This means that I wanted him to think about what guided his gaze. I was also keen on having him reflect why he went solo; to the extent of writing, adapting, directing and producing -all by himself. The interview brings a novel approach to critiquing the gap that exists in researches on bridging gaps across literary genres of the novel and the stage play and their criticism.

Walking with and in-between: Interrogating tensions in a public garden space

An embodied becoming-with of artist, visitor and curator forms intriguing tensions at the Jardins de Métis (Reford Gardens) in Quebec, Canada. Collecting the resonant material, human, non-human and more-than-human frequencies in both a heritage setting and an international festival of landscape design, my research emerged intuitively. Frequent event-encounters coalesced into two audiowalks, amplifying psychogeographic tensions within the multiple narratives of the environment. A new project is unfolding in these gardens in collaboration with the Montreal Museum of Fine Art’s Innovation Lab, incubating a design for an interactive multisensory interface. Through walking as event-experience, a layered assemblage of site images and agential intra-actions queries the multiple tensions at play.