Sunday Night in The Kingdom Of Gloom

Lost in the woods of Russia's Kaluga region, the art park in the village of Nikola-Lenivets is the largest park of land art, architecture, and contemporary design in Europe. Founded by artist Nikolay Polissky at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the park spans a landscape within the Ugra Nature Reserve, combining fields, rivers, forests, ravines, and remains of ancient human settlements. Over the decades, it has become one of the country's major independent art institutions, attracting artists and free-spirited individuals from the former USSR and around the world, establishing this remote location as an international "expo" of landscaping, architecture, and art. Since February 2022, as societal narratives in Russia shifted dramatically towards military mood and tradition under government pressure, the Nikola-Lenivets art park and the festivals held there have continued to pursue a peaceful agenda. It has become a center for the small generation of Russian millennials, who grew up with the ideals of being part of a global world, to find their place in a changed reality that no longer favours their values. The festivals that help fund the park’s continued operations—Archstoyanie, featuring contemporary art and design; Maslenitsa, Russian pagan holiday marking the end of winter; and Signal, an electronic music festival—remain small islands of joy and freedom amidst a kingdom of gloom for several thousands people gathering there few times a year. The artists participating in the festivals attempt to create a unique blend of international multiculturalism, pagan vibes, and reinterpretation of the past. Here, you can still meet people from abroad, hear different languages, and immerse yourself in music and performances, forgetting for a couple of days about the conflicts of the outside world, with nothing to kill or die for.