Since September 12, the 5th Ural Industrial Biennale Of Contemporary Art began in Yekaterinburg and other Ural cities. This year, the research of relations between life and death in the context of materialistic search for immortality became one of the key focuses of the event. People are narrow-minded about state-of-the-art technologies becoming ever more addicted to them. And this ousts original traditions and in-depth implications of the human nature that had been formed throughout centuries.

The main biennale exhibition that will run until December 1, 2019 will take place in the Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant in Yekaterinburg. The exhibition is the kind of mosaic with a variety of stories merging and contrasting to each other: Fire, Labor and Boredom, Jelly Fish, Changing Lives and others.

Some biennale events will be deployed in Yekaterinburg’s movie theater, Coliseum. September 12 – 15 saw the discovery conference take place here introducing various materials on the Immortality theme to the attendees.

October 28 – 30, Coliseum will also host the forum that will become the centerpiece of the Industry and Culture project. Its participants will take part in a variety of panel discussions and practical laboratories. Both Russian and international speakers will research experience of development of the creative economy in the industrial regions and culture/business interaction.

Additionally, it is planned to hold the Laboratory of the Industrial educational session. 25 delegates of the small and medium-sized cities of the Perm Region and Ural Region are invited to attend it.

10 special projects will be presented to the public during the biennale. What happens after death? What does the present embody in? What will we leave behind? Artists all over the world try to rethink the answers to these and other questions in their creativity.

The art residence programme will become one of the strategic projects of the Ural Industrial Biennale. It was first launched during the 2nd biennale in 2012. Since then, more than 20 artists from 9 countries that created over 30 art objects took part in the programme. 

The performance of the Satka’s art residence, "Infinity", was also included in the special projects. Olga Kiselyova, an artist, head of the Art and Science Department of Sorbonne University (Paris) created a huge symbol of infinity that impresses with its large scale. One-kilometer long red canvas was placed in the space of the industrial landscape in the Beryozovsky quarry of Magnezit Group.

– This is a dimension of infinity of the nature we protect from adverse effect of industrial hazards. At the same time, the industrial heritage is also a cultural phenomenon. We deliver the industrial aesthetics to the forefront, show its beauty, – Olga explained.

This year, Katya Shenker, a Swiss artist, performer and sculptor, also presents her work in Satka’s biennale art residence. Her work is based on Gardens of Rainer Maria Rilke. The poem describes life and death of the tree, and this process found its metaphoric response in creativity of Katya Shenker.

The artists had spent a lot of time researching quarries in the vicinity of Satka in detail. This research resulted in the huge imprint of Karagaysky open cut on the long canvas. This is how a new landscape appeared in front of the audience delivering the feelings the artist had while in the open cut. Its ruins are not only a symbol of death. They continue living in their new destination and seem to be eternal.

The deliverables the invited artists got after interaction with the Industrial of the Urals can be seen in the final biennale exhibition at Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant. An important note: the Plant is an ongoing concern that is why those, who would like to merge with the atmosphere of contemporary art, should have the identity document with them.