Students of the College of Mining and Ceramics Named After A. K. Savin, students of IT-Cube Children’s Digital Training Center, as well as their teachers visited the event with Evgenia Nikitina, the organizer of the “No Dark” Illumination Arts Festival held in Yekaterinburg. The event took place on the 19th of January in Art-Satka within SATKA.LAB Cultural and Educational Project.

The first festival was held 12 years ago. Only two artists and 20 spectators attended it. Today, “No Dark” is one of the popular and expected events in the cultural life of Yekaterinburg. The number of artists continues growing from year to year. They represent their illuminated objects, professional artists work together with amateurs, who are keen on contemporary arts. For example, in February 2022, Evgeny Andreyev, the director of the Representative Office of Magnezit Group in Chelyabinsk, presented the “Endangered Species” project. Using the neon tape, the author depicted the animals from the Red Book of the Chelyabinsk region: an otter, a European mink, a stiff-tailed duck, an Otis tarda, a whimbrel, a net-winged beetle, and a Freija fritillary. The object was named so also due to the light effect: when the light is switched off, the figures “disappear” one by one.

- Each installation carries its own senses and depicts the reality through the lens of the artists’ perception. The majority of them tell the stories related to Yekaterinburg. As it is in the story about the crocodile, which appeared by means of play of light and shadow. This summer, some rumors were heard that a road police group had noticed a crocodile in the Iset river. Some media even published the story. As the water is never frozen up in this place, we decided to play on it. It seems that the illuminated object is a warning for the residents to be careful. The crocodile may still stay in the water, says Evgenia Nikitina.

The curator of “No Dark” familiarized the visitors in detail not only with the background and photo archive of the festival, but also revealed some technical and organizational details, which were of interest equal to that for the creative concept. Many visitors considered the idea attractive.

- It would be interesting to organize such a festival in Satka. The city has some places with their own stories. We also have a number of creative residents. If you really want something, you will succeed, assures Evgeny Vekshin, the future electrician, the third-year student of the College of Mining and Ceramics Named After A. K. Savin.

Source: Magnezitovets. Photo by Vasily Maximov