The international contemporary art festival GOGOLFEST Pokrova will take place in Zaporizhzhia from 1 to 4 October.
The event, recognised as one of Europe’s five best festivals by the EFFE Awards, will this year be held in a format adapted to the realities of frontline Zaporizhzhia.
This year’s festival concept is titled TimeCode. Through theatre, music, performances, contemporary art and discussions, participants will explore three dimensions of Ukrainian time — the past, present and future.
One of the central events will be Futurum, a large-scale project directed by Vladyslav Troitskyi. It will bring together the band DakhaBrakha and pupils from 15 underground schools in Zaporizhzhia. The musicians’ performance in an underground space will be combined with simultaneous performances by children and digital broadcasts connecting the schools, creating a single artistic network across the city.
The theatre programme will include the Ukrainian premiere of the chamber opera Skovoroda. Shevchenko. Stus by DakhTrio and the Swiss one-woman show Be My Margaret!, which will be presented in Ukrainian for the first time.
A separate part of the festival will focus on music and contemporary sound. The programme will feature Ukrainian electronic music, experimental projects and special performances adapted to the acoustics of underground spaces.
GOGOLFEST will also host discussions and practical laboratories focusing on the development of local communities, the transformation of public spaces in frontline cities and the future of Zaporizhzhia after the war.
Safety has become one of the key principles shaping the festival programme. Around 95% of events will take place in protected underground spaces, including shelters, underground schools, car parks and other secure locations.
“Holding the largest contemporary art festival just 30 kilometres from the front in Zaporizhzhia today means developing a new generation of practical tools for safe interaction instead of allowing Ukrainian cultural life to be paralysed, as Russia seeks to do. We are creating a precedent in which the city’s underground educational spaces are connected into a single digital network for one evening. Children who live under the daily threat of attacks will work together with Vladyslav Troitskyi and DakhaBrakha to create a new language of technological art. This provides a ready-made model for how frontline communities can integrate young audiences into culture while guaranteeing their safety,” said festival programme director Anna Basova.
For security reasons, organisers will not publish the specific addresses and locations of events in advance. Venue information will be provided to registered participants.
GOGOLFEST Pokrova is being held with the support of the Zaporizhzhia City Council and the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration. Organisers say holding the festival in Zaporizhzhia provides an opportunity to preserve and develop the city’s contemporary cultural life while adapting it to wartime conditions and creating a safe space for art, communication and new cultural projects.
All festival events require advance registration. For security reasons, registered participants will receive the location by email one day before each event.
