Gamma Festival – St. Petersburg’s Music, art, and urban culture festival

GAMMA festival is a large-scale avant-garde event held at the St. Petersburg experimental shipyard between July 14th and 16th. In 2016 it established itself as one of the most exciting Russian music festivals, and this year has grown in scale, with 85 modern musicians and artists from 15 countries coming to St. Petersburg to make for one of the top music, art and new urban festivals in Russia. 

GAMMA will showcase different genres of music, from academic neoclassicism to house music to experimental to deep techno, from a carefully curated selection of 85 artists from 15 countries. The likes of Regis, Dalhous, Rrose, Terrence Fixmer, Vatcian Shadow, Xosar, Kettenkarussell, Ø [PHASE], Mike Parker, Dustin, Emptyset, Hannah Eperson, Jan Kalinek, Marco and many more will all feature and cover may forward thinking musical bases.

GAMMA takes over a number of great locations including the Stepan Razin Brewery, the first Russian brewery founded in 1795, which will be the venue for the festival and the object of transformation. To date, a part of the factory is protected as an industrial monument and is no longer operational. It is here that five festival stages will be located, along with a large-scale exhibition of media installations, street art, architecture, and recycled art created by artists as part of the Artification project. 

The factory space allows you to travel in time, as it is here that the unique heritage of 18th century industrial architecture, the designs of the architects Jurgens and Bohnstedt, amazing arcades and shops, so much like museum spaces, coexist with powerful Soviet Constructivism. GAMMA will give new life to these walls, transforming and reimagining the industrial environment, and create a festival that will surprise and inspire.

In March 2017, the GAMMA festival launched a pilot project, Artification, aimed at supporting and developing various facets of contemporary art and new talents. The aim of the project is to foster interaction between young and experienced artists, to support the latest trends in contemporary art, and to unlock the potential of young Russian talents.

The theme chosen for Artification is “Transformation.” This involves change of shape and content, search for dialogue with the city and space through the artist and their work. Within two months we have received over 300 applications from artists who specialise in one of the four types of art: media, public art, architecture, or recycled art. After the closing date for applications, the curators and the jury will determine the best projects meeting the following three criteria: originality, relevancy, and feasibility.

The authors of selected works will be invited to a professional art camp in a country art residence where, during two weeks at the end of June, they will be preparing their objects for display on the main showground of GAMMA, the music, art, and new urban culture festival. And the guests will enjoy an exciting large-scale exhibition featuring the greatest modern artists in Russia.

More about Artifacation: https://vimeo.com/221724447

 http://www.gammafestival.ru/english