Cultural Festival ‘GogolFEST’ Returns to Ukraine

Between Oct. 18 and 20, the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia will host “GogolFEST,” an international festival of contemporary art, for the first time in the city’s history. 

The festival was included in the EFFE Awards’ top five in Europe from 700+ candidates.

The event will be opened with a nine-meter installation, which is the central piece of the future memorial complex “Planting. Tree of Memory” in the form of a huge metal tree, on each branch a bright memory of the soldiers who gave their lives for the freedom and victory of the Ukrainian people is engraved. The creator of the memorial complex is director and active military officer Dmytro Kostyumynskyi.

The program includes performances by famous Ukrainian bands such as Dakh Daughters, Pyrig and Batig, and Zapaska.

The cult performance “Mary's City” will be performed for the first time in Ukraine after eight performances at the largest European theater festival in Avignon, France. The audience will also be treated to the Ukrainian-German project “Mother's Heart: Children Save Our Tears,” a play about the tragedy of mothers whose children are at the front, directed by Vladyslav Troitsky. The show is set to tour in Hamburg immediately after the festival. Visitors can also watch the play “Sunny People,” which has also been presented at leading European venues, most recently in Switzerland, Germany, Poland and France, among other countries.

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There will also be a multimedia installation, “Shelter Pokrova,” in the bomb shelter – a place of peace where you can listen to the creations of Ukrainian authors and see the works of Ukrainian artists. With another art object, an interactive construction made of old suitcases, visitors can put something special for themselves and supplement the installation.

More details about the program are available here. 

This year’s festival has a new mission and is dedicated to Pokrova – the Day of Protection by Higher Forces of soldiers who defend their country, their faith, and their people, said the director of “GogolFEST,” Maksym Demskyi.

The event will also honor the Day of the Ukrainian Cossacks, who three centuries ago struggled for the establishment of Ukrainian Independence and statehood, the flourishing of its culture and self-identity.

The number of tickets is limited and can be purchased here. 

About the festival

“GogolFEST” is an international festival of contemporary art.

During 18 years of activity, it gathered 600,000 spectators – twice as much as the population of Venice – and launched 8 journeys of the GOGOL Train, the first art train in Europe.

The festival was held in Kyiv, Kherson, Dnipro and Mariupol. Special festival programs were also held in Oslo, Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Prague and other European cities.

In 2024, Lublin received the title of “European Capital of Culture-2029,” and within the framework of this competition, the Ukrainian program will be represented by “GogolFEST” – the first full-fledged integration and presentation of the Ukrainian cultural sector on the European arena as a separate stratum.

This year’s festival aims to support the residents of frontline Zaporizhzhia with modern Ukrainian interpretations. This is not entertainment per se, but a deep rethinking of common experience and the search for new ways of development and life in today’s conditions, said festival director Demskyi.

The festival has two important missions:

• External mission: to talk about Ukraine in the world as a country with a developed modern culture, as cultural diplomacy holds the key to helping the world learn more about the war and support Ukraine.
• Internal mission – to fill the information space inside the country with modern pro-Ukrainian narratives without leaving empty gaps for pro-Russian propaganda; to create an environment that motivates the younger generation to stay in Ukraine and participate in its reconstruction.

During the event, all safety standards will be observed: Most of the events will take place inside the shelters, while others will take place in buildings equipped with bomb shelters. “GogolFEST” will be held with the support of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, Zaporizhzhia City Council and MetInvest, an international steel and mining group with operations in Ukraine.