By the beginning of autumn, theatrical and dance street life will flow through the veins of Almaty. Passers-by will be treated to performances and art installations in free space, not limited by the walls of the exhibition halls. Farewell to summer in the largest city of Kazakhstan will be marked by Artbat Fest, an international festival of contemporary art, curated by the well-known in Russia Christina Steinbrecher, says columnist Dmitry Butkevich.

I would like to talk about the artistic project of our Kazakh neighbors. From August 28 to September 29, the fifth International Festival of Contemporary Art Artbat Fest will be held in Almaty. According to the organizers, the uniqueness of their project lies in the creation of cultural events that assume the absence of boundaries between artists, actors, musicians and the audience. This is what the Artbat Fest manifesto says: “Every City has the right to its own special holiday. Every Artist has the right to realize his ideas and plans, the right to have his own Viewer and Connoisseur. Every Viewer has the right to want to become an Artist at least once in his life.”

In practice, this means a series of events and activities organized on the streets and squares of the city. That is, simply put, public art in all its manifestations. A series of 15 street projects. Street performances, contemporary dance and theater performances. A street art project in which British street artist Sickboy, who signs Save the Youth, will paint one of the houses in the Samal microdistrict. "Exhibition Marathon" - several opening days in a row. Exhibition of young Kazakh artists "On Love and Other Teachers...". The main theme is love, and the title is taken from a film by Kazakh artist Ada Yu. The exhibition “Visual Library” of the Foundation for the Support of Contemporary Art by Vladimir Smirnov and Konstantin Sorokin. This is a project by Vladimir Logutov, dedicated to the birth of text in a new, visual-figurative plane of perception. One of the participants is Misha Most from Moscow. Finally, a personal exhibition of Ukrainian Oksana Mas “Cultural Code”, organized by the young Moscow Artwin Gallery.

The most interesting, in my opinion, is the project of a communication youth platform in a “non-central” city block. Artist and curator Gaisha Madanova, who lives in Germany, decided to transform one of the courtyards of Almaty in the Koktem microdistrict. Her plan will be realized by a group from Holland, Refund. They will work with wood and other waste. By the way, the name of the Artbat festival comes from the pedestrian zone in the center of Almaty. And the curator of the entire festival will be Christina Steinbrecher, well-known in Russia - the current art director of ViennaArtFair.

A series of events and activities will be organized on the streets and squares of Almaty"