SERHII MYROSHNYCHENKO (Kostiantynivka, Ukraine)

Serhii Myroshnychenko, Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region — co-founder of The Most Fest and DRUZI Free Space. In 2017, a new public space was created in the industrial zone of Kostiantynivka, within the framework of the Metacity:East project by City Code Team, DRUZI Free Space, Formation Design Studio. In the hangar next to it a mural by Kickit Art Studio appeared that decoded the story of Glassograd. The first festival in the industrial area was also placed there, TheMostFest, a meeting place for urban and electronic music which gathered about 400 local residents.

In 2018, the festival expanded, took place for two days and gathered about 2000 visitors from all over the country, and even from abroad. The theme of the festival was the connection: it is a combination of nature and world context, a combination of the history of the place, and the city in the results of the urban research. The rapprochement of the shores, and, most importantly, the combination of people. The festival program included music, cinema, urban workshops, artistic master classes, dancing, river hikes and much more. The organizers plan to make TheMostFest annually, make it a symbol of the city and region, and to scale the fest.

“Our goal is not the festival itself. Rather, it is a logical consequence of our team’s research and annual work. We really want this festival to be the starting point for the revitalization of the industrial area of ​​our city, and it is huge. All cities of our region have similar problems — dead industrial areas, abandoned buildings, lack of youth activity, of development in the context of modern times. We offer an alternative way of developing these cities and territories. Festivals are not a panacea, but I believe that such events are rays of hope, which are very necessary for the local people, for which they hold, inspire and begin to change themselves and everything around them” — Serhii shares with us. To listen to his full story — come to the full-time conference Plan B 2018. Let’s meet in 4 days!