Archstoyanie Festival (архстояние)
To see more photos of Nikola-Lenivets and the Archstoyanie Festival, visit the hashtags #archstoyanie and #архстояние.
Four hours south of Moscow in Urga National Park lies the small village of Nikola-Lenivets. Once a failed farm collective, the rural town is now one of the most important sites of Russian contemporary art. Artist Nikolai Polissky led the vanguard in 1989 when he arrived as a painter and member of the underground Soviet art collective Mitki. Now the site boasts monumental land-art structures attuned to the seasons and harvests of the village.
Each year Nikola-Lenivets also hosts the Archstoyanie Festival (архстояние), the Russian equivalent of Burning Man with a particular focus on the interactions of art and landscape. This year, the festival features a 170 ft. trampoline, “Fast Track,” designed to slow down travel and let jumpers enjoy the forest around them.