ITMO & Ars Electronica Festival: Grounding Cultural Project 

If you want to dive deep into the ITMO spirit at the start of this academic year, you’ve got your wish! Together with the Dokuchaev Central Soil Museum, ITMO’s own AIR gallery is hosting the Grounding cultural and educational project, which focuses on our connection to earth and how to rekindle it. It seems that in the past decades, humanity’s relationship with soil was one of desolation and exploitation, but at this exhibition, the artists tried to envision another one, more heartfelt and filled with care. The project is part of the Ars Electronica Festival, one of the world’s major art & science events – and thus offers technology as a medium for a new grounding in the unstable digital world. At ITMO’s AIR gallery, you will get to see topical video art, while the Dokuchaev Central Soil Museum will exhibit  works by technological artists from all over the globe. 

A Glimpse from the Future: Lost 21st-Century Temple of Lucca exhibition

Speaking about unstable digitality… It seems to be one of the crucial topics for contemporary artists, as yet another exhibition explores it in a new way. First, we got to see New Nature at Manege Central Exhibition Hall (here’s our review of this AR exhibition – it’s still open, so you have a chance to discover it yourself) that made us think of the image we will have in the eyes of our descendants. And now, there is a chance to get a unique sneak peek at the findings of an excavation in Lucca that happened in the year 3115. Bound to be filled with poignant allusions and surprising realizations, this exhibition is another chance to consider what we are leaving behind and whether or not we should change our impression on history. 

Battle on the Neva festival 

If you don’t want your weekend to be filled with philosophical ponderings on posterity, take a step into history beside the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Medieval knights, cosy bonfires, and magical music from local folk bands seem to fall right into autumn, warming your heart not unlike the woolen scarf on your neck. At the festival, you will see battle reenactments, get to take loads of cool unique pics, and take part in thematic activities – from shopping in a medieval market to even trying your hand at forging armor. What better way to unwind and leave your problems behind than a journey to the past? 

Trash to Fashion exhibition 

  • September 11 - October 10, 1 pm - 9 pm (12 pm - 9 pm on September 11)
  • Lines Space
  • free

Have you ever heard of sneakers made from coffee or lamps made from weeds? At this unique exhibition that is part of the Week of Northern Countries in St. Petersburg, you will get to see both and much more, discovering what sustainable fashion truly means. With so much goods produced excessively and so much waste, it’s only right that we should find new ways to recycle it and give it another life. Consider your consumption habits – or maybe kindle your creative habits, as you experience the exhibition. And don’t forget to also check out part of the Zero Waste Bistro project that was originally initiated by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York in 2018 to experience a concept of a circular-economy restaurant built with sustainable materials. Who says recycling can’t be fashionable?