On July 26, 2023, a meeting was held International Discussion Club “VISION 3000” with the support of the Government of Moscow (Department of National Policy and Interregional Relations of the City of Moscow, GBU “Moscow House of Nationalities”) in the Moscow House of Nationalities.
The agenda of the meeting was devoted to the topic “Cultural dialogue. Interethnic relations”.
The speaker was Elena Kruglova, a producer of art projects. ️Artist. Founder and head of the World of Modern Watercolors community in Moscow. ️Founder of the Russian charity project for children with disabilities – Workshop of young superheroes ”I am the creator!”
Elena Alexandrovna revealed the topic “Watercolor – as the language of international communications”
In the conditions of modern culture, there is a great interest in art exhibitions as a form of international cultural exchange. One of the leading positions today is occupied by biennales and festivals of contemporary art.
Today, watercolor as a form of fine art is very underestimated in Russia by artists. She is considered a kind of preparatory stage for a large oil painting. It is even classified not as painting, but as graphics.
Thus, it is worth noting that watercolor captures the world at a stunning pace. For 10 years now, competitions and festivals have been held in many countries of the world by the IWS international watercolor community, where watercolorists from all over the world gather.
And it’s no secret that in Europe and in the West, watercolor is considered a separate, independent art form – and not painting, and not graphics.
We can safely say that now the silver age of watercolors has truly come.
Unfortunately, watercolor festivals of this format have never been held in Russia. So the idea was born to create a watercolor community in Moscow, the purpose of which would be to popularize watercolor creativity, to open new names to the world of Russian artists, and to show the world’s creativity of watercolorists not on the Internet, but to create a live communication with the works of masters in one space.
So, society got a life in 2019. And the first international festival was held the same year.
The festival has exceeded all our expectations!
They say that the first pancake lump was not about us. 36 countries, 100 artists from all over the world, 200 works, 7000 visitors in 5 days of the exhibition.
Our project was supported by the chief architect of Moscow Sergey Kuznetsov (he also headed the Expert Council of the Society, as well as world-class watercolorists: Elena Bazanova, Olga Litvinenko, Ilya Ibryaev, Sergey Kurbatov). The project was supported by such legendary personalities as Leo Valeryanovich Leshchenko, Nikas Safronov, Alexander Shaganov, Ilyas Aidarov..
Holding international art festivals promotes not only creative exchange between artists and curators, but also allows for dialogue and integration of different cultures (the entire palette of the world’s watercolor art) into a single gallery space, thereby bringing together the arts of different countries.
International cooperation is being promoted, contacts are being established and expanded. And, most importantly, the public and political resonance of such projects extends to the spheres of tourism and diplomacy, has an impact on the development of the world art market.
In addition to the formation of a single cultural space, the exchange of experience, the support of talented artists from all over the world, the discovery of new names; increasing the prestige of the profession; stimulating public interest in the world and domestic watercolor art.
In addition to all of the above, an art exhibition within the framework of festivals and biennales, and in itself as a separate project, is an element of the socialization of art and has enormous significance for culture – after all, it is one of the main ways in which art exists, is understood and functions.
Preparation for each project requires a lot of resources and effort].
For 5 years The Society has conducted 9 significant art projects. Of these, 4 are international, also Russian, Moscow, online.
Will cover a large geography. More than 40 participating countries: Canada, USA, England, Italy, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Greece, India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Colombia, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, Belarus, Bulgaria, etc.
More than 2000 artists from all over the world took part
More than 700 new names have entered the world lease of watercolors
More than 200 master classes and demos on watercolors were held (demonstration of techniques and techniques of the world’s leading artists, acquaintance with the peculiarities of national schools of different countries)
We have more than 20 art partners of the Society (the Nevsky Palette Art Paint Factory, one of the whales in Russia for the sale of art materials “Red Pencil”, GAMMA, Malevich, the Italian brand Fabriano, the English brand Daniel Smith, the English brand Escoda, and so on.
We were described in international and Russian magazines and the press. More than 100 media publications.
The photo gallery presents only a small part of the watercolor works that took part in festivals and exhibitions.
Summing up the report, I would like to note that
International festivals reflect the most important processes of public life: international political and economic relations, the relationship between the individual and society.
After all, each historical epoch forms its own type of person, its own social environment and evolutionary stage of development. And it is art that reflects this as a mirror.
And the active dissemination, popularization and increasing importance of art festivals – as an integral part of the artistic process, contributes to the integration of regional culture into the international context.