GOGOLFEST (Ukrainian: Гогольфест) is an annual multidisciplinary international festival of contemporary art and cinema in Kyiv, Ukraine, dedicated to the famous writer Mykola Gogol.
[1][2][3] GOGOLFEST was founded in 2007 on the private initiative of Vladislav Troitsky, director and producer of the DAKh Center for Contemporary Art.
The co-founder of the Festival and Chairman of its Board of Trustees is Evgeni Utkin, a prominent Ukrainian IT entrepreneur.
The festival is, however, committed to artistic diversity and has also produced the plays of Russian, Italian, Spanish, Swiss and Hungarian theatres.
Most significant were editions of various foreign writers, among others Paul Riceour, Hanna Arendt, Michel de Montaigne, Blaise Pascal, Sergey Averintsev, Charles Taylor, Reinhart Koselleck, Elie Wiesel, as well as Ukrainian authors Ivan Dzyuba, Mykhaylyna Kotsyubyns’ka, Viktor Malakhov, Maryna Novikova, Myron Petrovs’kyi, Vadym Skurativs’kyi, among others.
Examples include street artist duo Roti and Kislow's mural, created explicitly for the festival.
This is the official website's statement on the future and expansion of the venue: “Mystetskyi Arsenal is already negotiating with the leading museums of Ukraine and the world in order to exhibit collections of art masterpieces in Ukraine, among them a big project on the heritage of Kazimir Malevich, international projects on contemporary art, exhibitions of works by Frida Kahlo, Edward Munch, Gustav Klimt, masters of the Austrian Secession, and Surrealist artists.” In 2010, the festival moved to Dovzhenko Film Studios – named for the Ukrainian director Oleksander Dovzhenko.
The train had several special carriages where, on the way to StartUp GOGOLFEST, parties, musical performances and presentations took place.