The organizers of the Smena public art festival told us in which cities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory new murals will appear

The All-Russian festival of public art “Smena” will unite industrial cities of Russia for the second time. The key sites of the project will again be the cities of responsibility of SUEK-Krasnoyarsk and Siberian Generating Company in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

According to the organizer, the Melnichenko Foundation, the festival is expanding its geography to 17 settlements. In seven of them, participants will create new murals and also implement projects with local residents.

“Culture, like industry, is not a fixed fact, but a constant process. Renewal and being in continuous creative search is the only way to develop it. That’s why it’s so important for us that cities are filled not with stereotyped, but with original works of authorship that will become an integral part of their landscape,” said festival curator Vladimir Abikh.

The competitive selection of artists will last until March 31. The names of the winners will be announced in May, and their works will decorate the buildings throughout the summer. This year, sketches are accepted for specific facades in Nazarovo, as well as in Berezniki, Biysk, Vanino, Kovdor, Kotelnikovo and Leninsk-Kuznetsky. Artists will have to reflect in their works the architecture, history and industrial specifics of an industrial city or village. As last year, the organizers cover all expenses and provide the winners with a grant in the amount of 300 thousand rubles.

For the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the festival is becoming a good tradition. Last year, Smena already transformed the spaces of several areas of responsibility of SUEK-Krasnoyarsk and SGK. New murals appeared in Borodino, Nazarovo, Sharypovo and the coal mining village of Dubinino. The artists did not just decorate the facades, but created works that became points of attraction for local residents and city visitors.

The success of last season largely determined the decision of the organizers to again include Nazarovo in the festival route, and this is not the only reason for the creation of a new wall painting object here. In 2026, three anniversaries will be celebrated here: the city turns 65, the Nazarovsky open-pit mine turns 75, and the state district power plant of the same name will celebrate its 65th anniversary. As a gift, Nazarovo residents will receive two murals: one will appear on the facade of school No. 11, which is located in the construction village where the first builders of the station lived, the other will decorate the wall of the Nazarovo State District Power Plant.

Another mural as part of a special project will appear in the mining capital of the Krasnoyarsk Territory – the city of Borodino.

The festival is not limited to just creating murals. This year, the project team is launching collaborations with the School of Design of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and also involves local artists in their work.

Let us recall that the Smena festival was first held in 2025, uniting 15 industrial cities and workers’ settlements throughout Russia. A total of 29 murals were created by 20 artists. The festival’s partner is the Melnichenko Foundation, which implements projects aimed at the development of industrial cities and territories, including in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.