NUR
Annual independent International Media Art Festival – 2021-2024. The name of the annual multiformat event organized by the formate studio stands for “New Unique Reality.” One of its objectives is to work carefully with the architecture of Kazan. During the festival, multimedia art creates new meanings for familiar places, while places that are less popular among tourists and locals regain attention. Since 2021, NUR has been bringing together creative industries representatives from all over the world and is currently one of the largest festivals in Russia. Besides installations, the program includes audiovisual performances, digital art exhibitions, and educational events.
Dvizhenie
Opening ceremony of Russia's leading real estate forum – 2024. Every year, the leading real estate forum in Russia, Dvizhenie, brings together thousands of industry professionals at Krasnaya Polyana. To surprise the guests of the opening ceremony of the 5th forum, formate specialists presented a unique combination of elements: different kinds of light, lasers, and graphics. The visual concept of the show was based on the idea of mankind's encounter with space. A mysterious entity in a sphere arrives to emit energy that drives the growth of new buildings, symbolizing people as stars that create new opportunities.
Tales of Time
A projection mapping tour through the history of the Spasskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin – 2023. While preparing the projection mapping show, formate studio examined the hundreds of years’ history of the main architectural symbol of Kazan. Images and sounds took the audience on an exciting journey through time. Each part of the show reflected some milestone in the tower’s history, from the 16th century to the present day, emphasizing the future. This allowed the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the significance of the Spasskaya Tower and its role in the cultural history of the city and the Republic of Tatarstan.
Fragments
Installation in the Consistory Tower of the Kazan Kremlin – 2024. The multimedia technologies have made the landmarked building a temporary storage space for pieces of human memory. The neural network helped the artists of the formate studio visualize the ideas. This tool was chosen for good reason: the generated elements are not the same as real images despite their strong resemblance; however, they can bring the past to life vividly. The installation made the memories tangible and brought up the viewers’ forgotten emotions, allowing them to reexperience the past.
TON
Scenic design for a music event held as part of the NUR festival – 2023-2024. “TON” means “night” in Tatar, and all events are designed to make the guests feel the spirit of the night. Each time, the music event takes place in a new and unusual location, and formate creates unique scenic designs for them using a wide range of tools.
Gazprombank
A projection mapping show on the facade of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg – 2023. The brand presentation within the show addressed two tasks: to describe the bank's advantages and to create an emotional connection with the audience. The projection mapping implemented by the formate studio reflected Gazprombank’s core values in a vivid and memorable image that strengthened the connection with customers and demonstrated the company’s mission.
Kazanysh
Graphics for the opening ceremony of the International Architecture and Construction Forum – 2023. The graphics for the opening ceremony were designed to convey the concept of the Kazanysh International Architecture and Construction Forum in 2023 – a reflection of identity. The visuals encouraged viewers to think about the importance of individuating the urban environment and revealing the uniqueness of each location. The images suggested the question: “How to preserve and strengthen the spirit of the city by creating spaces that reflect its history and culture?”
Prometheus
Projection mapping show with historical context for the Country of Light contemporary media art contest – 2022. The contest entry of the formate studio is dedicated to the key projects of Prometheus, a student design bureau from Kazan, that anticipated global trends in media art. The show was organized to present the events in a seamless chronological order and create a single narrative based on rare archival footage of the bureau’s activities and the architecture of Kazan. The expressive means demonstrated the synthesis of art, history, and modernity.
Peace and Kindness Cup
Multimedia show at the opening ceremony of the tennis tournament – 2020. The main theme of the opening ceremony of the annual sports event was the eternal aspiration to move forward. Our formate studio embraced it and used the metaphor of a ray as the basis for the visual and technical design of the ceremony. It became a symbol of both infinity and the trajectory of a tennis ball. A court was set up right in the concert hall, where the performers illustrated the dynamics of tennis through choreography. Special rackets with mirrors in the hands of the performers reflected laser beams and increased the emotional effect caused by the light. The synchronization of graphics and lasers made the show more spectacular.
Reality Tunnel
Installation in a closed gallery under the main pedestrian street of Kazan – 2022. The term “reality tunnel” was introduced by American psychologist Timothy Leary to describe an individual's perception of the world through the prism of mental filters formed by a person's beliefs and life experience. The eponymous installation by formate was an underground multimedia complex, where sound and light interacted with the viewers' sensations at the subconscious level. Unique visual effects from pixel-controlled LED bars and moving headlights were complemented by synchronized 3D sound, which enhanced the overall perception and deepened the immersion in the installation.
BOZ
Installation under the dome of the Kazan Circus – 2023. The name of the installation created by formate means “ice” in Tatar. The light refracted in the system of mirrors formed a special pattern, resembling cracks. The play of light and reflections took viewers into a world where all elements interact with each other, creating a sense of icy beauty and fragility.
DID Forum
Multimedia show as part of the opening ceremony of the Digital Innopolis Days (DID) forum – 2022. Every year, the Digital Innopolis Days (DID) forum, which focuses on the role of digitalization, attracts technology startups and the country’s innovation community to Russia’s youngest city. Through the computer graphics displayed at the opening ceremony, the formate team reflected the main idea of the event – we can transform along with the rapidly changing world.
Penta
Audiovisual art performance – 2023. “Penta” is an abbreviation for the name of the scale that underlies the musical theory of many world cultures. The performance explores the pentatonic phenomenon by trying to reconstruct the processes at the level of sound and image simultaneously. The audio consisted of traditional folk instruments and experimental electronic sound, while the visual part displayed pentatonic scale as visual imagery in real time. Penta premiered at the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and the Artplay Media Center for Digital Art in Kazan.
Judo Grand Slam Tournament
Opening ceremony of the judo tournament on the eve of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the World Championships in Budapest – 2021. The opening ceremony of the final top-level tournament was conceived by formate studio as an audiovisual narrative about the history and philosophy of judo. Visual elements of Japanese and Russian cultures were displayed on the tatami using projection mapping. The artistic synchronization of 80 lighting devices with the text and music created an atmosphere of tense expectation. At the climax, the audience applauded to support the tournament participants and “started” the heart of the champion.
Tamchy
Installation in the Tainitskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin – 2023. The Tainitskaya Tower was named after the secret (“tainyi” in Russian) passage to the spring from which the defenders of the Kazan Kremlin drew drinking water when the fortress was besieged. The installation by formate uses this fact to symbolize the resilience of the people who survived the harsh conditions. The feeling of calm and harmony was created by luminous kinetic spherical drops (“tamchy” in Tatar), and the meditative soundtrack conveyed the atmosphere of the tower in different seasons, increasing the effect of immersion.
NUR x Prostor
Digital art exhibition on the largest media facade of a sports facility in Europe – 2024. An unprecedented digital art exhibition resulted from the collaboration between the formate studio and VK’s Prostor creative platform as part of the NUR festival. The 3,700m² multimedia facade of Kazan’s Ak Bars Arena stadium showcased works by artists from around the world who had participated in an international open call. Their works demonstrated a unique combination of digital art and modern technologies.
NUR NOW
The world’s largest curated exhibition of digital art – 2024. The exhibition curated by formate considers art as a process of continuous creative transformation and shows the variety of means and forms of artistic expressions of authors in the digital environment. More than 140 works by digital artists were displayed on 154 projectors in 26 rooms of the 3,000m² pavilion. A dome was also used, which allowed viewers to experience the full immersion in the works.
Savin Premier
The opening ceremony of the third NUR International Media Art Festival in a residential neighborhood – 2023. In 2023, a collaboration between formate and the Sadovoye Koltso group of companies made it possible to hold a large-scale opening ceremony of the third NUR International Media Art Festival. The public ceremony, which included an open-air concert and the premiere of an installation, took place in the Savin City residential neighborhood in Kazan. The focus was on the generative graphics by formate studio, which complemented live performances by the LS Orchestra, neoclassical composer Nikola Melnikov, and singer Erika Lundmoen. The synergy of art and modern technologies was emphasized by a multimedia installation created by radugadesign studio, a participant of the festival, in a premium-class Savin Premier residential complex that was under construction.
DAWN — DUSK — DAWN
Installation by Pokras Lampas within the framework of the NUR Festival – 2023. For the NUR Festival, the founder of calligrafuturism, Pokras Lampas, created a portal where dawn and dusk, digital calligraphic VR sculptures, and video documentation of the writing process were cyclically changing. The collaboration between formate studio and RIM Media Group made it possible to open this portal simultaneously on 130 media facades across Kazan, creating the effect of unity.
