Intervals is an annual international multimedia art festival held in Nizhny Novgorod since 2017. It is organized by the Nizhny Novgorod light-show company Dreamlaser.[5] The festival bills itself as the largest media art festival in Russia.[4] It brings together multimedia installations, audiovisual performances, musical acts, and an educational program; most exhibitions are free of charge.[1]

Format and Program

The festival takes place every April and runs for four days. Each year a single theme is chosen: in 2026 it was "Sign / Symbol".[2] Venues span the Historic Center and outlying parts of the city — building façades, embankments, gardens, and industrial sites. Daytime programming fills indoor locations, while after dark urban spaces come alive with outdoor projections and light installations.[3]

The festival's permanent headquarters is the TSEKH* venue at 32 Varvarskaya Street. Opening-night concerts and evening music programs are traditionally held there as well.[1] Audiovisual performances take place at the Concert Warehouse at Strelka, and educational events are hosted at the Mayak Academy on the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment.[1] Regular venues include the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka, the exhibition warehouse at Strelka, the Rekord cultural center, Alexandrovsky Garden, and the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment.[2]

The musical program features concerts by Russian and international performers. In 2026, the evening program included rapper Husky, the group GLUM, Russian group Symbol, Nizhny Novgorod collective "Stantsiya metro Gorkovskaya," Chinese musician Yang Bing, and DJ Kirill Shapovalov.[1] The opening concert that same year was staged as a standalone theatrical production with a choir and choreographed performance; it was directed by Vladimir Varnava.[2]

The educational program is organized by Kafedra School.[5] In 2026, it comprised 36 events with online broadcasts; more than 30 speakers took part — media artists and senior executives from cultural institutions. Among the participants was Deputy Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region Berkovich Oleg.[2]

Participants and Installations

The festival attracts artists from various countries. In 2026, works by artists from Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia were presented.[2] Among the notable works that year was the installation CHRONOMORPH by the collective PANTERRA in Pavilion No. 2 of the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka, combining metal, screens, and smoke; more than five thousand people visited it on the opening day alone.[2] For the first time, the The Chkalov Staircase served as a screen for an audiovisual projection: Philip Rock's work ASCENT visualized the idea of ascent, creating a path of light across the steps.[2] Nizhny Novgorod studio dreamlaser presented the installation Strata on the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment and Transmission in Aleksandrovsky Garden.[2] German artist Dominik Kissling presented Waveworm — an object made of thin film in continuous motion driven by air and gravity.[2]

In 2025, the festival placed installations on, among other sites, the oil-cracking tower of the former Gorky Oil and Grease Plant, transforming an abandoned industrial structure into an artwork. The tradition of repurposing unconventional industrial spaces was established in 2019, when installations were first placed in the elevators of a flour mill and in freight warehouses.[6][3] A Taiwanese media artist presented the immersive installation "Being Somewhere, Sometime" in the TSEKH* space, while studio SILA SVETA, in collaboration with MTS Live, presented "The Singularity Point" — a meditation on the origin of the Universe.[3]

Audience and Recognition

Over the years, the festival has grown substantially in reach. In 2021, Intervals was included in the program of events dedicated to the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod.[6] In 2025, it was attended by more than 450,000 people,[5] and in 2026 by more than 530,000.[2] In 2026, the festival won the "Best Themed Festival" category at the bema! awards.[5]

The festival's curator is Ksyusha Chekhovskaya, who is responsible, among other things, for planning the routes of the urban media exhibition and selecting venues.[6]

In 2022, the festival was held in a two-stage format for the first time: in June, Intervals Teaser took place at the Strelka, timed to coincide with the "CIPR-2022" conference, while the main Intervals Festival ran from August 26 to 28; venues included the Strelka, Aleksandrovskiy Garden, the Kremlin, the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment, "Nizhpoligraf," and Shveytsariya Park.[6]

Sources

  1. nizhny800.ru — Nizhny 800 — The festival's curator is Ksyusha Chekhovskaya, who is responsible, among other things, for planning the routes of the urban media exhibition and selecting venues.
  1. V gorode N — INTERVALS — 2026 in Nizhny Novgorod: map and full festival program (archive)
  2. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Half a million viewers and 19 unique locations: How the INTERVALS 2026 festival went in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  3. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — A pack of robot dogs, a futuristic portal, and the origin of the Universe: How the Intervals 2025 media art festival went (archive)
  4. intervalsfest.com — Intervals Festival
  5. t-j.ru — Intervals 2026 Festival: program, dates, what to see (archive)