“Waterfront” 2020. Results

Dear friends! We would like to share a summary of the “Waterfront: Neighbourhood & Community” project activities from last year. That’s what we’ve done! 

 

The third stage of the project “Waterfront: tools & networks. Vol. 2” has started in February 2020. The previous 3 years have shown good results: in 2017 we made a large exhibition at “Sevkabel Port”, in 2018 we arranged a very interesting Urban Forum and in 2019 four teams worked with us to explore four waterfront locations in St. Petersburg. During this time, the project has gathered a lot of engaged people. Last year was also fruitful and interesting.

In February, we held an open discussion to outline plans for 2020. Then suddenly we all were isolated at homes, but we managed to stay active and make the project more public. We turned it into an open online discussion forum. We have been striving for this for two years and now we are pleased to have an active community around the Waterfront project.

Who participated in our meetings? Officials, urban planners, architects and urbanists, artists, businessmen and citizens. During open online discussions with experts, we talked about challenges with embankments of St. Petersburg and other regions.

Another important topic is legal issues of work with embankments. For example: how and with whom to coordinate the installation of art objects? We faced this problem in 2019 and want to find out all the nuances.

Here are the links to our online discussions (in Russian):

“Waterfronts and coastal areas: we need a plan!” (how to cooperate with various projects related to water in St. Petersburg): https://vk.com/wall-152592839_546

“Living Shores” (waterfront development in several Russian regions): https://vk.com/wall-152592839_614

“The right to water” (legal aspects of activities at coastal areas in Russia): https://vk.com/wall-152592839_640

We also worked with art. We have organised an Open call for artists for art interventions at the waterfront and received 42 applications! Our expert group has selected 6 winners. Their projects will be presented offline in spring and summer 2021.

In September 2020 we made a mocumentary performance with augmented reality “Silent City” about psychoacoustic anomalies found in St. Petersburg and surroundings. What it is? Have a look: https://vk.com/wall-152592839_692

In October we managed to test one of the Open call winning projects – Anna Martynenko’s “Vodaphone / water phone”. The artist has developed a device and a special route with instructions. You can have a look at one of the excursions where we listen rivers: https://vk.com/wall-152592839_704

In the fall, the “Hogweed Museum” was moved to Novaya Okhta due to a change in plans for the redevelopment of the previous location.

At the end of 2020, we made a whole issue dedicated to water at the “Ecology and Law” magazine.

We would like to thank all project participants for your interest, initiatives, suggestions, likes and comments. Thanks to this, our project is developing further. Stay tuned and follow us in social media for activities in 2021!