As soon as summer begins in Ukraine, thousands of Kyivans relocate from the city center to the capital`s outskirts in order to spend some time at a silk factory.
But they do it not to shop for textiles. Rather, people travel so far from downtown to cultural hot spot Art-zavod Platforma (Platforma Art Factory), which is located in the building of the former factory.
It took Platforma’s team only five years to turn an abandoned industrial building into what it is now — an art space that holds street food and music festivals, movie screenings, lectures, exhibitions, charity events, performances and parties.
“This is a place where people can relax, eat, dance and do whatever they want,” says Iryna Zolotarevska, the CEO of Platforma.
And in 2018 alone, the events held at Platforma were visited by over a million people from all over Ukraine.
According to Zolotarevska, Platforma was the first “factory-turned-art space” venue in Ukraine. Therefore, it has set trends for entrepreneurs and artist to turn abandoned industrial buildings into spots that are useful and attractive for society.
However, it is hard to imagine that this now lively and crowded venue full of entertainment for all tastes and budgets manufactured silk for over 40 years.
“We made an example that it is possible to breathe life into such places without any significant renovations,” Zolotarevska says.
Cultural spot
The silk factory was built in 1947 and operated in that capacity until 1991, when Ukraine became an independent country. Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the factory`s production level decreased and, in 1993, it was turned from a state-owned enterprise into an open joint-stock company and later into a closed joint-stock one.
The building was purchased by Israeli businessman Ofer Kerzner, who launched a shopping mall called Darynok on the factory’s premises in 2002. Kerzner is also a Consul of Ukraine to Israel.
According to Zolotarevska, it was Kerzner’s idea to create Platforma. Although it was initially designed to attract an audience to the shopping mall, the purpose has changed throughout the years due to the venue’s popularity among Kyiv citizens.
Zolotarevska says they officially founded Platforma in 2014 and soon launched the first event held at the venue, street food festival Ulichnaya Eda.
“It was a small event that took place in the venue’s parking area,” says Roman Tugashev, the founder of Ulichnaya Eda (street food in Russian).
Today, Ulichnaya Eda takes place at Platforma on a permanent basis attracting over 15,000 people to each of its events.
The team had to create some basic living conditions on the factory’s 120,000-square-meter territory in order to open a co-working space there. They replaced broken windows, repaired the heating system at some of the premises, got rid of litter, and also installed decorations, furniture and lighting.
Tugashev says 2014 was the “trial period” for Platforma, as it was a time when the team had only started to develop the concept of an art factory.
Everything changed when Platforma hosted the first “White Nights” music and dance festival in 2015 gathering thousands of guests on the factory’s premises.
According to Tugashev, the first “White Nights” festival was a completely new event for Kyiv. It combined an electronic music party with street food courts and various entertainment.
“It was a turning point for us,” Tugashev says.
Not only festivals
Eventually, it has become a routine for Kyiv citizens to spend their weekends at Platforma — a venue that holds a number of events including the charity ones, such as Charity Weekend and Kurazh Bazar, which recently moved to another venue.
“We give an opportunity to spend the weekends at one location that has everything people need,” Tugashev says.
Platforma’s team invites local and foreign DJs, world-renowned musicians and Ukrainian celebrities to almost every event. In 2018, the legendary British pop singer Elton John visited the venue for an event called “A Day with Elton John” that was held during the Kurazh Bazar charity market at the art factory.
“It was a surprise and a complete shock for our guests,” Zolotarevska says.
Each of the events that takes place at Platforma has its own theme and goal. Therefore, the factory’s territory is usually decorated with various sculptures and neon-light signs. For instance, during the Santa Muerte Carnival, which was held in 2018 for the first time, the factory was turned into a Mexican city with plenty of food courts offering Mexican food.
Apart from that, Platforma usually hosts the Comic Con Ukraine festival, which attracts thousands of fans of popular culture: movies, cartoons and comic books.
The entrance fee to all events held at Platforma costs from Hr 100 (just over $3) for one day.
“Everyone who comes to visit us finds something he or she would enjoy doing,” Zolotarevska says.
But this venue is not only about food festivals and music shows.
Today, Platforma is also home to an archery school, an alternative education school, a coffee shop, Ukrainian fashion designers’ studios, three-story co-working area and a gallery.
Launched in 2017, the modern gallery called Akt allows “talented but yet unknown Ukrainian artists to exhibit their artworks for free,” says Zolotarevska.
She also says that this year, apart from exhibitions, they also created 11 separate art workshops in order to give Ukrainian artists a place to create art pieces and then exhibit their works at Akt for free.
To select artists for Akt’s residency from all over Ukraine, the gallery conduct an open-call competition once a year.
“This is Platforma’s socially responsible project,” Zolotarevska says.
She also says that despite its success, the team does not plan to stop developing the location and launching new events and festivals that “the capital has never seen before.”
“We want our guests to enjoy the location to its fullest,” says Tugashev.
Platforma art factory. 1 Bilomorska St. Mon-Fri. 10 a. m. — 8 p. m. Sat-Sun – the schedule depends on the events. +38044 461 8810
