On Saturday, I caught the last evening of Gogolfest. I gave myself a whirlwind tour of the complex which reminded me very much of an abandon barracks complex we briefly occupied in Afghanistan in 2002. Part industrial, part park. Mysterious shadows from the past around every corner.
I looked at some installation art, watched part of a movie about Russian-speaking, Asiatic-looking people and their reindeer, listened to rock and roll and to strange trance music. I grew a little impatient with the people who seemed to be performing to the trance music. They were in a field below the surrounding sidewalks, and people crowded the railings looking down at them — women in flowing white robes, a man painted bronze. I grew impatient, because mostly, they just stood there.
Anyway, I loved the feel the place. Very experimental, which is completely appropriate for a festival named for the author of The Nose.
