Moskvarium at VDHN will for the first time host the Horizon eco-festival from 5 June to 4 July. Guests will be offered a free educational programme over the course of a month: performances for children, popular science shows, lectures presented by scientists, public talks with celebrities, workshops, a game room and much more. Admission to the festival is free.
Horizon is a new festival for family audiences devoted to environmentally friendly lifestyles. The event is being organised by the Moskvarium oceanography and marine biology centre at VDNH. The festival will comprise four thematic weeks: Lifestyle, Fashion, Business and Art. The programme will feature Russian show business celebrities supporting environmental projects and initiatives like Nusha, Aleksey Kortnev, Gosha Kutsenko and Valdis Pelsh. The children's programme will be opened by Alexander Tolmachev, a popular science personality, radio host and author of encyclopedias. During the festival, Moskvarium will set up a special station for collecting old batteries and sort garbage: paper waste, glass waste, plastic bottles and caps.
The Lifestyle week will last from 5 to 13 June and focus on environmental education. Guests will learn about which of our daily habits cause irrevocable environmental harm, what we should do to preserve nature, as well as what role modern technology plays in protecting the environment.
Fashion week will run from 14 to 20 June. Industry experts will answer relevant questions about the fashion industry, such as what is 'fast fashion' and how does it damage the environment? How do the clothes we buy contribute to global catastrophe? What are the end results of overproduction? Festival participants will learn how to make their wardrobe more environmentally friendly. Stylists, designers and environmental scientists will talk about what to do with old or worn-out pieces of clothing.
The Business week takes place 21 to 27 June, which will focus on a professional approach to recycling. Visitors will be instructed on how to properly recycle waste and whether they can actually make money off of it, how to reuse old things instead of simply disposing of them, as well as how to set up a recycling business or support an existing recycling outfit.
The festival will end with an Arts held from 28 June to 4 July. Experts will talk about whether waste can be beautiful, what Trash Art is and about the work of modern eco-artists. Participants will learn about how to catch trash from the ocean and turn it into a piece of art. Guests can create an art project together to draw public attention to the planet's environmental problems.
14 June will be the Blogger Day, which will bring together the leading personalities covering environmental issues. On 27 June, Moskvarium will host a science section. Scientists will discuss various types of contamination, climate change, microplastic and their environmental impacts on flora and fauna of the world's oceans.
The festival will feature a total of more than 50 lectures, along with conversations with experts specialising in environmental protection and the environment.
In addition, during the festival from 5 June to 4 July, guests can attend a free unique photo exhibition called White Sea: People and Nature. The photographs on display were taken by National Geographic photographer Victor Lyagushkin, famous for his underwater shots, and winner of numerous international photography competitions and the national award Underwater World. The exposition was created specifically for the festival to highlight environmental issues by examining the link between humans and nature. It comprises of 20 photographs depicting people and animals.
You can check out the full programme of the Horizon festival on its official website.
All the events held at Moskvarium follow the sanitary requirements to limit the spread of COVID-19.