Organized by TAM – Theatre of Animation Art
If literary characters were our neighbors, where could we meet them? Perhaps, in a neighboring building, forest, or even in a public space. Reinterpreting the theme of this year’s Festival about the neighborhood, the creators decided to make a space where the imaginary world of books and real people coexist alongside.
The Book City combines several fantasy locations for kids and adults to have a rest and play games, where the characters from children’s fairy tales live. Each zone has its own principle of interaction.
The visitors will meet the characters of the classic Ukrainian books – Ivan the Powerful, Pan Kotskyi, and Painted Fox – which can be revived by anyone who will try to do that.
Seeing a lot at the fair, one can hide in the forest, meeting the characters of Tukoni, Huha Mokhovynka and other fancy creatures there.
Somewhere between the locations, one can see the houses, inside which Bluebeards, the Pluto Dog, and their neighbors are engaged in their everyday affairs. Visitors can change the details of their life and create new stories.
In the Book City, you can even see transforming columns with the face of the Magnificent Monster, the body of Microbot, and the legs of an ordinary festival visitor. In addition, you can also create your own neighbor: a collage creature that has not existed until now.
The Theater of Animation Art aims to better the Ukrainian classic and contemporary literary characters to the visitors and combine their images with the domestic and natural context. After all, each book read takes its place in one’s worldview. Due to the interactive format of the installation, the images and book stories give more vivid impressions, encouraging kids and adults to plunge into the space of a game and feel themselves the neighbors of long-known or still unfamiliar characters. And there is hope that this experience will revive the interest in reading and literature.