Festival history

The festival grew out of a 2015 party held at the Sklad club, which was at that time the most underground venue in Nizhny Novgorod. The event was organized by the SVETOFON collective, with technical support from the company dreamlaser. The audiovisual program was mesmerizing, and that night Sklad gathered around 350 people under one roof. The name INTERVALS reflected the concept of creative interaction between visual artists and musicians. This name was inherited by the festival and now is interpreted in various ways by everyone.

In 2017, INTERVALS adopted the format of an audiovisual festival. The rich program, held at Nizhpolygraph, was divided into three intervals: daytime, educational, and nighttime. A map of events and locations helped visitors navigate the extensive venue. The festival took place on June 3 - nearly 24 hours of diverse interactions with media art, marking the beginning of a new chapter. The INTERVALS 2017 program was attended by 2,500 people.

Media artists: Andrey Flat, KEDR, dreamlaser, Magic-tools (Kseniya Pankratova, Russia, Netherlands), radugadesign, Scope.XYZ (Czech Republic), Nelli Khilchenko, Pyotr Smirnov.

Audiovisual program: tsu & Misak, Salama & Moving wall, Silence Television (Alex Zaripov) & Andrey Flat, STRUTTURA Synkronized & Alexander Dzhizus, Waxforme & Idwyr, XΛN & Andrey Flat.

Organizers: dreamlaser, Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

Curator: Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

In 2019, INTERVALS became truly large-scale! The participants represented several countries, and the media exhibition expanded to 12 locations across Nizhny Novgorod.

For the first time, IF '19 events were held not only in Nizhny - the series of VJ-parties "Come and Shine" by INTERVALS took place in various cities across Russia. These parties served as a platform for media artists and musicians to connect and helped promote Russian media art overall.

Following the festival, a multimedia concert by Benjamin Skepper & radugadesign was held at the P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory in 2019.

Media artists: Andrey Berger aka Aber, Daniel Rossa (Germany), dreamlaser, Evgeniy Bespalko, Ivan Kabalin, Maria Olinenko, Ouchhh (Turkey), Platon Infante, Shohei Fujimoto (Japan), Vadim Epstein, Vladimir Abikh, 404.zero, Stanislav Glazov aka Litch Pfad (Germany).

Musicians: Broken Composers, Fatima Al Qadiri (Kuwait, Germany), Iglooghost (UK), Long Arm, Low Tape, Moa Pillar, RNBWS, Shadowax, Synkronized, Yung Acid, Aleksey Bobrovskiy, Viner Stanislav, Glazov aka Litch Pfad (Germany), finalists of the Intervals 2019 competition.

Organizers: dreamlaser, Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

Curator: Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

During the pandemic year, we held the festival in an experimental teaser format while maintaining its international scope. Over three weeks, INTERVALS TEASER attracted more than 60,000 viewers! We are glad that despite the lockdown, the festival took place, as this vibrant encounter with media art was much needed by many.

Media artists: Bordos (Hungary), Cao Yuxi (USA, China), dreamlaser & wave.me, dreamlaser & Anny Ly, dreamlaser & Aleks Zaripov, Katerina Pits (VJkET) (Russia, Ukraine), KEDR, Laszlo Zsolt, Ivan Gorokhov (MESHSPLASH), Sergey Lobodin (Cyber Tiger).

Organizers: dreamlaser, Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

Curator: Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

INTERVALS 2021 was a highlight of the 800th anniversary celebration of Nizhny Novgorod. This year, the media exhibition featured a record number at that time of outdoor and indoor works by international and Russian media artists.

Besides the media exhibition, the festival included an extensive event program: musical events, audiovisual performances and shows, as well as an educational program featuring lectures and workshops by artists, festival curators, and representatives of multimedia studios.

Media artists: Aizek, Alexandre Le Guillou (France), Antimotion, arthew0, Boris Vitazek (Slovakia), Daniel Rossa (Germany), dreamlaser, Hypnotica (Azerbaijan), ILLUMINARIUM3000, Kuflex, Ko Hui (Korea), Lite Light, MAOTIK (France), NONOTAK (France), radugadesign, François Quévillon (Canada), Roman Shtein, Sila Sveta, Stain, United Visual Artists (UK), SOTA+, Yoshi Sodeoka (Japan), Viktor Polyakov, Sergey Lobodin (Cyber Tiger), open call finalists, and an open call finalist from the Pitch bureau.

Organizers: dreamlaser, Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

Curator: Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

In 2022, the festival continued to expand its geography - routes became longer and started to go beyond the historic city center. Among the new locations were Planetarium No. 1 and the Shveytsariya Park. Additionally, IF '22 for the first time involved volunteers - active media art enthusiasts who helped with organization and brought an even more welcoming atmosphere to the festival.

INTERVALS 2022 also expanded beyond Nizhny Novgorod. The team presented a theatrical media performance at the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, organized by the duo Broken Composers in collaboration with the company dreamlaser.

Media artists: Curiosity Lab, dobro, dreamlaser, Hilights.studio, media.tribe, Nao Wao (Japan), Nohlab (Turkey), Ouchhh (Turkey), radugadesign, TUNDRA, Ivan Gorokhov (MESHPLASH).

Musicians: Kedr Livanskiy (Yana Kedrina), Myth, Salama, Alex Zaripov.

Organizers: dreamlaser, Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

Curator: Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

In 2023, INTERVALS held a large-scale educational program - more than 20 multimedia industry professionals shared their knowledge with everyone interested. The lectures took place at Mayak Academy over two days, and recordings are available via the link.

Works were presented by artists from 6 countries: Australia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Spain, and Russia. Among the locations, for the first time, the Choir College, the clock tower at the State Bank, the skatepark in Goradrom, and the Fair Filtration Station building were featured.

The festival opened with an audiovisual concert by singer Suzanna, with visual accompaniment provided by the company dreamlaser.

Media artists included Bestereo°, Cao Yuxi (China), dreamlaser, Filip Roca (Spain), Inty, Kit Webster (Australia), LYM PRO, Shohei Fujimoto (Japan), The Fox, The Folks (Indonesia), Alexander Abramov, Pokras Lampas, and SETUP.

Organizers: dreamlaser, Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

Curator: Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

In 2024, the festival became even larger in scale! Everything expanded: the number of locations, the geography of media artists, the number of musicians, and lectures in the educational program. This time, viewers also enjoyed a rich program of audiovisual performances. The educational part of the festival was held in collaboration with the British Higher School of Art and Design - link to lectures.

Media artists: Ahmet Said Kaplan (Turkey), CLAUDE & Shin Hyejin (South Korea), dreamlaser, Elina Zazulia, Ferran Belmon (Spain), Generative Gallery, Hilights.studio, Jérémie Bellot (France), Javid Guliyev (Azerbaijan), MESHPLASH, mmd’s x bhsad, PANTERRA, Playmodes (Spain), radugadesign, Sasha Kojjio & Alisa Davydova, Sila Sveta, Splaces Studio, Yaroslav Sotov.

Musicians: CHERNOBURKV, Guzz (China), Howie Lee (China), POLE, Roma Zuckerman, Mekhanicheskiy pes, Nikita Zabelin.

Organizers: dreamlaser, Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

Curator: Ksyusha Chekhovskaya.

At INTERVALS 2025, the festival featured 20 artists and 11 musicians from various countries including Russia, Brazil, Turkey, Taiwan, Spain, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, and the USA. The media exhibition expanded to more locations in the lower part of the city - Meshcherskoye Lake and the cracking tower, also known as the Nizhny Novgorod Colosseum. The educational program was curated by the Kafedra platform, with one day prepared jointly with the HSE University School of Design - a full recording of all lectures is available.

Ahead of IF '25, the festival appeared across the streets of the capital! Banners were displayed on screens at Moscow City and the October Cinema.

Media artists: Aka Chang (Taiwan), Akiko Yamashita (Japan), AMIANGELIKA & 1100 (UK), Black April, dreamlaser, Eylül Alıcı (Turkey), formate, Jérémie Bellot (France), Kati Katona (Hungary), Knife, Los Romeras (Spain), Ouchhh (Turkey), radugadesign, ruestungsschmie.de (Germany), Sila Sveta, 404.zero, 1024 architecture (France), Az Yesm', MASAIDOV x ZAKHAROVA х LYM ART.

Musicians: Bad Zu, Dj K (Brazil), ERRORTICA, Finetune, Nocow, Øneheart, Piper Spray & Lena Tsibizova, Antoha MS, Anton Maskeliade, Roma Ptashenko.

Organizer: dreamlaser.

Curator: Anna Gagarina.