Sevkabel Port
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sevkabel Port is a public space for culture and business created after the reorganization of the industrial "Grey Belt" of Vasilyevsky Island harbour in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.[1] This open space is located near the Marine Station. The area allocated for the cluster is situated between the river and Kozhevennaya Line, with roughly one-fifth of the land — a section near the waterfront — set aside. The main production zone, optimized for efficiency, extends north of the street and reaches further into the city.[2]
The public space is located on part of the land of the Sevkabel factory, the oldest cable manufacturing factory in Russia. It was founded by the German industrialist Werner Siemens in 1879 as a factory of the Siemens & Halske company for the production of lamps, cables, and switches.[3]
In 1918, the factory was nationalized and given its present name. It subsequently made a substantial contribution to the electrification of the entire USSR.[citation needed]
In 2017, the management of the factory decided to upgrade the area and make it a public site in Saint Petersburg with access to the sea. The industrial area gradually developed into a cultural and business space.[4][5] As part of the production modernization, the Sevkabel factory has moved its capacities to its shops at Kozhevennaya 39, thus freeing up 20% of its total space for the creation of a cultural and business project.[6]
Sevkabel Port was officially opened in September 2018,[7] but the visitors could attend the first event a month after the start of the renovation, in June 2017. An outdoor winter ice rink has been open since November 2018 on the territory of Sevkabel Port. The official name of the ice rink with an area of more than 2,200 m2 is the Rink by the Sea.[8]
In the summer of 2019, at the XV Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in Krakow, five projects represented Saint Petersburg. One of which was Sevkabel Port, which became the winner of the Jean-Paul-L'Allier Prize.[9] A commemorative plaque was installed in honour of this victory of Saint Petersburg. It also hosted Present Perfect, a three-day electronic music festival with more than 60 artists from around the world. The Berlin music duo Modeselektor headlined the festival. The annual summer music festival STEREOLETO has been held at Sevkabel Port since 2019.[citation needed]
In the summer of 2021, the exhibition "Andy Warhol and Russian Art" took place at Sevkabel Port, displaying over 100 works by Andy Warhol.
In the autumn of 2021, an international multimedia art exhibition, “Hydra. New Media Art in the Context of Eco-Anxiety,” took place. Artists from Canada, France, Italy, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, and the UK took part in it.
In 2021, the exhibition space became fully operational.[10]
In May 2022, the inclusive cluster Normal Place was opened in Sevkabel Port in Saint Petersburg. It is a space in which non-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs develop their projects. A coworking space is available here, as well as a variety of workshops and art practices.
In 2022, the “Balabanov” travelling exhibition in memory of Alexei Balabanov opened at Sevkabel Port. The project won the annual “Petersburg of the Future” award.