"ZEN ART FESTIVAL"
International Festival-Competition of Symbolic Art

Exhibition dates:
January 10-18, 2024

Registration deadline:
until January 9, 2024 (inclusive).

Vernissage: January 10, 2024, 18.00.
Awarding ceremony: January 18, 2024, 17.00.
Venue:
Gallery "Art-Commune" in TGC "Kievsky"
(Moscow, Kievskaya st., 2, 4th floor)

 

APPLY to Exhibition & Contest = REGISTER YOUR ARTWORKS FOR THE COMPETITION


Category & Nomination | Категории и номинации

Мистический символизм
Дзен мистификаций
Магический реализм
Дзен магии
Фантастический реализм
Дзен воображения
Сюрреализм
Дзен параллельной реальности
Символический видеоарт и анимация)
Дзен виртуального мира
Космогония и космизм
Дзен пространства
Символизм времени
Дзен времени
Символизм человеческих взаимоотношений
Дзен коммуникаций
Сторителлинг
Дзен истории
Символические талисманы и подарки
Дзен предмета
Портреты и силуэты в стиле дзен
Дзен личности
Инсталляции и перфомансы в духе Дзен
Дзен перфоманса

Our team | Наша команда

Аркадий Бабич Арт-директор проекта

Художник- символист, дзен-практик, путешественник, практикующий гуру

Илья Беляев Лектор и член жюри

Йогин, мастер недвойственных практик, учитель йоги, писатель, целитель, ученик русского мастера Кунта-йоги – Тоши

Инесса Картинцева Лектор и член жюри

Руководитель Центра Уникальных путешествий «ОМ-Тур»

Галина Менжинская (духовное имя Гаятри) Лектор и член жюри

Лектор и член жюри

Наталья Пшеничная Лектор и член жюри

Психолог, директор Ассоциации процесс-ориентированных психологов и психотерапевтов

Александр Рожкин Лектор и член жюри

Автор техники "Трансперсональный рисунок", участник бритвы экстрасенсов

Алёна Аппель Лектор и член жюри

Художник, скульптор, путешественник, практикующий психолог

Феодор Фильков Генеральный продюсер проекта

Академик Европейской академии естественных наук

A blessing from the brightest representatives of Zen

Благословение от ярчайших представителей дзен

ORGANIZERS AND PATRONAGE | ОРГАНИЗАТОРЫ И ПАРТНЁРЫ

Until the end of registration is left:

  • Days
  • Hours
  • Min
  • Sec

Registration Form

ATTENTION: Before starting registration, you need:
1) prepare a photo or video file of the work (up to 10 Mb). If the works are more than 10 Mb, then registration must be done without uploading photo and video materials, and files should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
2) if you have already paid the registration fee (see "Registration fee", "Payment methods"), then also attach the receipt or screenshot to the registration form (section "offers and additions")

"ZEN ART Festival" (zenartfestival.com)
International exhibition-competition of symbolic art

There are three forms of participation:

1) Personal partiсipation: you visit Moscow and bring artwork in person.
2) Artwork partiсipation: you ship artwork, we exhibit
3) Art print participation: you send file, we print and exhibit

Participants of all these forms have equal rights at participating in the competition

 

Registration for the project

baner zenart 4 en

 

ZEN ART FESTIVAL International Festival

 "ZEN ART FESTIVAL" International Festival of Symbolic Art


Exhibition dates: January 10-18, 2024
Registration deadline: until January 9, 2024.

Vernissage: January 10, 2024, 18.00.
Awarding ceremony: January 18, 2024, 18.00.
Venue: Art Center & Gallery "Art-Commune" in TGC "Kievsky" (Moscow, Kievskaya st., 2, 4th floor)


 There are three forms of participation:

1) Personal partiсipation: you visit Moscow and bring artwork in person.
2) Artwork partiсipation: you ship artwork, we exhibit
3) Art print participation: you send file, we print and exhibit

Participants of all these forms have equal rights at participating in the competition.


FESTIVAL INCLUDES:
1) Exhibition;
2) Contest;
3) Conference "Zen of modern Art";
4) Master classes and demo classes;
5) Video screenings of films related to the theme of the festival.

AGE RESTRICTIONS:
Authors over 17 years of age have the right to take part in the International Festival of Symbolic Art "ZEN ART Festival."

PARTICIPATION FORMS:
1) ORIGINAL: the author provides the originals or giclee of his works at the exhibition;
2) PRINT: works are displayed in the form of photocopies (on paper, foam board or canvas).

 

SECTIONS / NOMINATIONS:


Idea: When the mind is exempted from a routine of desires and passions when the silence fills all your being when all creation is located in a contemplation point, - then art a zen/zen is born. The lotus of the limitless world is revealed. Pure beauty awakens creative realizations. The full range of transcendental experiences becomes accessible and understood. The festival presents the creations of Artists realizing their understanding of the world through the wisdom of zen, through pictorial means and divine inspiration.


Works (original and copy) are displayed in the exhibition hall and participate in the program, in the following nominations of the exhibition:

1) Mystical Symbolism
2) Magical realism
3) Fantastic realism
4) Surrealism
5) Video art
6) Cosmism
7) Zen philosophy in time:
- Zen of the present;
- Zen of the future;
- Zen is timeless;
8) Zen philosophy in space:
- Zen in faces
- Zen reliefs
- Zen in volume
- Zen Mascots
9) Zen Philosophy in the Virtual World:
- Esotericism in motion
- Philosophical stories
- Zen video art
- Zen animation
10) Zen Communication Philosophy:
- Zen Vibration (Audience Award)
- Zen-style installation
- Zen Symbiosis Arts

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

The exhibition accepts two- and three-dimensional works.
The size of two-dimensional works cannot exceed 75 x 85 inches (192 x 218 centimeters).
A three-dimensional artwork (i.e. sculpture) cannot exceed 72 x 72 x 24 inches (184 x 184 x 61 centimeters).
For flat works an additional factor has been introduced: at the size of canvas more than 90 cm and up to 140 cm on the larger side an additional payment equal to 50% of the cost is charged. Subsequently, the calculation is for each step of 50 cm.
 
PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES:
 
Any person over 18 years of age who creates works of art in one of the indicated artistic styles (project nomination) has the right to participate in the exhibition, after approval by the organizing committee of the works submitted to the competition.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENT

Artists participating in the exhibition are responsible for the costs associated with the delivery of works to the site and for insurance of works of art while it is in transit.
We also ask you to read the "General Regulations", which regulates the relationship between authors, exhibition organizers and expert council.

About the Zen Art

If the originality of European painting determined the use of a linear perspective, then the eastern (China, Japan) - was strongly influenced by the spirit of Zen.If the originality of European painting determined the use of a linear perspective, then the eastern (China, Japan) - was strongly influenced by the spirit of Zen. Read about what it is in this post.

Дзен в живописи

What is Zen

Zen Buddhism is neither religion nor philosophy, nor psychology nor science. It is a way of life and a view of life, an example of what is called the “path of liberation” in India and China. This is the acceptance of the naturalness and spontaneity of life in all its causelessness and fluidity. 

The essence of Zen Buddhism is very difficult to convey in words. It is the sense of peace as it is, not artificially divided into objects and actions, into bad and good. Just as a coin, it is what is concluded between an obverse and a reverse, so the world is that elusive “between”.

The manifestations of Zen in art

Naturalness and spontaneity

From a Buddhist point of view, every moment is self-sufficient and does not need to be justified by some external purpose. Such a life is beautiful - it is consonant with the freedom of clouds and mountain streams wandering everywhere, flowers in inaccessible gorges, whose beauty no one sees, and an ocean surf, forever washing the coastal sand.

Therefore, in life and in art, the cultural tradition of the Far East most of all values naturalness and spontaneity (zu-jen). This is the unmistakable sound of sincerity, characteristic of the action of ill-conceived, direct.

Guided Chance

Pictures form as naturally as the rocks and grass that they depict. This does not mean that the art form of Zen is created purely by chance, and the picture can be created by a snake, which was dipped in ink and then left to wriggle on a sheet of paper. Rather, for Zen there is no dualism or contradiction between the natural element of chance and the human element of control.

Slowness

Since the world is not going anywhere, there is nowhere to hurry. Everything can be taken easily, as nature itself does. Hence the principle: haste and everything connected with it are destructive. The lack of rush is also associated with a certain non-interference in the natural course of events.

At the junction of genres - calligraphy

The calligraphic style of painting was closest to the attitude of Zen - it was usually a drawing and a poem beneath it, made in black ink on silk or paper. The East was not characterized by a strict distinction between specialties - writing and poetry were one of the main occupations of Chinese scientists, and Chinese painting is very close to calligraphy. Therefore, often a scientist, artist and poet were combined in one person.

The originality of the genre was also influenced by the materials used. Chinese black mascara conveys a wide variety of tones depending on the amount of water added, and the mascara itself has an extraordinary richness of color shades of black. Since the touch of the brush is light and smooth, and in order for the mascara to flow evenly from it, it should easily slide on absorbent paper, using the brush requires special ease in the movements of the hand, brush and shoulder, more like dancing than drawing letters on paper.

As a result, a special genre of painting was born in the East, which was later called sumi-e.

Sumi-e

 

In Chinese painting, this style reached its peak during the Song Dynasty (959-1279) and is represented by artists such as Xia Gui, Ma-yuan, My Qi and Liang Kai. In Japan, he received the name Sumi-e.

Masters of the Song era were primarily landscape painters and created a style of "painting of nature" that was hardly surpassed anywhere in the world. They paint nature for us: mountains, waters, fog, rocks, trees and birds - just like Zen Buddhist or Taoist feels her life. This is the world to which a person belongs without dominating him. This world is self-sufficient, it was not “created for” anyone and has no purpose.

Китайский пейзаж

Chinese landscape

Song landscapes are not at all as fantastic and stylized as Western critics think. When you go to similar places in the mountainous terrain, this kind of thing opens up at every turn of the road, and only a photographer is not enough to take a picture exactly resembling Chinese painting. A striking feature of the Song landscapes, like sumi-e as a whole, is the comparative void of the picture - a void, which, however, looks like part of the picture, and not just an unpainted background. Filling one corner of the sheet, the artist enlivens the entire surface of the painting.

Ся Гуэй

Xia Gui. Landscape

The technical skill of the artist, the variety of brush movements, from full subtle grace to crude vitality. This brush carefully paints out all the details of the tree, then it sketches out only general outlines and masses, the texture of which is created by “controllable randomness” - disheveled brush hairs and uneven ink coloring of the paper. The secret of this technique lies in the ability to balance the form with empty space and, most importantly, to feel the moment when it is “said” enough.

The western eye in these paintings is immediately struck by the lack of symmetry - the consistent deviation from regular and geometric shapes - and straight and curved. A line drawn with a brush is usually jagged, angular, oddly curved, intermittent, or swiftly smooth, but always more spontaneous than predictable.

Moods of Furyu

A purposeless existence is a constant theme in all genres of Zen art and expresses the inner state of the artist himself, who goes nowhere and exists outside of Time.

This feeling is sometimes found on ordinary people, and it is precisely in such moments that they perceive those dazzling glimpses of the universe that illuminate in memory randomly turned up images: the smell of burning leaves at the dawn of a foggy autumn morning, the flight of pigeons in the ray of the sun against a cloud or a lonely cry of a bird in the thicket of the forest. In Zen art, any landscape, any sketch of bamboo swayed by the wind, or lonely rocks is an echo of such moments.

Суми-э

Sumi-e

If the mood of this instant expresses loneliness and peace, it is called sabi.

If an artist feels depressed or sad and with such a special kind of emptiness of feelings briefly notices something ordinary and natural in all of his inexpressible “suchness”, such a mood is called a wabi.

If an instant causes a stronger nostalgic sadness associated with autumn and the feeling of dying of the world, then it is called avare.

When something mystical and strange appears in what he saw, as if a hint of something unknown and eternally inaccessible, such a mood is called yugen.

These completely untranslatable Japanese words describe the four main moods of Furyu, i.e. the general atmosphere of Zen "taste" in such "aimless" moments of life.

Haiga and zenga

By the beginning of the 17th century, Japanese artists had developed an even more meaningful and “improvisational” style of sumi-e, called haiga, which was an illustration of haiku poems. This genre evolved from zeng — the laid-back sketches of Zen monks that served as illustrations for verses or sayings.

Dzenga is drawing Chinese jeroglyphs, circles, branches of bamboo, birds and human figures with these free and powerful swings of brush that seem still full of movement when the stroke is already applied. One of the most common motives of dzeng is the circle. But even such a seemingly simple figure is full of expressiveness - this circle is not only slightly shifted and curved, but the texture of the lines itself is full of life and tension, with random splashes and gaps from the movement of a rough brush.

Энсо - круг, символ дзен

Enso - circle, zen symbol

So an abstract or "ideal" circle becomes a concrete and natural, living circle just as rocks and trees, clouds and waters seem more like themselves to the Chinese eye, and least of all they resemble the shapes of geometry and architect.

Dzenga and haiga are the most "extreme" expressions of sumi-e style - here it is the most organic, undisturbed and unobserved and full of those "controlled accidents" of the brush, which embody the amazing "senseless" nature itself.

ABOUT THE "ZEN ART FESTIVAL "

 


"ZEN ART FESTIVAL"

International Festival & Contest of Symbolic Art

 

 

"Put your heart, mind and soul

into even your most insignificant actions.

This is the secret to success."


– Swami Sivananda 


"ZEN ART FESTIVAL" International Festival & Contest of Symbolic Art

Exhibition dates: January 10-18, 2024
Registration deadline: until January 9, 2024.

Vernissage: January 10, 2024, 18.00.
Awarding ceremony: January 18, 2024, 18.00.
Venue: Art Center & Gallery "Art-Commune" in TGC "Kievsky" (Moscow, Kievskaya st., 2, 4th floor)


When the mind is exempted from a routine of desires and passions when the silence fills all your being when all creation is located in a contemplation point, - then art a zen/zen is born. The lotus of the limitless world is revealed. Pure beauty awakens creative realizations. The full range of transcendental experiences becomes accessible and understood. The festival presents the creations of Artists realizing their understanding of the world through the wisdom of zen, through pictorial means and divine inspiration.


 

FESTIVAL INCLUDES:
1) Exhibition;
2) Contest;
3) Conference "Zen of modern Art";
4) Master classes and demo classes;
5) Film and video screenings related to the theme of the festival..

 

AGE RESTRICTIONS:
Authors over 18 years of age have the right to take part in the International Festival of Symbolic Art "ZEN ART Festival."

PARTICIPATION FORMS:
1) ORIGINAL: the author provides the originals or giclee of his works at the exhibition;
2) PRINT: works are displayed in the form of photocopies (on paper, foam board or canvas).

 

EXHIBITION SECTIONS: 
1) painting 2) graphics 3) sculpture 4) photography 5) textiles 6) arts and crafts 7) installation 8) video art 9) animation

 

  EXHIBITION & COMPETITION  

 

NOMINATIONS: 

Works (both orifinal and print) are exhibited in the exhibition hall and participate in the program in the followingnominations:
1) Zen mystifications (mystical symbolism)
2) Zen magic (magic realism)
3) Zen of imagination (fantastic realism)
4) Zen of parallel reality (surrealism)
5) Zen of the virtual world (symbolic video art and animation)
6) Zen of space (symbolism in cosmogony / cosmism)
7) Zen of time (symbolism of time)
8) Zen communication (symbolism of human relationships)
9) Zen stories (painting telling a story / storytelling)
10) Zen of the subject (symbolic talismans and gifts)
11) Zen personalities (portraits and silhouettes in Zen style)
12) Zen performance (installations and performances in the spirit of Zen)

 

  THE CONFERENCE  

 

zenartfestival com 3  

Conference paradigm:

Zen grew out of Buddhism and Taoism and for centuries remained the only one of its kind form of Buddhism. Zen willingly accepts everything true in any religion, recognizes the followers of all beliefs that have reached full understanding; however, he knows that a person whose religious upbringing was based on dualism, despite the great seriousness of his intentions, will long experience unnecessary difficulties before he reaches enlightenment. No one is able to describe enlightenment to another person. To feel it, you need to achieve it yourself. The teacher is able to show the way or help the student with his guidance, but the work itself, like the achievement of enlightenment, depends entirely on the student.

The list of lecturers is being formed

  Apply for the conference (as a speaker or listener)

 

  MASTER CLASSES/FILM AND VIDEO SCREENINGS   

Experience leading beyond the limitations of time and space, embodied in understandable forms

 zenartfestival com 9   

 

 

Workshops and collaborative practices
Masters from Russia and several countries will conduct open practices and master classes.

The list of workshops classes is being formed

 
 conf

Movie and video screenings
Exclusive films and meetings with directors and cameramen making films on the theme of the festival

A list of film and video shows is being formed

 
 
     

 

"Put your heart, mind and soul into even your most insignificant actions. This is the secret to success."

– Swami Sivananda

  
     
  PROJECT MANAGERS:       

 

zenartfestival com 26

Blessing

Dharamsala is site of residence of the leader of Tibet, Dalai Lama XIV.

Here the Zen Art Festival received the blessing of the monks of the Zuglakang monastery

 
 zenartfestival com 23 1  
zenartfestival com 7

Project Art Director

Arkady Babich
Artist, illustrator, designer, photographer, explorer-traveler.

Member of the Presidium of the Eurasian Art Union; 
member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia;
Member of the Professional Union of Artists of Russia; 
member of the Travel Club named after Yuri Senkevich.
Works are in private collections in Russia, USA, Germany, Italy, Spain.
Field of Interest: Zen Practices, Symbolic Realism, Travel Photography, Design, Illustration
Personal site: babich-design.ru

     
Appel alrna 1

Conference program curator
Alena Appel

Artist, sculptor,
traveler,
practicing psychologist
member of the Eurasian Art Union

 
     
Filkov2

Project producer

Fedor Filkov

 

Vice President of the Eurasian Art Union, 
President of the Russian branch of the World Fund of Arts;
Member of the Presidium of the National Pastel Society;
Academician of the European Academy of Natural Sciences;
member of the International Association of Writers and Publicists.

 

Producer of more than 50 Russian and international projects and programs.

 

 

Quick access to pages:

Rules of participation (how to take part)
Regulations
Contacts

How to Participate

 

"ZEN ART FESTIVAL"

International Festival of Symbolic Art


There are three forms of participation:

1) Personal partiсipation: you visit Moscow and bring artwork in person.
2) Artwork partiсipation: you ship artwork, we exhibit
3) Art print participation: you send file, we print and exhibit

Participants of all these forms have equal rights at participating in the competition.


Exhibition dates: January 10-18, 2024
Registration deadline: until January 9, 2024.

Vernissage: January 10, 2024, 18.00.
Awarding ceremony: January 18, 2024, 18.00.
Venue: Art Center & Gallery "Art-Commune" in TGC "Kievsky" (Moscow, Kievskaya st., 2, 4th floor)


Age restrictions: Authors over 17 years old are eligible to participate in the Zen Art International Festival.

There are three forms of participation:
1) Personal partiсipation: you visit Moscow and bring artwork in person.
2) Artwork partiсipation: you ship artwork, we exhibit
3) Art print participation: you send file, we print and exhibit
Participants of all these forms have equal rights at participating in the competition.

The number of entries for one authors is not regulated. It is possible to submit a series of works, in this case the series will be considered as one competitive work but the payment of the registration fee has to be done for each individual object or canvas or file.

REGISTRATION SEQUENCE/HOW TO REGISTER FOR EXHIBITION:

 

Step 1:
Registration of works for the competition


Before registering works for the competition, it is necessary to prepare: a) photographs of the competition works (not less than 200 dpi, not more than 20 MB); b) a photograph of the author of at least 3x4 cm;
Then go to the section "Register works for the competition" and send the files for the competition.
The organizing committee will consider your application and, in case of a positive decision, will send to your email a link to pay the registration fee (within two days). After payment of the registration fee, a copy or screenshot must be sent to e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . After the organizing committee receives a copy of the payment, the competition works are credited to the exhibition and competition. The author receives an official notification of the entry of the work to the exhibition, with the assigned "Participant numbers".
The cost of participation in the competition is posted in the section: а) "Cost of participation / registration fee"; b) "How to pay the registration fee"
registration english applynow
After payment, do not forget to send a copy of the payment / screenshot to e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
The number of entries about one author is not regulated. It is possible to present a series of works, in this case the series will be considered one competitive work, and the registration fee will be paid for each separate object or canvas or file.

Step 2:
Preparation of art objects for display at the exhibition

Information for online (in absentia) participants:
When registering works for the competition, the author determines in what form his works will be presented at the exhibition. The organizing committee prints out the files sent to the competition and places photocopies on the wall (photocopy on foam board or paper photocopy):
a) photocopies on paper: copies are posted on the wall in the exhibition hall; the size of the printed images - A3 (297x420 mm); one file must contain one entry;
b) photocopies on foam board: at the request of the author, the organizing committee makes a full-size copy of the competition work on foam board, transports it to St. Petersburg for the exhibition and places it on the wall in the exhibition space. Foam board formats: A3, A2, A1, A0.

Information for offline participants:
After receiving the label with the assigned number, the participant prints it and places it in the lower right corner. The labels can be attached both to a stretcher or canvas and to decorative elements (frames, stands, etc.).
Dates of artworks acceptance: Acceptance of offline works for the exhibition: September 28, 2021, from 11:00 to 15:00, at the address: "Amber Plaza" Big Concert Hall (Krasnoproletarskaya str., 36, Moscow, Russia). Works are handed over to the exhibition under the deed of transfer (download in Word format).
If the author is unable to bring the works to St. Petersburg, then it is possible to bring the exhibition art objects to the Moscow organizing committee in advance (Moscow, Krymsky Val st., 8/2, office "Union of Artists"). The transportation of works from Minsk is also carried out.

 
ACCEPTED TECHNIQUES:

The works presented at the exhibition can be in one of the following sections:
1) Painting
2) Graphics
3) Sculpture
4) Digital art
5) Photography
6) Textiles 
7) Arts and crafts
8) Art Installation
9) Video art
10) Animation

 

SECTIONS / NOMINATIONS:

Artworks (online and offline) are exhibited in the exhibition hall and participate in the program, in the following:
1) Zen mystifications (mystical symbolism)
2) Zen magic (magic realism)
3) Zen of imagination (fantastic realism)
4) Zen of parallel reality (surrealism)
5) Zen of the virtual world (symbolic video art and animation)
6) Zen of space (symbolism in cosmogony / cosmism)
7) Zen of time (symbolism of time)
8) Zen communication (symbolism of human relationships)
9) Zen stories (painting telling a story / storytelling)
10) Zen of the subject (symbolic talismans and gifts)
11) Zen personalities (portraits and silhouettes in Zen style)
12) Zen performance (installations and performances in the spirit of Zen)
 
PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES:
 
Any person over 18 years of age who creates works of art in one of the indicated artistic styles (project nomination) has the right to participate in the exhibition, after approval by the organizing committee of the works submitted to the competition.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENT

Artists participating in the exhibition are responsible for the costs associated with the delivery of works to the site and for insurance of works of art while it is in transit.
We also ask you to read the "General Regulations", which regulates the relationship between authors, exhibition organizers and expert council.