On Saturday, May 16, the Primorsky Aquarium hosted “A Day by the Sea”, an open-air intellectual and creative festival in its Promenade Park on the shore of Zhitkov Bay.
The walking area of the Aquarium, already freely accessible to the public, was transformed into a space for culture and the arts.
DV-Intellect mind sports club conducted open lessons in modern competitive chess and shogi – a traditional Japanese strategy game often called Japanese chess.
According to Aleksandr Gusev, a shogi trainer, the park’s picturesque scenery fosters a contemplative mindset well suited to East Asian traditions.
For the artistically inclined, Marina Davidovich, an artist educator and head of the MarinArt studio, led a gouache painting workshop which taught participants how to convey the appeal of marine landscapes in their paintings.
“I’m absolutely delighted by the natural surroundings. “A Day by the Sea” is not just a chance to relax and enjoy nature. You can also capture the picture of the world around you and preserve the magic of the moment,” said Marina.
The non-profit creative collective “Port of Registry: Vladivostok” continued its monthly tradition of open readings of poetry and prose about the sea and Vladivostok, under the title “Townspeople Read.” The event took place on the Aquarium grounds for the first time.
Konstantin Golnev, a reader representing the Voice of Logos poetry project, was also visiting the Aquarium for the first time. He described the Promenade Park as a wonderful setting for literary events. “I hope this cultural tradition will be developed and continued,” Golnev shared.
Tatiana Begun, Principal Specialist of the Marketing and Sales Department, assessed the outcome positively. “A Day by the Sea” transformed the Primorsky Aquarium into a venue for cultural celebrations,” she said. “We want our institution to be both a research and education center and a welcoming space where culture and art thrive. I believe we are making progress here. And we will definitely try hard to nurture this tradition of enriching the cultural lives of city residents and visitors. Such events will now take place here on an ongoing basis.”
In addition to the daytime festival, the visitors could participate in the Night of Museums and dive deeper into the natural history of Primorye.
The activities held in the Main Building included a lecture titled “Live Autographs” and a related workshop that enabled participants to create a three-dimensional greeting card featuring inhabitants of a kelp forest.
Dmitrii Beskhmelnov, Lead Specialist of the Education Department, told young visitors about the Steller’s sea cow—a large marine mammal that once lived off the Commander Islands—and about the other rare animals named after their discoverers.
After the lecture, the attendees accompanied by their parents could examine in detail some of these animals in the vast exhibition of the Primorsky Aquarium. And the guests took full advantage of that opportunity.
