Four days of festival
An annual festival in the heart of an industrial city
AELITA PRODUCTION — a production company “where the theatre of the future is born”. We bring our entire repertoire to Stary Oskol — contemporary dance, physical theatre, sound drama and postmodernist readings of classics — and unfold it on one stage over four days.
“TOCHKA CUIRE” is conceived as an annual contemporary art festival. The first edition is hosted by CSI “Byl” in Stary Oskol. 2026 is the first edition, where we set the tradition.
01 · TRANSITION
Transition
Art as a point of no return — the audience, the space and the city are never quite the same afterwards.
02 · ENERGY
Energy
Heat, movement, performativity. The festival's formats are charged with physical and theatrical energy.
03 · ATTRACTION
Attraction
The magnetic nature of the point: the festival brings together the diverse — genres, generations, classics and the contemporary — into one.
The Curie point of iron — the temperature at which metal loses and regains its magnetic properties. Discovered by Pierre Cuire in 1895.
The name speaks directly to the city's identity: Stary Oskol sits on the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly — the world's largest deposit of magnetic iron ore. The Curie point is the moment when a substance changes state. This is what the festival does.
The full spectrum of contemporary art on one stage
9 productions and 13 performances over 4 days: from the flagship mystery to physical theatre, performances and a promenade show.
IOV: Material
A contemporary mystery play
AELITA's flagship mystery play: the human being as material that art reforges into a new form. The opening performance of the festival.
Prophecies of Migratory Birds
Site-specific performance · company “OMUT”
Eight performers in animal-inspired costumes and a choreographic score about birds that return to Alexandria Park every summer. Audiences are handed theatre binoculars.
Mayday
Physical theatre performance · OMYT
A distress signal is sent — but the disaster never comes. A performance-reflection on getting lost inside time without losing touch with your real self.
The Scent of Rose Oil
Physical theatre sketch · OMYT residents
Power or peace — and the price paid for the choice. A reflective sketch on the biblical thread of “The Master and Margarita”.
Do You Have a Brain?
Interactive mono-performance · dir. Dmitry Turkov
The hall becomes now a laboratory, now a jury room: real research, rebel scientists, and a test of how easily a person can be made to believe the impossible.
Porfiry
A meditative detective mono-performance
A solo performance with interactive elements — for those who love to look closely and draw connections. Only 50 seats.
The Travellers
Immersive promenade performance · dir. Evgenia Maslennikova
The stage is the street, the set is the city: the audience does not watch the story from the outside but walks the route with it. 40 participants, no seating.
Waiting for Godot
Absurdist play · dir. Viktor Derinov
Samuel Beckett’s play: two men wait for a third, who keeps promising to come and never does. We tried to look between the lines.
Body and Metal
8 October – 4 November · Prologue
TOCHKA CUIRE. Prologue
A dialogue between the human body and the material of the future. The body in motion meets metal, fire and the industrial texture of Stary Oskol.
Free admission
14–25 October · Photo exhibition
Archaeology of the Human
Photo exhibition Katya Ilyina’s photo exhibition. The body as an excavation site: what remains of a person when you remove the familiar layer by layer. Opening — 14 October.
Free admission
Transition
28 artists — one route from entrance to exit, not a list of separate works. October 14–25, TsSI “Byl’.” Curator — Ekaterina Shelgunova. Free entry.
See the full line-up of artists →Conversations about how it all works
Talks and open meetings for people who make culture and products: how contemporary dance lives in the real economy and what artificial intelligence is changing in the profession. 23–24 October — free, registration required; 22 October — by invitation. Katya Abdulova, Maria Pavlova, Alyona Bychkova, Mikhail Kazmiruk, Alexey Tsymlov, Alexandra Gubanova.
Curator of the business programme — Alexandra Gubanova, founder of the “ParaPlanov” agency.
View the business programme →“Cinema” section
The festival's film programme — curated by screenwriter and showrunner Galina Mosalova. Programme details to be announced.
Kids' programme
Two days for children aged 4 and up: the art quest “Kids Aren't Spectators” and seven sessions with the festival’s partners — VmesteArt, Akademiya Umnikov, Yulia Candle, Rechezavriya and the Myod party studio. Everything is free, registration required.
Plaster painting, a natural beeswax candle, “Boost Your Brain”, “Dinosaurs in the City”, an air-dry clay pumpkin and a meeting with the Unicorn — each session has its own page with registration; workshops take 15 to 20 children.
The art quest “Kids Aren't Spectators” is a 60-minute rescue mission: the festival has been taken over by “Grey Screens”, and only a squad of young superheroes can bring the colour back. The quest runs alongside the workshops — choose sessions that do not overlap.
Take a breather for yourself and give your child a celebration — we'll keep the kids busy with art while you soak up the culture.
More than just performances
Lecture series
Business programme lectures and workshop on 23–24 October — Alena Bychkova, Mikhail Kazmiruk, Katya Abdulova, Alexandra Gubanova. Lectures on the opening day, 22 October, are by invitation.
Free · registration requiredWorkshops
Contemporary dance and physical movement, jazz vocals and stage movement, acting and choreographic composition.
Free admissionKids' programme
The art quest “Kids Aren't Spectators” and seven sessions for children aged 4 and up — 24 and 25 October, with the festival’s partners. Schedule and registration.
Free · registration requiredPhoto lab
“Point of Origin: an Archaeology of the Self” — shame, duty, guilt and fear, brought into the light. Opening 22 October, through 4 November.
Free admissionCSI “Byl”, Stary Oskol
The first contemporary arts centre in the Belgorod region, opened in 2023 in the restored building of the former “Byl” cinema (1982). Two auditoriums make it possible to run parallel programmes.
Stary Oskol, Zhukova district, 38
+7 951 148-50-36 · Tue–Sun, 11:00–20:00
How to get there — open in Yandex Maps →
Venue page: halls and directions →
Festival news and the full programme
Stay up to date with the festival programme
Ticket links are right in the festival schedule above. Leave your contact details if you’d like the full programme and updates on new performances and events.