Artem Stefanov
CITY = GARDEN
Nizhnekamsk, 2025
“City = Garden” is a comprehensive public art program dedicated to Nizhnekamsk — a city originally conceived as a balance between nature, industry, and everyday life. The project explores local identity and brings the foundational image of the “garden city” to the forefront: green infrastructure, microdistrict architecture, industrial production, and rare flora become artistic material and a language for discussing the values of the city and the company Tatneft.
Mural No. 1 — The Beginning
A reminder of the region’s petroleum roots. The image initiates a conversation about the city as a product of industrial growth. Oil is depicted as a substance undergoing purification — from black to the silvery sheen of “sky-reflective” paint.
Mural No. 2 — The Assemblage Point
A reference to the city’s architecture and the master plan that received the VDNH Gold Medal in 1960. The drawing symbolizes the emergence of an urban environment from a blank page: a panel-built apartment block continues to rise, creating an effect of continual transformation.
Mural No. 3 — Sprouts
The third composition preserves the cubic structure, but the urban elements fade away, giving way to nature. From deep within the building emerges Nuphar pumila — a traditional indicator of clean water.
Mural No. 4 — The Garden City
The culmination of the series. Care for nature lies at the heart of Nizhnekamsk’s urban culture. The façade depicts Nuphar pumila, a Red Book plant of Tatarstan — a symbol of ecological balance and the fragile yet powerful bond between people and their landscape.
Mural No. 1 — The Beginning
A reminder of the region’s petroleum roots. The image initiates a conversation about the city as a product of industrial growth. Oil is depicted as a substance undergoing purification — from black to the silvery sheen of “sky-reflective” paint.
Mural No. 2 — The Assemblage Point
A reference to the city’s architecture and the master plan that received the VDNH Gold Medal in 1960. The drawing symbolizes the emergence of an urban environment from a blank page: a panel-built apartment block continues to rise, creating an effect of continual transformation.
Mural No. 3 — Sprouts
The third composition preserves the cubic structure, but the urban elements fade away, giving way to nature. From deep within the building emerges Nuphar pumila — a traditional indicator of clean water.
Mural No. 4 — The Garden City
The culmination of the series. Care for nature lies at the heart of Nizhnekamsk’s urban culture. The façade depicts Nuphar pumila, a Red Book plant of Tatarstan — a symbol of ecological balance and the fragile yet powerful bond between people and their landscape.
“The Assemblage Point” is the flagship mural of the project, revealing the theme of architecture and the city’s master plan while symbolizing the moment when the urban environment emerges from a blank slate. It is an optical illusion in which the panel-built apartment block at the center of the composition appears to continue rising directly on the surface of the wall. Merging with multiple patterns of the urban landscape, the artwork seeks to create a sense of the city’s continuous transformation.
Signs, trees, rooftops, pedestrians, windows, and concrete through the lens of Serezha Poteryaev
“Following the Sun” is a short film about the creation of the “City = Garden” project in Nizhnekamsk, produced by Gorizont Films.
The film became an important part of our work with the urban environment. It documents the process of creating four murals with AR and a digital archive, inspired by the industrial heritage and collective memory of Nizhnekamsk. For us, it is not just a film about painting façades — it is a story about community, attentiveness to the city, and the collaborative effort of shaping its future image.
The film became an important part of our work with the urban environment. It documents the process of creating four murals with AR and a digital archive, inspired by the industrial heritage and collective memory of Nizhnekamsk. For us, it is not just a film about painting façades — it is a story about community, attentiveness to the city, and the collaborative effort of shaping its future image.
In addition to the physical artworks, each mural received a virtual layer created together with immersive artist Ruslan Evseev and the Kazan-based team Gorizont Films: historical archival photographs from the 1960s–70s.
Photo No. 1 — A team of bricklayers led by G.K. Kutdusov, Honored Builder of the Tatar ASSR.
Photo No. 2 — The master plan diagram.
Photo No. 3 — One of the architects behind the Nizhnekamsk master plan — Evgeny Ivanovich Kutyrev.
Photo No. 4 — Discussion of the Nizhnekamsk master plan at the All-Union Institute for Urban Design “Giprogor.”
Photo No. 2 — The master plan diagram.
Photo No. 3 — One of the architects behind the Nizhnekamsk master plan — Evgeny Ivanovich Kutyrev.
Photo No. 4 — Discussion of the Nizhnekamsk master plan at the All-Union Institute for Urban Design “Giprogor.”
The full archive can be explored at: novburo.ru/nizhnekamsk
55.646012, 51.816081
Curator: Maria Ushakova ( Nuvo Buro )
Producer: Maria Kochneva ( Nuvo Buro )
Аssist: Ilya Visokosov
Collaboration with Тatneft
Nizhnekamsk, 2025
Curator: Maria Ushakova ( Nuvo Buro )
Producer: Maria Kochneva ( Nuvo Buro )
Аssist: Ilya Visokosov
Collaboration with Тatneft
Nizhnekamsk, 2025