Italian painter Jorit at the Znanie.Pervye Marathon: “Russia Is a Country of Great Culture”

Italian painter Jorit performed at the Znanie.Pervye educational marathon of the Russian Znanie Society at the World Youth Festival in Sirius. The meeting of the graffiti master with the guys took place on March 4 at the Belgorod Pavilion and was included in the program of the track “A World of Opportunity for Everyone.” In a live conversation with young people, Jorit shared his views on street art, talked about his attitude towards Russian culture, his first trip to Donbass and answered numerous questions from the audience.

The painter from Naples, under the pseudonym Jorit, is known throughout the world for his realistic murals. In 2023, his work appeared on the wall of one of the high-rise buildings in Mariupol — the portrait of a girl became a symbol of resistance to neo-Nazism and a challenge to the hypocritical policies of NATO.

“The idea was to show the problems of Donbass children to the whole world. Western media often distort the truth, they present everything in a way that suits their interests - for example, they talk about the suffering of children in one country but are silent about what is happening in the neighboring one. I think my work forced the West to look at the children of Donbass in the face,” said Jorit.

The painter noted that he sees the main mission of art as uniting different countries and peoples, creating space for dialogue and communication. Speaking about attempts to cancel Russian culture, Jorit decisively called them madness.

“Russia is a country of great culture because it was in your country that after the revolution of 1917 the idea of equality was embodied. Equal opportunities for everyone in education and development is amazing! Anyone can become like Yuri Gagarin - a simple guy who was born into a poor family but became the first man in space. In Russia, everyone has a chance to achieve something,” said Jorit.

There was a line of guys in the hall who wanted to ask questions. They asked about participation in festivals, sources of inspiration, working methods, relations with authorities and favorite creations. A participant from Kyrgyzstan, Adele, asked the graffiti master what he thinks is most important in art.

“For me, the main thing in art is meaning. There are many beautiful works in which nothing is readable, they are simply beautiful and that’s all. But this is not the art that I perceive. It seems to me that creativity is not an image, but a display, that is, behind each work there should be some kind of idea, an author’s thought,” - commented Jorit.

Dmitry from Yekaterinburg asked about the painter’s attitude towards Russian street art.

“I participated in the street art festival in Odintsovo, one of the largest events on this topic. Russia has all the conditions to become a world center for street art. You have many large high-rise buildings, many talented painters, and most importantly, you have the support of the authorities. For example, in the USA no one needs street art. It’s a pity, because graffiti is the most public form of art, real creativity for the people, for which you don’t even have to go to museums,” answered Jorit.

At the end of the meeting, the painter quoted the famous phrase from the novel of his favorite Russian writer Dostoevsky: “Beauty will save the world.” And he added that even if it doesn’t work out, it’s still worth trying.

Also on March 4, on the third day of the Znanie.Pervye educational marathon. The first speakers of the thematic track “A World of Opportunity for Everyone” were: Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Rector of MGIMO Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Anatoly Torkunov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation - Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov, film director Emir Kusturica (Serbia), senator of the Russian Federation, three-time winner of the Olympic Games, Hero of the Russian Federation Alexander Karelin, world champion in rapid chess and blitz Sergey Karyakin, academician of the Russian Academy of Education, director Institute of Cognitive Research, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, Doctor of Biological and Philological Sciences Tatyana Chernigovskaya and others.

The Russian Znanie Society is the general partner of the educational program of the World Youth Festival, and the Znanie.Pervye educational marathon (the flagship project of the Russian Znanie Society) has become one of the main events of educational program. Marathon takes place in Sirius from March 2 to 6 and covers six sites of the World Youth City: WYF International Airport, Yamal, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Belgorod, and Moscow pavilions. The tracks of the educational marathon are consonant with the meanings of the Festival: “Responsibility for the fate of the world”, “Multinational unity”, “A world of opportunity for everyone”, “Saving the family for future generations” and “We stand together with Russia”. The most striking presentations of lecturers can be seen on the 24-hour media channel https://russia.znanierussia.ru/tv/Znanie.TV.

In addition to the Znanie.Pervye educational marathon, as part of the educational program of the World Youth Festival, the Russian Znanie Society organized the intellectual tournament Znanie.Game with the participation of scholars from different countries and Znanie.Cinema Lectorium, where viewers can watch legendary Russian and foreign films and discuss them in the company of famous actors and directors. For the Festival participants a multimedia exhibition of the National Photo Contest Znanie.Russia will work, where they will be able to see the main achievements of Russia in the XXI century and immerse themselves in their atmosphere with the help of augmented reality technology.

The World Youth Festival shall become a platform for open dialog between young people from Russia and other countries. After the completion of the events on the Sirius Federal Territory, Russian Znanie Society will continue the educational line of the World Youth Festival from March 9 to 17 within the framework of the regional program WYF 2024, which will cover all federal districts of our country.

The World Youth Festival is held in accordance with the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin to develop international youth cooperation. At the first meeting of the Organizing Committee chaired by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration, it was decided to hold the Festival in the Sirius Federal Territory.

20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteering, charity, sports, business, media, etc., including 10,000 foreign participants, will take part in the WYF 2024. For the first time in the history of the festival movement, teenagers from 14 to 17 years old had the opportunity to join the event, including 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad. 5,000 volunteers from all regions of Russia, including 228 residents of the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions be involved in the organization and delivery of the Festival. The organizer of the World Youth Festival is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), the operator of the WYF 2024 is the the World Youth Festival Directorate.

The first federal education marathon was held in May 2021 and became a symbol of the reboot of the Russian Znanie Society. More than 850 lecturers shared their experience during the marathon.

The Russian Znanie Society traces its history back to the Soviet public organization founded in 1947 on the initiative of representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia as the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge (since 1963 — the All-Union Znanie Society, since 1991— the Znanie of Russia Society). Members of the Society were engaged in popularizing science and lecturing on the achievements of the Soviet economy and industry. In 2016, Znanie of Russia was transformed into the Russian Znanie Society. On April 21, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to restart the Russian Znanie Society on a modern digital platform in his address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.