Gorshok is an annual competition-festival of strangely shaped vegetables, that takes place in one of the most popular parks in Moscow, at VDNH. The main objective of this festival is to attract the young audience to farming, enrich their knowledge about the fertility of the subsoil, the importance of tits protection and proper use.
Thinking about the metaphor of the project, many options were sorted out. I wanted not only to show the difference between strange vegetables from those that we are used to seeing on supermarket shelves, but also to show their eccentricity, individuality, recognisability. In addition, the identity of the festival was necessary to arouse the interest of young people, who are already surprised by little. That is why, in the final version of the project, the comparison of strange vegetables with freaks was used as a metaphor — they both differ from generally accepted standards, are bright and memorable, and resonate with teenagers. The vegetables used in the identity stand out with fancy colours, non—standard shapes made of modules, and, of course, the main attributes of freaks – piercings, spikes and plugs.
The name of the festival Gorshok combines both worlds: farming and punk ones. In the first case, the association goes with greenery, soil care, flower pots, in which housewives and not only grow tomatoes and other vegetables. In the second case, we recall the famous Russian rock band “The King and the Fool”, famous for its founder and soloist Mikhail Gorshenev, or as he is popularly called “Gorshok”.

The main characters of the project, vegetables, interact with each other: they are dancing, jumping, running, or just looking at one other with some interest. They are all very different, have their own character and even their own owner-parents – farmers. The latter are always ready to look after them!
The main media in my work are billboards and posters. They perform both advertising and informative functions. Billboards can be seen all over the city. Due to a certain way of constructing their layouts, they are memorable and variable. Their main task is to attract potential participants and visitors to the fest.
Among other things, badges, bracelets and merch were also developed. While the first ones help to navigate the festival itself, understanding who is who, the merch, due to its individuality, always quickly sells out and leaves pleasant memories of the festival that you can always touch tactilely!
In addition to my presentation of the project, a small video-invitation to the festival was developed. In the video, we are presented with the reflection of some a farmer who discovered mutant vegetables. He’s trying to figure out what to do with them, and where to put them. The dialogue with him is conducted by the vegetables themselves, whose eyes at the beginning, and full outlines at the end of the video, we see step by step.