The “Prometheus” student design bureau established in Kazan in 1962 was a true school of innovators. Its specialists shot light films, organized colorful music concerts, and designed industrial media installations that responded to changing weather. The researchers of the "Prometheus" office were known as genius engineers capable of solving problems of cosmic dimension in the literal sense of the term, among other things they developed light devices for the interior design of cosmic ships. The ideologist of the group, Bulat Galéev, maintained a correspondence with the masters of experimental art: Nicolas Schaeffer, Frank Malina, Iannis Xenakis, Lev Termen, and although in Soviet times the office could not fully participate in the international artistic movement, today many European institutions work with their archives.
Commentaries
We are the “FORMATE” concept studio, the founders and the organizers of the international media art festival “NUR”.
During the festival we decided to make a documentary about the pioneers of the audiovisual art Student Design Bureau “Prometheus”.
The “Prometheus. The poem of Kazan fire” - is an attempt to grasp a cult phenomenon which intellectual communities have been observing with awe.
To create this film, we have read through a wast amount of literature about color music and Skryabin, digitalized over 20 archive media, interviewed the members of the SKB and the eye-witnesses of the landmark events that happened in Kazan.
Apart from the art experiments, “Prometheus” was known as a group engineering masterminds who were able to solve literally space-scale issues, since they also developed color and music installations for interior design and for spacecrafts.
However, for us the most important thing is that at the heart of Prometheus’s fifty years story lies love, as cliché as it sounds.
It was true love indeed, not any less dramatic than Shakespeare’s works.
In the film, we do not only uncover the story of the group, but also tell about Skryabin, the author of the color music idea, as well as the complex philosophical concept of synesthesia.
https://filmfreeway.com/Prometheus584
