Even before reaching the festival grounds, the familiar Issyk-Kul landscape began to transform. Stages, tents, colorful costumes, and striking art installations emerged among the dry mountains and steppe grass. Music was heard from several venues at once—live instrumental performances in one area, electronic DJ sets in another, while festivalgoers danced against the backdrop of the lake.

During the day, the festival resembled a large open-air exhibition. Visitors explored artworks, attended workshops, film screenings, fashion showcases, and a creative market. By evening, the atmosphere changed as lights illuminated the venue, music grew louder, and the lakeshore turned into a dance floor. As in previous years, KOLFEST’s program combined live music, electronic performances, contemporary art, cinema, fashion, and educational events.

One of the festival’s most eye-catching installations was a giant edelweiss flower assembled from used toilets. The artwork was created by artist Dmitry Petrovsky from Doxa art group, who found about ten dismantled toilet bowls on the festival grounds and transformed them into the sculpture.

KOLFEST has been held in Kyrgyzstan since 2019. According to the organizers, artists from more than 18 countries have performed at the festival over the years, while it has attracted over 10,000 visitors from 30 countries. The organizers describe it as a platform for cultural exchange, tourism development, and the growth of creative industries.

Yet the festival’s defining impression comes not from any single stage or installation. It is the combination of music, dusty roads, campfires, bold artistic expression, mountains, and the vast expanse of Issyk-Kul Lake. At KOLFEST, contemporary art is not confined to galleries, and electronic music is not limited to nightclubs—it unfolds under the open sky, surrounded by the lake and the mountains.