Feedback from participants of the Сardboardia Internship Labs

I managed to work in the workshop: to understand the basic principles of working with cardboard, but there was not enough time to firmly fix and hone the skills. there were mistakes on my part, but I try not to get upset, because I needed speed and much was done for the first time. in the future I would like to learn more about mastering hats, masks, because I mastered only the fan and the bear. I would like more observation of Olga’s work, but I understand that she had to finish the office in the Ministry.

I managed to work as a mover of a Vakhtangov puppet, it is very honorable and great, gave me at first frustration because I did not understand how I coped, and then pride in the process. I would like to further develop this skill, I liked to greet people, to be in the procession, to complement the atmosphere of the holiday.

I was outside at Pushkin Cardboardia Ministry and worked on the first stage when the townspeople came to fill out the bulletin. i was happy with my place as i spoke about what was happening to those who didn’t know and walked by, heard the favorable mood and put hats on people so they wouldn’t get burned, got one portrait of my Serafima Petrovna and took one photo as a souvenir! On the second day of the Ministry, I decided to take a cardboard camera and go to the queue and take pictures, instead I gave out sheets of paper «as a memory of standing in line at the Ministry of Cardboardia».

I would like to try new characters in the future!

Our trip abroad was a success! Almost anyone can visit this country and spend a couple of hours or a few days in it. It all depends on how deeply you want to immerse yourself in the life and atmosphere of this amazing country without borders, which fits on tiny, allocated for work and art objects, but in fact occupies huge spaces in the hearts and souls of people who have come into contact with the magical world of creativity and cardboard.

This country is ruled by the Tyran Sergey Korsakov, whom you want to obey with pleasure, not out of fear, exceptionally kind ministers, such as wise Oksana Sinkevich, or inexhaustible source of creative energy «Minister Tyap-Lyap» Mikael. In this country live masters with golden hands: Katya Kozlova, who can create a magnificent coat from cardboard boxes and fill any cardboard product with beauty and life, Igor Lev, a specialist in creating beautiful ladies, and many other wonderful wizards with heads full of ideas, skillful hands and warm hearts. Wonderful artists (Kale Johnson) and musicians (Jim Avignon and Chris Imler) have collaborated with this country.

This country speaks a mixture of languages: Russian, English, Cardboardian (where else will you find such specific words that are in use in this country))) and the universal language of fantasy.

Here they love work and love fun, they can work from morning till late evening and rest from evening till morning. Here they know how to organize desperately cheerful and reckless processions — parades, which are joined with pleasure not only by the creators of the works themselves, but also by people from the street, who just passed by, but could not remain indifferent. Thank you Cardboardia for the magical world of children’s fairy tales, the atmosphere of celebration even in the most difficult, work-filled day.

Cardboardia! This is the most colorful and perhaps unforgettable event of this summer. I took a closer look that there is a direction «communication» and realized that I need it very urgently right now and without any! I work as the manager of a ceramics studio, and as you can guess, it has nothing to do with performance or acting. And my hobbies have nothing to do with it either. They were. But what do I take away with me? Firstly, the unforgettable experience of working with cool mentors: Kale Johnson, Mikael Virman, Katya Kozlova. Second, a lot of autonomy. Thirdly, different people come to the internship. In Ekaterinburg there were more than 30 people. People are very different. It’s, you know, like a big concentrated communication training. Fourthly about the holiday. We did a parade for Yekaterinburg City Day. An alternative holiday to what we’re used to. My friends came as a family to stomp in the Cardboardia column, not knowing what it would be. And they got high. With kids around their necks with boxes on their heads, with a funny sign, dancing to the drums of a crazy artist from Germany, waving to an American sculptor who ran around with a shuffleboard and winking at a doctor who was dragging a polo dog with her sons. Smiling at the people who watched them from the crowd. The parade participants were happy and will remember this day as a cool celebration. Tyran said "Now let’s remember why we came here. We came here to give away OUR GOOD and take OTHER GOOD. Tyran of Cardboardia created a space where we came together staying ourselves, that’s talent. You can do good goofy things, in a kind, playful, humorous way. There are too many fuck-ups, scripts, contexts in life. And you come intern at Cardboardia, things will happen there that you yourself will let be. And there’s even a little bit of magic. I’ve definitely had it. I’ll keep it. Thank the cardboard angels of Cardboardia for making it so!

Good afternoon!
Since few people will read to the end, I will immediately write all sorts of thanks and shoot rays at my colleagues in the workshop.

Thank you, Olesya! For caring about us. For your interest in your interns.
Thank you Anya! For the food and its organization)
Thank you to everyone who appeared in my life for these two weeks.
Thank you Dasha, who replaced me in my post!
Anya, for the wonderful story of how to start doing sports!
Katya, for the killer humor.
Ira, for keeping me company over Crocodile.
Nastya, for the smile. And the dreadlocks. I've wanted dreadlocks for a long time.
Ksyusha, who let me cut sandwiches. And not to go out in the cold)
Lyola, I admire the versatile artistic vision.
Sasha, for the opportunity to be close to talent!
Marina and Lera, for the master class and photos)
Kostya, for well done cuttings in horses.
Lyosha and Artyom thanks for the great SUPERSHIT and the Crocodile head. The only head I managed to make during the internship.

My name is Olga.
And I whined.
I whined the whole internship.

About how I wasn't the one who made the Crow mask, simply and brilliantly.
About how I didn't invent the Goat's Head in one day.
How I didn't make the Hugometer.
Ovens, cups, pans.
And just to keep the team positive.
I whined.

INTERNSHIP.
You asked for a job, maybe not us, but we came. What can you do now?
Costume designers, illustrators, ex-demobels, homebodies, ethno-people.... Making a mix of us was probably the hardest part. Those who signed up to design worked the Workshop to the fullest. Future interns be aware, you're not going to get anything done in time or perfectly. Deal with it right away.

There are two roles in the internship mix.
Either to create, or ... cut!
By the way, the one who creates is still cutting.
But the one who cuts. He cuts and cuts.
Do you understand why I was whining?
Of course, no one prevented me from peeping and giving unnecessary advice. But if you're not a painter or a mechanic, there's no time to be one in the workshop. Not during the internship.

What we learned... Well, good artists and designers - stayed good! That's a lot!
The rest... We learned how to cut straight, in a circle, on the piece, on the floor, on the table.

Yes, I guess that's a great experience. Now, I feel differently about Cardboard. By the way, the Big People who put me on the internship never understood why I didn't learn how to make castles. Too bad it's an Internship and not a Course or Practicum. And... Thanks Tyran. Yes, one person definitely read this to the end! The ability to organize what was a hobby into a business is a rare stroke of luck. And for it to still breathe and have a life of its own is a very rare thing. Vivat Tyran, vivat!

I didn’t know anything about Cardboardia before the internship — I accidentally came across an advertisement for interns on the Internet and thought: «Hmm, this is interesting! I seem to know how to work with cardboard, and I want to see Kulikovo Polje» — so I applied, and I was lucky — and I was lucky!

Then, when they began to tell me more about the conditions, I was a little scared: they said that there are not enough places in hotels, you need to bring pots, plates and a lot of your own food, because the nearest store is 50 km away, and the schedule of the canteen does not coincide with the schedule of cutting cardboard, and you have to get there yourself, and I imagined an organized transfer, when the whole large team of Cardboardia amicably loaded into a bus and goes to the specified place (now I realized that this is impossible because the composition of the team during the entire working period. In general, I expected some spartan conditions, cold, hunger, wild fatigue, working in the open air and living in tents. But the reality exceeded all my expectations: a stunningly beautiful place, endless steppe, low sky, and sandstorms on the horizon, the museum itself is amazing in its architecture, landscape and content, very comfortable, fully equipped living rooms (although I realize that this is just a great luck, and Cardboardia is far from always living in such conditions) timely meals and quite adequate working schedule. I was fed up and absolutely satisfied with everything!

About the activity itself it is necessary to tell separately: and first of all I want to express huge gratitude to Olesa Kandalitseva for care, tactfulness and attentive approach to training: she made a detailed instruction on safety, warned in advance about possible mistakes, very accessible explained everything and gave interesting tasks. And in general I am incredibly grateful to the whole team: everyone was very friendly and responsive, each person was ready to help with advice and deeds.

Since I had been making various objects, models and furniture from cardboard for more than a year, I knew how to hold a knife correctly, understood the material, and understood what is the direction of corrugation and stiffening ribs, I thought that I would not learn anything new, but that was not the case — I got a lot of skills, skills and learned various subtleties of the case, for example, how to make layouts for costumes, in what places it is necessary to strengthen layers of cardboard, where to glue with tape, where to cover with varnish, how to ensure human safety when using the object, how to make a reliable fastening, etc. Everything was useful!

And in general, I was struck by the whole atmosphere: the atmosphere of a very friendly and creative community, where all people are so interesting and different, but live and burn with the same idea, try and put all their efforts to create a holiday for other people. All the characters of Cardboardia are like one big family, and they really resemble a nomadic people or even a wandering circus, which moves from one place to another, putting on colorful shows.

These 6 days of internship were an invaluable experience and an unforgettable experience for me! Cardboardia has won my heart and now I want to be there because it is a great happiness to create, to work with my own hands, to turn ideas into reality, to create such monumental and beautiful things, to do something for people and to see their happy faces!

And thank you, Tyran, for creating this Cardboard World!

I have traveled enough and seen a lot (not really, but there is something to compare it with), looked at people in other states, still trying to understand the structure of our country, but Cardboardia is one of the best countries I have been to. If I was given the choice of going without everything and going to live in Cardboardia, I would take it.

The time when I learned about a country without territory is long gone, it was so long ago that I even sometimes think I’ve known about it since birth.
I’ve had the chance to live in this country, not much, but enough to know what its rules and laws are. I’m ready to sign each one.

First I got to the Steppe and realized from the first days that sleep in this country is not the main thing, that the madness in the eyes and the thirst for what is done is much more important. During my internship in the Steppe, I learned perseverance, pushing aside girlish whims and insecurities about myself and the knife blade. I learned stamina and stability, glue burned my fingers, but I didn’t give up and I won! I realized that it is possible to be happy and fulfilled even without comfort. Those days in the steppe are forever in my heart, which still freezes from the memories of sunsets, strong wind and chirping swallows.

I also had a chance to visit the preparations for the Polytechnic Festival in Moscow. It was a joy to be face to face with the assembly, which was suspended when the rain poured down our necks in a pavilion without walls or a roof. I realized that this country is home to people who are confident and quick-thinkers. Making a decision before you’ve had time to think is the most important thing. Time is short and you have to make it, even if you are hungry and there is rainwater in your boots. Preparing for Polytechnic taught me how to manage my time, that there are no complicated things, if you don’t have skills or knowledge, everyone can help you, just ask, without forgetting to turn on your brain. For me, Cardboardia is also about progress and development.

During the Polytechnic Festival itself, the weather was fabulous and I was so happy that I finally realized: no matter how much you had not slept before, no matter how many fingers you cut while making your child a «sound-catcher-wonder-of-wonders», no matter how many people tried to take away your Ambox recorder during the parade because it was «Super-class! Ah, let me play!», all of the above are insignificant and unnoticeable compared to my love for a country without territory, which I have forever and so deeply that it seems to be the most heartfelt confession I’ve made in a while. Thank you, I’m happy!

Good day everyone!
I haven’t written a review for a long time. I was repeating what I had already said, or praising the Tyran all the time. Then I remembered that it is impossible by definition to praise a tyrant too much. So universal thanks to the World for Tyran, and to Tyran for Cardboardia. I know there are a lot of people involved, but no one has canceled the role of personality in history.

In 2 weeks, of which I was only 5 days, I learned more from Tiran than I have in all my previous years of work. And it’s not about the technical side of the hard work of event-manager, but rather about the personal qualities of a person who wants to lead the process — any, however small — and materialize their ideas in our mortal world. Here’s my list of valuable tyrannical things that are useful to learn:

1. An awesome superpower of the «god» level not to be offended by criticism (and even on the contrary — to want it), in general not to be offended by many things and not to worry. I don’t know, I rarely meet people with this ability.
2. Absence of complexes (in a good sense of the word). Apparently, is the reason for the previous point. A cool automatic consequence of this quality — the elimination of complexes in other people, the ability for them to go beyond the gray-brown and crimson frames of everyday life.
3. To be confident in what you do, to believe in success to the very end and under any circumstances.
4. Thinking big and seeing the big picture.
5. Knowing how to insist on your own when you need to.
6. The ability not to insist when you don’t have to.
7. Reminding everyone why we are doing all this in the first place. And to remember ourselves (sometimes in critical situations this is not so easy).
8. Motivate others to bring you coffee, chocolate bars, bring you food from the store in such a way that they do it voluntarily and with joy (I dream of learning this).
9. Speak in such a way that everyone listens as mesmerized (by the way, it will come in handy for future politicians).
10. To make silly jokes to lighten the atmosphere.

In general, it is the first time in my life that I see a person with such a colossal energy directed outward. At first you want to immediately hide in a dark, quiet place. But then you’re hooked. Apparently, this is the only thing on the list that cannot be learned or is very difficult to learn, because it is innate.

This is already a very long text, although there is still so much to say. Special thanks for the opportunity to try something I’ve never done before and to be involved, at least for a short while, in the materialization of such an extraordinary and really unique idea as Cardboardia. The world will never be the same again once I meet her, and I will always be drawn back.
To the Minister of Silly Ideas, thank you for the all-encompassing love that is immediately readable on his stern face. And of course thank you to all the girls I spent this time with — you are very different and cool.

These two weeks were completely different from the usual internship in an event agency, as I imagine it to be: when you are given linear tasks, you do them, you are loaded more and more, look at you and only then, perhaps, give something to gene or speak out. An internship at Cardboardia is like a two-week creative camp where you find your own place and your own role. It’s a workshop where you come up with a project almost from scratch according to the Terms of Reference.

You can come up with whatever you like, promote whatever you like, deliver whatever you like — if you like your idea, they’ll offer to refine it. There was an absolute feeling that you were driving this train, that you were really influencing something, and this increased responsibility, motivation and drive.

An unexpected plus was the fact that in addition to the manager had to become a performer, to work with the public on the day of the event, that is, to do what usually event-managers never do.

It’s cool that at some point we were given a pretty useful lecture, and also gave homework. And if it turns out that you know something that is interesting to others, you can also offer to give a pop-up lecture.

In my opinion, the most useful time at the internship will be spent by guys who have initial experience in organizing events. You work in an agency and do the same weddings or corporate events; you are, God forbid, an animator or a presenter who feels that you have been doing something wrong for a long time; you are an event organizer who needs fresh air — that’s when an internship in Cardboardia will really benefit you. You will have a lot of opportunities to generate new and try yourself in different tasks from creativity to administration, you will see what else is event business, meet incredibly enthusiastic and happy (because they are busy with their work!) people and come out fresh and full of ideas, as after a bath. A kind of rehub for organizers.

While my friends were packing their suitcases and buying tours to warm lands in the hope of dispelling spring malaise, I set off lightly, with one dress and a pair of comfortable sneakers, armed with a clerical knife, to the unknown and dangerous (as it turned out later) country of Cardboardia. Having previously proved my trustworthiness by a couple of test tasks and having passed all bureaucratic formalities, I, as well as all my companions, received a detailed safety briefing from the Minister of Education — our guide to this wonderful world) The journey promised to be very extreme, But we were not afraid of neither red-hot glue nor sharp blades (which were trying to cut off our fingers), so we started to lay the route to the Sun, although it was rather on the shoulders of a parallel group of enthusiasts under the leadership of the Tyran of Cardboardia himself, we called them «perfomers», and they called us «designers». We, designers, in our turn were responsible for the construction of sights, creation of props and animal costumes, because the final point of our route was to be the Pancake festival in the Museon Park. During all the days of stay in Cardboardia we worked tirelessly, the tasks became more and more difficult, keeping our minds and bodies in tone. Sometimes we of course fell out of schedule due to inexperience, then wise and skillful mentors came to our aid (thanks for their advice and magic pendels), team spirit did not let us get discouraged when something did not work out, and everyone sincerely rejoiced at each other’s successes. I think that each of us went to Cardboardia, like that strange group in the Emerald City, for what he lacked, for example, to fearlessly take on new tasks and assess their labor intensity in advance, to love with all our hearts the process of collective creation, to train our neatness or creativity, in the end, to shake up our brains so that they don’t get stale. Many people wanted to get out of their comfort zone, personally I managed to get into this very zone, it’s great here, and I don’t want to get out at all. The result was an interesting beautiful holiday, despite the weather, came unexpectedly many interested, not indifferent people, uninterested and indifferent also got, but they were carried away by the elements. ps. And the electric sea of spunchbond does not give me rest to this day).

In my opinion, feedback is very important for both participants and organizers. That’s why I want to share my feedback about the Cardboardia Intensive. It is an opportunity to replay in your head once again your memories and impressions from the information received, involvement in the process, meeting new people and the result at the end. It is a movement that makes you move forward. After all, it is very important, especially nowadays everyone is so eager to learn more different directions to discover themselves. I needed this intensive first of all to understand if I am moving in the right direction? The answer is yes, in the right direction. I wanted to see from the outside how my colleagues in the field of additional education work. The first thing I noticed and what interested me was that the program is designed for adults and children. I work with children, in the sphere of additional education, the direction of painting, creativity, small architectural forms, theater workshop, etc. The idea of how to unite parents and children in creativity is not only in my head, but also in the air, as it turned out. I liked the way the program was designed in three important areas: creative workshop, acting and art management. All participants are involved in all the processes, adults and children alike. Unfortunately, there were not enough adults, this is the only small minus, but the pluses are many. From November 19-23, only 5 days, but what! 5 full days flew by very quickly, in one breath. We drew posters, came up with scripts, talked through ideas, created costumes, scenery, rehearsed, made up and performed! It really was a creative flight.

At the finish line we showed a performance circus Shapito. All participants showed themselves as real circus artists, showing a parody of circus performers. Everyone created their own costume from cardboard. All the props and decorations were also made of cardboard, which is really impressive. Different interesting objects were created from huge sheets of cardboard in the workshop. So ordinary material that turns into artistic value.

Based on simple shapes, like a box or a cube, we learned how to create more complex objects.

The time allotted for acting was important for liberation, good presentation in a playful way and removal of clamps.

Thank you to all organizers of Cardboardia and participants of the program for inspiration, implementation of ideas and active creativity.

My work background is dance, carnival and street spectacle performance, costume making and Couture and Theatrical millinery.

I initially saw a call-out online for participants - 'Personages of Cardboardia' - to join Cardboardia's Street Performance Lab to learn the techniques of working with cardboard with the aim of creating various items including decorations and costumes for an interactive event and parade to mark Voluntary Arts Week.

But what caught my attention more was the opportunity to learn performance skills and to stilt-walk. I had tried stilt-walking previously but I wasn't very good at it.

I applied for and secured a place. An information meeting was held at In Your Space Circus School where we met Ministers of Cardboardia Sergei Korsakov and Olesya Kandalintseva and everyone taking part. We were asked to make an item in cardboard and bring it along – and I did, a fun little cardboard tube 'doll' with a hat and dress! Another participant I remember made an impressive selection of miniature cardboard aeroplanes which I photographed.

We spent the first few days learning how to create with cardboard. I found the work fascinating as I hadn't done anything like this before. Olesya taught us about the qualities of cardboard, its strengths and weaknesses, how to design, how to cut it with clean lines, how to assemble and methods of folding and connecting the parts. We painted, we made headdresses and costumes and the beginnings of large scale props.

As I had applied specifically for Module 2 of the Lab which was 'Street performance and Communication with the Public for Beginners' several days into the project we were joined by Germany based Wolfgang Hauck director of stilt-walking company Die Stelzer Theater. Wolfgang very patiently guided me and taught me to walk on peg stilts. He put us stilt walkers through our paces practicing walking up and down the stairs, dancing, creating a 'scene' and preparing us for our performances and a 'finale' street parade. We also did a publicity photoshoot outside for the local newspapers.

Part of the training time was spent practicing at the venue where the performance was going to be.

In the meantime the makers and builders, including Minister of Cardboardia Mathijs Stegink and Astrid Tweepuntnul, were transforming the space - inside and out – into Embassy of Cardboardia interactive space. I will not go into details lest I spoil the surprise for others but I will say it was amazing.

All in all it was an extremely challenging experience for me. Probably the most difficult aspect was learning to stilt walk in a short corridor with a very low ceiling. This route was a Plan B for an indoors performance in the event of wet weather so you can imagine I prayed very hard for sunshine. Of course with the unpredictable Irish weather one performance did indeed take place inside and I faced my fear and mastered the low ceiling - a useful skill I've had to employ many times since.

Over two days we did several performances starting indoors at the top of the building, down the stairs to outdoors where we put on a show like Pied Pipers with those in attendance following behind. There were lots of friendly faces in the audience, people I knew including my granddaughter. Wolfgang kindly assisted me in engaging the audience as I was the least experienced in this area. Our final 'finale' Parade performance route was on the main street, around the block and back to the venue on the 'difficult to navigate' cobble stones of the city walls.

This was an amazing experience for me throughout. I had a huge sense of achievement for having added another string to my bow in terms of performance skills and I am now a paid stilt-walker. Cardboardia project was definitely a life-changing experience for me. I absolutely love stilt-walking. I had my own stilts made and I have continued to learn by attending stilt masterclasses and learning from those more experienced than me. I have since performed on stilts nationally and internationally including in several major shows in Germany. I've been teaching my granddaughter how to stilt walk since she was 8 years old and she also has her own stilts to practice on. I have watched her grow in confidence and self-empowerment.

Cardboardia is an experience that will remain in my memory for the rest of my life. I am ever in gratitude to everyone who made it happen.

I am an Irish puppet and costume maker, and I worked with Cardboardia in Hebden Bridge in 2016. I saw Tyran speak the year before in Manchester about his work and it stuck with me. I jumped at the opportunity to work with them, so I spent a week helping create cardboard toilets, suits, trees, birds and many other wonderful things. Tyran and his crew are creative, hardworking, imaginative, inventive, resourceful and eccentric! Despite the occasional language barrier, I really felt like part of the team.

I think it's fascinating how Tyran has created an entire world just from cardboard. It seems like a simple idea, but the execution of the work and the passion that goes into the performances makes it entirely real. Overall it was a wonderful, fulfilling creative experience!

I met "Cardboardia" when they came to Hebden Bridge for Handmade Parade, 2 years ago.I normally help out with making projects and help the public at the workshops.

The Tyran encouraged me to join in with the "Bureaucrat" street art, which involved interacting with the public in the crowd and generally being difficult and stopping them from enjoying themselves. I had never done anything like this before and had a memorable and amazing time. I really enjoyed myself and had no problem getting into character and "teasing" the audience.

If this type of work is replicated around the world; encouraging and enabling people to push their boundaries; then long may it continue. Keep up the good work and Thank You.

PS I am 65 years of age and a retired local government officer, so not your usual candidate!

I worked with Carbordia at the Sziget Festival in Budapest. We came there - students from several art schools in Europe. Because of not the best organization of the festival we were not sufficiently informed what all this work involves.Tyran was not happy about it too, but he took it with the professionalism I did not see at all. Carbordia is an amazing state where people work incredibly hard but with more love. it's definitely not work for anyone. it's not just about creativity and hard physical work, but it's about group work and team building. Carbordia has given me definitely humility and weighing hard work at the end of which you feel joy on the faces of people. Also showed me how incredibly difficult is the organization of something like that, and the Tyran and his band got all my honor. Even though I know they did not get the team they deserved, they did it professionally. Carbordia for me means something completely new and unique and to be part of it you have to feel the hard work and the mood of the parade.

During my Internship with Made In Cardboardia, I took part in helping to build large cardboard structures for the World's first Cardboard Orchestra in Coventry, England. I had such an amazing experience working alongside the Cardboardia team and learned a great deal from them, not only in terms of working with cardboard but how to engage the community into coming together to create something truly unique and fun for all!

The Cardboard Orchestra included a giant Ambox (musical box) which I helped to build, learning to follow directions from a scaled down sketch. The details and skills that I learned from this process have helped me enormously in my own art work.

In addition to large scale instruments, we helped members of the local community to make their very own cardboard instruments through a series of workshops organised with the help of Imagineers Productions in Coventry.

Under Tyran's humorous and exuberant direction, we all came together to showcase our newly made cardboard instruments in a grand finale of song and dance.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Made In Cardboardia; I learned a great deal and made great new friends along the way. I look forward to working with them again some day in another fun filled cardboard adventure!