Why Vladivostok?

Holding the title of the city furthest away from its countries own capital, 10,000k or 6,215 miles, Vladivostok is located on the south east coast of Russia in the Sea of Japan. Situated in the hills at the head of Zolotoy Rog Bay, it is home to major commercial and fishing ports in the Pacific. Vladivostok has connecting borders with leading countries of the Asian-Pacific Region. Air travel to Tokyo, Bejing and Seoul are all under 2 hours flight time. Ferries which take only 1 night to Japan and Korea run constantly and is only 35 miles to the Chinese border. The city is a unique Russian forpost in the Far East and a European megapolis in the center of Asia. It is the farthest, from the capital, regional center of the Russian Federation. Finally, it’s a city with its own cultural identity.

Leader of Mumiy Troll, founder and curator of Vladivostok Rocks: “I have a big love to Vladivostok because its my hometown — but the festival is happening not because of that. The city is changing very much: after the APEC Summit 2012 (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) the infrastructure changed drastically with appearance of a brand new international airport and so on. Today, you can get within an hour to Tokyo and in two hours to Beijing. Or overnight you can take a fairy to Japan or Korea. Also FEFU (Far Eastern Federal University) complex was built where people will study, and that will be attracted to it not only by a beautiful building but also by the surrounding cultural life, that brings new opportunities. It is important for us that the city will get active, talented youth which will want to know how to be involved with modern culture — and its no doubt that it will start happening after having such an inspiring festival. And also, Vladivostok is very successfully located. Western artists and promoters — the beginners and those who already proved everything to everyone, more and more are involved in their promotion in Asia: it’s a huge market and not fully discovered by the West. On the other side, even Asian artists slowly begin to compete with the Western artists. In this situation Vladivostok with its unique location, is the starting base as the crossroads between East and West, which could become a real big touring point on the world’s map”.