Larta Glass has staged what it describes as the world’s first immersive performance inside a float glass furnace, at its Ramensky plant in the Moscow Region, Russia. The event marked the completion of a major plant renovation, including a complete cold repair and rebuild of the float furnace.
The upgraded furnace will enable the production of low-iron float glass up to 18 metres long, a format not previously manufactured in Russia. More than 250 clients and partners were invited inside the furnace chamber before heating and commissioning resumed. During operation, temperatures inside the furnace can exceed 1,500°C.
Larta Glass developed the performance in just one month, working within the narrow period between completion of the furnace construction and startup. The interior was transformed into an immersive theatre using lighting, sound and live performance centred on the Phoenix, representing fire, renewal and a new production cycle.
Russian dramatic soprano Ksenia Muslanova, Honored Artist of the Udmurt Republic, performed the famous chorus from Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor. The enclosed furnace chamber provided distinctive acoustics that amplified the performance. 
The Ramensky furnace began operating in 2006 and has produced approximately 115,000 kilometres of continuous glass ribbon over nearly two decades, almost three times the Earth’s equatorial circumference.
Guests also received pieces of erklez, solid glass removed from the previous furnace campaign, and left messages on the furnace walls before startup. The event concluded with a time capsule, containing predictions and messages intended to be opened during the next cold repair, projected for 2046.
Source: oknamedia.ru with additional information added by Glass Balkan
