Michalis Zacharias
Soviet Souvenir Kiosk, 2021
(Installation, performance, video)
Courtesy the artist
"When you sang hymns to the motherland,
That was your love,
For her your harp brought forth
A heart - enrapturing twang . . ."
To Raphael Eristavi, Soselo (Josef Stalin)
In 1932 Stalin issued his notorious decree "On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organisations", which was used as the main directive by the Ministry of Culture of the USSR. As a result, the iconic Soviet avant-garde halted suddenly, and Soviet art drifted towards Socialist Realism. The new style had to be simple, comprehensible, realistic, and representational. All modernist expressions declared decadent, bourgeois, and associated with capitalism.
This performance/installation is depicting a kiosk with Soviet souvenirs, in an imaginary scenario where the above sudden turn in cultural production is taking place. The sculptors are carving the souvenirs, in order to transform them from constructivist/cubist to busts of Stalin himself. In front of them, a larger bust of Stalin is used as a reference, with its position and stature seemingly implying that he also oversees the work.
Through this fabricated narrative representing the cultural transition between soviet modernism and neo-classical Stalinist socialist realism, the work is commenting as an allegory on the dark fate of both the October Revolution and the Russian avant-garde. Associating utopias with modernism and totalitarian politics with conservative aesthetics, this project emphasizes on Stalin's absolute control over Soviet cultural production, along with the drift towards aesthetic standards related to romanticism, a combination which led to the cultural phenomenon that we now address as "Totalitarian Kitsch".
The work is also a tribute to the Sots Art movement, and especially the artists who challenged with great courage the Soviet cultural status quo, marked by Stalin's legacy even after his death.
