IZO

Life-cycle of The Exile (Vanity Fair). I went on an excursion to Kirov with that Mark Ames once (he's now a columnist for Russian GQ (GQ)). I expected a hell-raiser, but he turned out to be a studious chap who ploughed through Solzhenitsyn in Russian at the breakfast table.

Igor Markin's museum site art4.ru is blocked in the UAE (art4-ru, in Russian).

When prez Medvedev visited Omsk recently, a sign advertising a play for children called We Await You, Merry Gnome was removed from his route in great haste at the last moment (postoronniy-cb, in Russian).

Valeriya Gai-Germanika's TV serial School (IZO, earlier) will no longer be broadcast by the Russian First Channel (Open Space, in Russian).

Media control

Case against blogger Dmitri Solovev dropped after two years (Global Voices).

More on the Umida Akhmedova case in Uzbekistan (NYT) (thanks, MK).

Flagship publication of the liberal intelligentsia Grani.ru being investigated for extremism (Grani.ru, in Russian).

Girl accused of distributing pornography via vkontakte.ru social site (Krasnoe Znamya, in Russian).

Igor Desyatnikov sues over claim Brittany Murphy was at his party shortly before she died (Open Space, in Russian); (IZO, earlier).

Below: anti-Japan Greenpeace demo 12 February.

Viceland magazine interview with Anatoli Ulyanov about the censorship situation in Ukraine (dadakinder):

Q. So, lots of ideas. Speaking of evolution, how do you imagine the future?   

A. The man of the future will probably be a cybernetic hermaphrodite. In no case is he going to be the well-known regressive masculine kind he is today. The end of the patriarchate bullshit is coming.

Head of Kyrgyz culture agency sacked for allowing show by US photographer Sergei Melnikoff (RFE/RL):

Kubanychbek Isabekov, a Kyrgyz legislator from the ruling Ak Jol (Bright Path) party, said in parliament today that Melnikoff's exhibit cannot be held in Kyrgyzstan because he has criticized Russia and called it "the country of slaves."  Isabekov said, "Russia is our major strategic partner, how can we allow such a person to hold his exhibits here in this country [after he makes such statements]?"

Georgian TV channel claims censorship by French satellite provider Eutelsat after Russian government pressure (RFE/RL).

Dugin vs blogosphere, Zhirinovsky vs foreign pop.

Alexander Volodarsky (IZO, earlier) is out of jail (plucer, in Russian).

Cinema news

Pavel Bardin's Film Russia-88 is being investigated under anti-extremism laws (Kommersant, in Russian): 

a band of skinheads makes agitprop video-clips for the internet. (...) The head of the band, Shtyk, finds out that his sister is dating a boy from the Caucasus, Robert. Shtyk calls a meeting at which his friend kills Robert. (...) The prototype of the protagonist is reckoned to be the neo-nazi Sergei Martsinkevich, known as Tesak, who is currently in jail

I would add: and the prototype of the plot seems to be Romeo and Juliet.

Does Avatar plagiarise the Strugatsky brothers (Guardian)? St P communists demand director James Cameron's arrest (Kommersant, in Russian).

The Uzbek photographer Umida Akhmedova is facing prosecution for "libelling and insulting the Uzbek people" and a petition has been started in her support (Fergana.ru, in Russian; via Open Space, in Russian). More, including work by Akhmedova (not necessarily that which has caused the legal trouble) (Radio Svoboda, in Russian).

The "new samizdat" in Kazakhstan (Guardian).

Example of the new Ukrainian morality committee (NEK) at work (dadakinder, in Russian):

The two sides [the Committee and the author Oles Ulyanenko] agreed that the NEK would withdraw its conclusion that the book, The Woman of his Dreams (Жінка його мрії (Женщина его мечты)), was pornographic and the author would make corrections to the text.

According to [Ulyanenko's] literary agent, words such as "to come" and "member" have been removed from the text and the phrase "he inserted his finger into her anus" has been changed to "he tenderly nibbled her ear".

If the author had fought a little harder he might have achieved a better compromise, for example "He tenderly nibbled her anus."

Video of the Shiitman action (IZO, earlier). Shiitman's still in prison; I read somewhere the girl involved is in hiding

Anti-Estonian song How Difficult It Is To Live In Estonia, on account of which the author, Sergei Bai, was called in for questioning by the Estonian police.

Russian academics now need official permission to publish their work abroad (NYT) (thanks, MK).

Censorship is driving art in Russia back underground (literally) and into apartments (New Times, in Russian, via Open Space).

Mikhail Suprun, historian researching fate of Germans in the arctic Gulags, arrested (Guardian) (thanks, MK).

Censorship-related events.

List of changes demanded to documentary film on RTR channel; includes the immortal request "Remove the theme of Yeltsin's drunkenness" (starshinazapasa, in Russian).

TVTs bans broadcast of programme about the scandalous Slutsker divorce (IZO, earlier) focusing on Olga Slutsker's failings; watch it here (Kompromat).

Debate between celebrated journalist Yuliya Latynina and writer Yuri Felshtinsky about the apartment bombings of ten years ago. Latynina says the FSB were not responsible, Felshtinsky says they were (EJ, in Russian; Radio Svoboda, in Russian).

Anatoli Ulyanov's Ukrainian art website Proza (http://proza.com.ua) has been shut down by its US host for displaying "child pornography". Ulyanov [who has waged a media war against recent Ukrainian anti-pornography legislation] claims the shut-down resulted from a tip-off from the Ukrainian authorities (gzt.ru, in Russian). The image in question was not an art-work but a photo by one  "Will McBride" from a 1974 edition of the "educational-medical" magazine Zeig Mal (Glyanets, in Russian). 

More Ukraine news here: Pavel Gudimov's Ya Gallery in Kiev has been set fire to after the presentation and discussion there of a gay literary anthology; an art-project was vandalised at the recent GogolFest art fair; and the notorious Ulyanov has fled abroad for his own safety after threats. But Ulyanov himself seems to welcome the attention [one is led to deduce that all his activity is a deliberate provocation] (levyi bereg, in Russian): 

I'm sure many liberals will disagree with me, but Ukrainian artists need repression and violence for the sake of the future, for the sake of development and life. An avant-garde without a Fuehrer is impossible.

Tate Modern Pop Life

Dasha Zhukova baby-bump on display at Tate Modern Pop Life show (Daily Mail). 

Richard Prince image of nude ten-year-old Brooke Shields not on display at Tate Modern Pop Life show after police ask for it to be removed (Entertainment). On the Snob portal, Triumph Gallery co-owner Dima Khankin comments (Snob, in Russian):

The pedophilia problem is not in art, it's in human licentiousness (...) I'm a believer in a clear definition. Pedophilia is sex with children. If there's no sex with children, there's no pedophilia. This is a strange, sanctimonious story of politically-correct games-playing. Let's scratch off Rubens for pedophilia, Von Stuck, Michelangelo and Caravaggio."

Also opinions from Sotheby's Russian head Mikhail Kamensky (Snob), painter Vladimir Dubosarsky (Snob), painter Dmitri Vrubel (Snob), all in Russian.

The image itself is below the cut. I believe it's been exhibited quite widely until now, including at the NY Guggenheim.

Writer Alexander Podrabinek driven into hiding after defending the "Anti-Soviet" kebab shop (Shaun Walker/Independent):

The dispute began when a kebab take-away that was always jokingly referred to as the "anti-Soviet", principally because it sits opposite the Soviet Hotel, tried to formalise the nickname with a new sign. City officials were unimpressed, however, saying the name was insulting to Russian veterans of the Second World War.

The 1943 film of Samuil Marshak's anti-Nazi propaganda poem Young Fritz was never shown and was destroyed at the studio; but now you can watch the whole thing on Youtube. It looks very interesting, in fact. Part one below.

Email received:

Hello!  My name is XXXXXX and I was model for Arnis Balčus photo-story "Killing rampage" (...). Photos of his work Episodes were exhibited in your gallery on year 2006 and they can also be seen on your web-sight [sic]. The thing is that I'm becoming a muslim and as you maybe know, it's absolutely unacceptable for muslim woman to be seen publicly this much uncovered. My request to You is to be responsive and remove those pictures of 'Killing rampage' where I can be seen or at least cancel the option where they can be enlarged. Please. It is really important for me.  Hoping for Your understanding and praying  Best regards, XXXXXX

I will do what she asks because I don't see any reason not to, although I imagine there's an argument against. Balčus's artwork itself will not be affected; I'm not sure how he'll deal with the request on his website.

Rehab:

Banned from circulation in Soviet times, Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago is to become a compulsory part of the Russian school curriculum (Izvestiya, in Russian).

Also: 

The Russian Orthodox Church abroad has rehabilitated General Vlasov, who led the White Army struggle against the Bolsheviks; the Russian Supreme Court refused to rehabilitate him in 2001 (Lenta, in Russian).

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Bear: everyone!? GQ magazine running scared (npr). Plus: journalist Grigori Nekhoroshev admits he was thrice afraid: when reporting the Kursk submarine tragedy; when reporting on a business associate of Ludmilla Putin; and when reporting prez Putin's purported connection with the gymnast Kabaeva (Ezhednevny Zhurnal, in Russian).

Blogger David slays press-agency Goliath? Blogger and roving photographer drugoi (Rustem Adagamov) was invited to the Sayan-Shushen Hydro Electric Power-Station after the explosion last month of a transformer which killed several workers; but the correspondent from the old-established news agency Interfax was sent packing (Interfax). However,drugoi is not some two-bit part-timer blogger, he has 40,000 'friends' and is the head of multi-media blogs at SUP, the big media-holding company; and the Interfax man was asking awkward questions. One of drugoi's several picture reports (drugoi, in Russian) A look at the consequences of the catastrophe for Siberia, comparing it to Chernobyl (Georgian Daily).

The 2X2 TV channel has successfully defended South Park in court against charges of extremism (gzt.ru, in Russian).

The Tretyakov Gallery under its new director, Irina Lebedeva, will continue to reject works from exhibitions if they "insult the feelings of religious believers, contravene society's moral standards or are of an extremist nature" (Itogi, via Open Space, in Russian). I was asked last week by the BBC Russian Service to take part in a discussion that looked at the growing influence of the Orthodox Church on exhibitions at the TG. I was asked at the last moment and couldn't take part, but thinking it over I realised that the TG's status as the pre-eminent museum has long meant that it is the focus of the greatest ideological pressure. There is for example only a couple of 1960s works by Geli Korzhev in the TG and a whole series in the Russian Museum. Why? Because the TG at that time didn't want images of wounded soldiers, Russian hostages or weeping mothers on its walls. In the end it took a second version of the work Mother, the first (and better) having gone to a provincial museum in Ulyanovsk.

More on the planned new museum of contemporary art [the creation of such a museum, suggests Lebedeva, could take some of the heat off the TG] (Valentin Diaconov/Artinfo).

An exhibition of paintings by Kirov artist Vladimir Usatov has been prohibited by the local authorities because among the works were a picture of PM Putin and prez Obama having tea and another of prez Medvedev receiving a ski from Kirov governor Nikita Belykh (Svoboda, in Russian).

More on the official campaign against pornography in Ukraine (Ethiopian Review):

According to MosNews.com, The Ukrainian Ministry of Justice said that individuals may keep pornographic paraphernalia as long as it is used "for medical purposes."

So, did they have an intern on the job for an hour, or what? At time of writing, Amnesty International has got all of ten celebrities to sign a letter in defence of Andrei Erofeev and Yuri Samodurov (Amnesty International). The Russian LJ community ru_art_free (motto: in art we free!) follows the state crackdown on Russian culture (ru_art_free, in Russian).

The Federal List of Extremist Materials (Ministerstvo yustitsii RF, in Russian).

Ukraine bans Bruno (Guardian).

Putin scene cut from South Park for third time this year (Moscow Times) (thanks, NI)! See also earlier (IZO).

Ukrainian president Yushchenko has signed the much-debated anti-pornography law (Ukrainska Pravda, in Ukrainian); artists fear it will severely curtail freedom of expression. Earlier: art-activist Anatoli Ulyanov reads from Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer at a meeting of the Morals' Commission of the Ukrainian parliament.

Petty censorship on Odnoklassniki? Stanislav Sadalsky reports that after he posted a joke about President Putin and the social site Odnoklassniki, the site removed dozens of photographs of Putin's "team" from Sadalsky's page (stanis-sadal, in Russian). FWIW (the implication being that Putin's team is made up of old schoolfriends - odnoklassniki):

Putin to secretary:
- Call all my stupid ministers to a meeting.
- Should I use the address-book?
- No, fuck it, use Odnoklassniki, it will be quicker that way!

The Kazakh parliament has approved a law which extends mass-media legislation to all internet publications. The law-makers had in mind recent events in Moldova, when "everyone - via the internet - went on strike". Some websites, including the leading Russian-language blogging service LiveJournal, have been unavailable in Kazakhstan for some time (TsentrAziya, in Russian).

A Celebration of Obedience? The Moscow Film Festival as political propaganda (RFERL) (thanks, MK).

The Ukrainian parliament is discussing a law which could result in three-year sentences for possession of pornography (Nash Vek, in Russian). On 23 June in Kiev the Karas Gallery will hold a press-conference, accompanied by an exhibition, to publicise the threat this legislation poses to artists (Open Space, in Russian).

Religious hatred charges against South Park have been dropped (NYT)) (thanks, MK). Background (IZO).

Russian local government boss bans phrase "financial crisis" (CBS News) (thanks, MK).

The Petersburg-5 channel was preparing a report on the recent rich people's party on the Aurora battleship, an event which upset many people (IZO, earlier); but due to pressure from interested parties, it was not broadcast (skandalspb, in Russian).

Artist Alexander Shednov, aka Shurik, has been arrested after depicting Vladimir Putin in women's clothing (Daily Mail):

The artist had attempted to beam the portrait onto the main administrative building in Voronezh, his home city, on Russian Independence Day last Friday.  But Shednov's endeavour did not go down well with the FSB, which replaced the KGB as Russia's intelligence agency.  He was arrested by counter-intelligence officials, claims he was questioned for seven hours and beaten.   Friends said his flat had also been searched and some of his paintings removed. 

Last week in Berlin I attended an evening lecture given by Mikhail Ryklin. Ryklin has the reputation of Russia's leading philosopher in the city (note: he was also the husband of the late artist Anna Mikhalchuk,  IZO), and so I went along in some anticipation. But I was disappointed. His talk (delivered in German) was a matter of polemics rather than philosophy. He began with the hoary notion that Moscow aspires to the status of the Third Rome, using this as a connector between Stalin and Putin-Medvedev regimes. Then he focused on the state of art censorship in Russia today, with particular attention to the Forbidden Art trial (IZO). The major artist-hero of the resistance, in Ryklin's view, seems to be Alexander Kosolapov, author of the painting This Is My Blood, which juxtaposes Jesus and Coca-Cola. What Ryklin had to say wasn't so much controversial as - coming from a leading academic and intellectual - superficial and boring. It was a rehash of the dissident analyses of Soviet power in the 50s-80s with emphasis now on the repressive tendencies of the Church rather than the Party. At one point Ryklin juxtaposed two events: the receipt by Ilya Kabakov of the Order of Friendship from President Medvedev, and criticism of a work by Kabakov by church activists, and stated that he couldn't logically reconcile these two events. Well, of course he couldn't, because he posits an old-style monolithic Establishment in which there is not a sliver of light between the political and the religious elites, the FSB and the Church. But this is plainly not the case. And Ryklin didn't mention the influential liberal-oligarchic establishment - much of it Jewish - in the form of such figures as Abramovich (who sponsors the Garage), Mamut (owner of LiveJournal), Lebedev and Prokhorov (publishers), Yuri Milner ("owner of half the Russian internet") etc.

Kim Zigfeld on censorship in Russia on the pretext of the struggle against "extremism" (Pajamas Media). In Kyrgyzstan, the killing of a political dissident and beating of a journalist in pursuit of the so-called Great Game (WSJ).

The latest video by singer Valeriya, produced for Children's Day, has been banned from Russian TV because its subject-matter, the abduction of a child, is too distressing (Youtube, in Russian).

TV encounter between Ukrainian art-activist Anatoli Ulyanov and Ukrainian Moral Committee member, journalist Danil Yanevsky (future-right, in Russian).

Follow-up to the colourising of Seventeen Moments of Spring (IZO, last week).Communists of St Petersburg plan to sue because the film has been turned into a "comic" (Kommersant, in Russian). And anti-religious sentiments have been cut from the movie (galerist, in Russian).

The duelling-style current affairs debate programme To The Barrier (К барьеру) has been shut down (galkovsky, in Russian). It was one of the liveliest programmes on Russian TV.