Looking for Lenin
Hunting down banned Soviet statues in Ukraine
▻http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/5790/lenin-soviet-monument-ukraine
http://calvertjournal.com/images/uploads/features/2016_Mar/Lenins/DSC01760.jpg 
http://calvertjournal.com/images/uploads/features/2016_Mar/Lenins/DSC00626.jpg Statues are attacked for their association with power. Once fallen the monuments still find themselves in the midst of political struggles. As Gobert reflected: “Over the three days in Kharkiv we came to understand the balance of power in the city between the mayor and the governor and also between the activists who were united at the time of Maidan but are now fighting against each other. Looking for remnants of decommunisation, we found traces of corruption and a Soviet state of mind.”
There’s something slapstick about the very idea of chasing statues — “they move quickly for the dead”, as Ackermann says — to the peculiar places where they end up. In the photographs, a Lenin reads leisurely at the Museum of Fine Arts in Kiev; another lies face first in an allotment. Many Lenin-heads are hidden and locked away. The statues were subjected to comedy even before they were razed, with locals dressing them in national dress or Star Wars costumes, as was the case in Odessa. “In many cases, people found our approach funny. When they understand why we are doing it they become quite helpful,” Gobert says.
#lenin #art #soviétisme #Ukraine @reka
