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“Field of Wonders”: The post-Soviet people’s show
A clip from the most-watched entertainment show of the 1990s, "Pole chudes [Field of Wonders],” featuring the post-Soviet “narod” (people) of regular folks engaged in a free-flowing relationship with both capitalism and Russia’s Central Television.
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“Politburo” versus the specter of communism during the 1993 Constitutional Crisis
A clip from “Politburo,” a weekly commentary show from Aleksandr Politkovsky, a former host of “Vzgliad.” This episode aired in the days following the April referendum that solidified Yeltsin’s position, and, in particular, follows People’s Deputy (and Yeltsin opponent) Alexander Rutskoy's first salvo in the so-called "Kompromat Wars," in which he made public 11 suitcases’ worth of material allegedly documenting Yeltsin's corruption. The episode ends with some May Day-themed anti-communist “chastushki” (Russian limericks).
View Artifact"Eleven Suitcases of Kompromat" (Draft)
Rutskoi's speech, regarding "11 suitcases of kompromat," proving the corruption of Yeltsin's team– the first salvo in the 'Kompromat wars,' as a counterattack to Yeltsin's "Yes Yes No Yes" referendum.
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Konstantin Ernst's "Matador"
An excerpt from the art show “Matador,” created in 1990 by “ViD”'s junior partner, Konstantin Ernst (1961-). This clip derives from an episode on contemporary art and boasts a joyously elitist feel consistent with “ViD”’s "New-Russian" ethos.
View ArtifactTsoi on "Before 16 and After" (Draft)
A Zastoi-origin youth show trying to make sense of Viktor Tsoi in 1988, while still operating within the symbolic universe of relatively orthodox Soviet programming.
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The View from the Other Side
LGBTQ activist Yaroslav “Slava” Mogutin’s response to another article on gay men in post-Soviet Russia (by Aelita Efimova) in the magazine Совершенно секретно.
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