Chto Delat?

Perestroika Songspiel. Victory over the Coup drops us into the middle of one of the key events of the Soviet perestroika: August 21, 1991, the immense popular uprising that followed the failed coup that intended to restore Soviet communism. On this day, it seemed that democracy had finally won in Russia, and that the people themselves could lay the foundation for a new, just society.

Perestroika Songspiel. Victory over the Coup is structured like an ancient drama: its gallery of characters consists of a choir and five heroes. The heroes are typical characters of the post-cold war era, each with their own specific understanding of their role in history: a democrat, a businessman, a revolutionary, a nationalist, and a feminist. They act and they dream. They analyse their actions, their place in the system, and their ideas for Russia’s as yet undefined political path. The choir is historical consciousness personified. It comments on the situation and helps us to read between the lines. The choir makes moral statements about our heroes and predicts their future, as if watching them from the perspective of our present. The film looks at the specific composition of forces and ideas that were active during this extremely crucial historical moment. At the same time, it is a critique of political naivety that shows us how difficult it is to agree on a shared vision of the future. In their Songspiels, Chto Delat? revitalise methods originally developed by Bertolt Brecht, creating a contemporary form of dialectical film.

The artists’ collective Chto Delat? [What should be done?] was formed in St. Petersburg in 2003. It is made up of a diverse group of artists, critics, philosophers and writers from St. Petersburg, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. In their work, Chto Delat? mix political theory with art and activism.

Work

Perestroika Songspiel. Victory over the Coup, 2008
HD Video
26 min

Location

Luleå konsthall
21.11–14.2