The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to widespread sanctions being imposed on Russia. As the effects of these measures begin to take hold, the lives of ordinary Russian people will be subject to the type of austerity they last endured over 30 years ago, following the collapse of the USSR. A reprinted edition of the highly popular book from 2006. Home Made Russia features over 220 artefacts of Soviet culture, each accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it. The Vladimir Arkhipov collection includes hundreds of objects created with often idiosyncratic functional qualities, made for use both inside and outside the home, such as a tiny bathtub plug carefully fashioned from a boot heel; a back massager made from an old wooden abacus; a road sign used as a street cleaner's shovel; and a doormat made from beer bottle tops. Home Made Russia presents a unique picture of a critical period of transition, as the Soviet regime crumbled, but was yet to be replaced with a new system. Each of these objects is a window, not only into the life of its creator, but also the situation of the country at this time. Shortages in stores were commonplace, while wages might be paid in goods, or simply not paid at all. These exceptional circumstances lent themselves to a singular type of ingenuity, respectfully documented in intimate detail by Vladimir Arkhipov.

Details

ISBN13: 9781916218475
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 360
Edition:
Publication Date: 17 Mar 2022
Publisher: Damiani
Publication City, Country: Bologna,Italy
Dimensions (cm): 30(H) x 25(L)2400
Weight (gm): 2400

Author Biography

El Anatsui: (born, 1944, Anyako, Ghana) taught at the Specialist Training College in Winneba, Ghana (1969-75), and the University of Nigeria in Nsukka (1975-2016). Widely regarded as the greatest living African artist, he received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale (2015), the Praemium Imperiale Award for Sculpture (2017), Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), and he is Honorary Academician, British Royal Academy of Arts (2014). His works are in the collections of Centre Pompidou; The British Museum; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Tate Modern; National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos; Museum Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf, among others. Okwui Enwezor (born, Awkuzu, Nigeria, 1963; died, Munich, Germany, 2019) was a critic, art historian, curator and founding publisher of Nka: Journal of Contemporary Africa Art. Acknowledged as one of the most influential curators of our time, he organized the biennales Johannesburg (1997), Seville (2006), Gwangju (2012), and Venice (2015); the La Triennale, Paris; and Documenta 11 (2002). His other groundbreaking exhibitions included The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994, and Postwar: Art between the Atlantic and the Pacific, 1945-1964. He co-organized El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale (Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2019), the artists largest ever survey, and is co-author of Contemporary African Art Since 1980 (Damiani, 2009). He received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism (College Art Association, 2006) Chika Okeke-Agulu (born, 1966, Umuahia, Nigeria), is an artist, critic, art historian, and professor of African and African Diaspora Art, Princeton University. He is co-editor of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art and the author of several books, including Postcolonial Modernism: Art & Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria (Duke, 2015). With Enwezor, he co-organized El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale and co-authored Contemporary African Art Since 1980 (Damiani, 2009). His many prizes include The Melville J. Herskovits Prize for the most important scholarly work in African studies (African Studies Association, 2016), and Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism (College Art Association, 2016)

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