Russian Studies

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐫 𝐕𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

8 December. 15:00 – 16:00.
𝐕𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡

Singer, songwriter, poet and actor Vladimir Vysotsky (1938-1980) is sometimes talked of as the Russian Bob Dylan, or Jacques Brel, but that doesn’t really convey how much he was loved and revered across the Soviet Union in the 1970s, nor his status as a major poet.

An opinion poll in Russia not so long ago put Vysotsky as the second most important Russian cultural figure of the 20th century after only the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Some even consider him, controversially, Russia’s most important poet since Pushkin. And yet his work is almost unknown to people in the West. A New York Times article, published a year after his death, attempted to explain it like this: “because his ballads rarely dealt explicitly with politics, because the street language he used with such effect is almost untranslatable and because the life he sang about is so alien to the West.” But is this true?

John Farndon, who has just translated the untranslatable with the first major collection of Vysotsky’s work in English, explored the work of one towering artist of the 20th century. Anthony Cable performed some of the translated songs.

John Farndon is a widely published, award-winning author of books about science and nature, a poet and songwriter and an acclaimed translator of Russian and Central Asian literature. He translated the poetry for Hamid Ismailov’s The Devil’s Dance which won the European Bank RD literary prize 2019 and he was a finalist for US Pen Translation award in 2020 with his translation of Kazakh writer Rollan Sesyenbaev’s The Dead Wander in the Desert. He has now made the first major translation of Vladimir Vysotsky’s songs into English, published by Glagoslav.

Anthony Cable is one of the UK’s leading stage singers. His career straddles both opera and West End shows. He has performed at the National Theatre and the London Palladium and has given recitals and concerts in Germany, Russia and France. He created and performed the show Jacques Brel-The Rage to live (www.jacquesbrel-thragetolive.co.uk) which received great critical acclaim in the UK, France and Germany. He is also a prize-winning short story writer and poet.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐫 𝐕𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

4 November. 17:00 – 18:00.
𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐢 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐬𝐤𝐲’𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞: 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 ‘𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐥𝐞𝐭’

The talk addressed a little-known aspect of the work of the celebrated Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky (the director of ‘Soliaris’ and many other films), namely, his theatrical productions: ‘Hamlet’ on the stage of the Theatre of Lenin’s Komsomol (Moscow, 1977) and the opera ‘Boris Godunov’ at the Royal Opera House (London, 1983).

Half a century ago, unlike now, film director and theatre director used to be two different professions, rarely combined. The fact that Tarkovsky occasionally switched from film direction to directing plays is intriguing. Before his great success at the film festival in Venice in 1962, he stayed away from the predominantly psychological Soviet theatre. However, he was seriously drawn towards European avant-garde theatre, as soon as he was exposed to it. Tarkovsky even thought of creating his own theatre, involving his favourite cinematic actors in it. It was then that he was given the opportunity to stage his first theatre production: ‘Hamlet’ at the Theatre of Lenin’s Komsomol in Moscow.

The lecture examined Tarkovsky's first performance in connection with the aesthetics and problematics of his cinema. It explored how the film director's artistic search continued in the theatre. The reasons for the failure of this endeavour and the question of whether it was really a failure were also discussed. The audience learned how Tarkovsky came up with the idea of the play, how long it lasted and how it influenced the second theatrical experience of this leading director – the production of Mussorgsky's opera ‘Boris Godunov’ at the Royal Opera House in London.

Yulia Anokhina (Ph.D. in Philology) is a linguist, film critic, researcher of the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, biographer of the actress Margarita Terekhova, and curator of the exhibition “Tarkovsky’s theatre. ‘Hamlet’” at the State Central Theatre Museum named after A.A. Bakhrushin (Moscow, 2017).

The Vladimir Vysotsky Centre for Russian Studies: the Events of March 2021

24 March. 15:00 – 16:00.
‘𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗳 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲, 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝗻 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲: 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗵 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘀𝗸𝘆’
Elena Petrushanskaya (Bologna, Italy – Moscow, Russia)
In Russian with a consecutive translation into English.

There are many facets to the theme of the relationship of poetry and music. It has mainly been studied through the works of those poets who were immersed in classical music from childhood and learned to play musical instruments. Joseph Brodsky was not one of those.

However, the "musical vocabulary" of his poetry is wider than, for example, that of such great Russian poets of the 20th century as Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, and Akhmatova. Dr Elena Petrushanskaya’s book "The Musical World of Joseph Brodsky" (St. Petersburg, 2004, second edition 2007) is based on her interview with the poet (of 1995) about his relationship with this art form, and on her other research.

The talk addressed the questions raised in the book including the intriguing way of turning a rebel who did not graduate from school into a music lover and the role of music in his life. It explored the cultivation of the subtle hearing of a poet, and the creation of a special musical imagery, a special phonetics, in the poetic work of Joseph Brodsky.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭

17 March. 15:00 – 16:00.
‘𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗼𝗲𝗱𝗼𝘃: 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗿𝗲́ 𝗹𝘂𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀’
Firuza Melville (Cambridge, UK) followed by a virtual exhibition by the students of the Faculty of Arts of St Petersburg State University (St Petersburg, Russia)

Since his tragic death in Tehran in 1829, Alexander Griboedov’s professional career as a diplomat and his private life as a poet, playwright, composer, revolutionary and businessman have been the subject of countless interpretations worldwide.

In this talk, the focus was on the paradox of an extremely diverse perception of Griboedov’s phenomenon as a person and a professional and its visual representations: film, drama, and visual art. To illustrate the talk, it was followed by a virtual exhibition of works by students of the Film and Television Studies at the Faculty of Arts of St Petersburg State University.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭

3 March. 15:00 – 16:00.
‘𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗲𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵’
Maria Bloshteyn (Toronto, Canda), editor and translator of Russia is Burning (Smokestack Books, 2020)

The established canon of Russian World War II poetry (the Great Patriotic War, as it is known in Russia) has continued unchallenged for 75 years after the victory over N**i Germany. What were the reasons for the enormous output of war poems in the Soviet Union during WWII? Which poets and poems continue to be excluded from Russian poetry anthologies of the Great Patriotic War? The paper looked at some specific examples of both canonical and excluded poets and their poems from a new bilingual anthology of Russian WWII poetry Russia is Burning (published by Smokestack Books), edited and prefaced by Dr Maria Bloshteyn.

Maria shared her experiences of working on this pioneering anthology both as the editor and as the main translator, and answered questions from the audience.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭

17 February. 13:00 - 14:00.
‘𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗸𝗵𝗼𝘃’𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀, 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮’
Michael Janis (Atlanta, USA) (Jointly with MOLA Seminar Series)

Anton Chekhov’s “The Bet” (1889) may be considered a latter-day conte philosophique, as a symbolic engagement with the philosophical challenges presented by nihilism and anarchism that reverberated through Russia since the 1860s. Occasionally assigned in literature classes and alluded to by political pundits, the story nonetheless has not been recognized by critics as a masterpiece of irony and existential inquiry, influenced by countervailing currents of nineteenth-century philosophy.

Considered in this essay in the broader context of the Chekhovian intellectual in works such as “An Anonymous Story,” “A Dreary Story,” and The Cherry Orchard, the fascinating yet unsettling quest for wisdom described in “The Bet” reflects a pivotal era of the Russian elite, suspended between bourgeois indifference and philosophical recognition.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭

3 February. 15:00 - 16:00.
‘𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁𝘀: 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗗𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗸 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀’
Julia Pliauksta (London, UK)

For many years the art heritage of the Russian North was hidden from the researchers and art lovers. In the 1950s the first expedition organised by Zagorsk museum of Art and History re-opened the phenomenon of peasant crafts to the world.

In her talk, Dr Julia Pliauksta covered the main aspects of the traditional Russian crafts called 'Severodvinsk rospis' - a type of the Northern Dvina folk art, which is in high demand in Russia to this day - and elucidated the main features and different styles of 'rospis'.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭

6 January. 13:00 - 14:00.
‘"𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁": 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗸𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘃 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿.’
James Womack (Cambridge, UK). Jointly with MOLA / TESOL Seminar Series

Aleksandr Vampilov (1937-1972) is best known as one of the Soviet Union's most significant playwrights. At his death, he left behind several full-scale dramatic works which have entered the Soviet and post-Soviet canon, been translated and performed around the world, and been adapted into significant films, including Vitaly Melnikov's classic ‘Otpusk v sentyabre’ (1979). However, what is less known is Vampilov's work as a writer of prose.

This seminar introduced Vampilov the writer, briefly discussed his position within the literary economy of the USSR and how it has developed after his death, and looked in detail at the difficulties and pleasures of translating his prose.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬

9 December 2020 15:00 – 16:00
‘𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵: 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻-𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 – 𝗮 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽.’

A major international conference “Russian-British Intercultural Dialogue: Russian Music in Britain – British Music in Russia”, organised jointly with our partners in Moscow: the State Institute for Art Studies, took place in the autumn of 2019 – in Moscow in October and in Preston in November – with delegates from all over the world.

Our goal was to explore the creative relationships and mutual influences of Russia and Britain in the field of music, and its interactions with other art forms, in order to reveal new aspects of the two music cultures, to unveil previously unknown facts and materials from the history of the Russian-British intercultural dialogue, and assess its results in a new way.

At this Round Table we looked back at the huge work that went into this endeavour, discussed its results and celebrated this global interdisciplinary collaborative accomplishment of the Russian Centre and its international partners.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬

2 December. 15:00 - 16:00.
‘𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿, 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲
𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱𝗼𝘅 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺. 𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀’
Diana Dukhanova (USA)

At the turn of the 20th century, in Imperial Russia, social strife surrounding the legal and theological status of marriage became a major point of public discussion among writers, artists, philosophers, and clergy who sought either to restore the sanctity of marriage in the midst of its breakdown or to radically redefine its social, legal, and spiritual parameters for a new age.

This presentation provided a comparative analysis of the interpretation and uses of Russian Orthodox matrimonial theology, hagiography of married saints, Biblical exegesis, and canon law in the public promotion of marriage and family then and now.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬

25 November. 11:00 - 13:00.
‘𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘀: 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝘁 (𝗞𝗮𝘇𝗮𝗸𝗵𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻)’
Led by Senior Lecturers of the Department of Art and Design of M.Auezov South Kazakhstan University.

This project celebrated Russian ties with the former Soviet republics of Central Asia: it was a virtual exhibition of paintings by young Kazakh students of M.Auezov South Kazakhstan University (Auezov University, in Shymkent, cultural capital of CIS-2020) and the Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University (in Almaty, formerly known as Alma-Ata).

The young artists provided extensive commentary on their paintings and designs, elucidated their connections with their native land and the inspiration they drew from Kazakh history and culture, its rituals and traditions.

More than 50 students from the two universities were involved in this event. For more details, see the university’s press release at https://www.uclan.ac.uk/news/worldwide-audience-for-cultural-event

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘁𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬

18 November. 15:00 - 16:00.
‘𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝗔 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱
𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 – 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘂𝗺𝗽𝗵 𝗼𝗳
𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗶 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗼𝘃 (𝟭𝟵𝟯𝟭-𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟯)’
Svetlana McMillin (London, UK).
Jointly with MIDEX Seminar Series.

Since the middle of the 1960s, the KGB arduously persecuted the dissidents of the Soviet regime by putting them in prisons, concentration camps and specialized psychiatric units. But Georgii Vladimov, one of the most talented writers of his generation, head of the Moscow group of Amnesty International and a close friend and associate of the academician Andrei Sakharov was adamant: he did not want to leave his country. For several years the system put enormous efforts and resources into making sure that Vladimov went into exile. He fought back in two ways: by his literary creativity and by his fearless anti–Soviet political activities.

Analysis and corroboration of several documents and literary output has allowed a recreation of the events which forced Vladimov to leave his country.