Event series about voices from the “other Russia”

In Russia, the word "war" has been banned to describe the aggression of Russian troops in Ukraine. Last oppositional media, such as the newspaper Novaja Gazeta, the television station Dozd or Radio Echo, have now also banned. The human rights organization Memorial was already forced to dissolve in December 2021 following a court order. Many Russian intellectuals, scientists, artists, journalists and activists who have publicly opposed the Russian war of aggression have since been forced to leave the country. 

In this event series, the Tsvetaeva Center for Russian Culture at the University of Freiburg would like to make some of the voices of this “other Russia” heard - with readings and lectures, concerts and films. The series, entitled “The Other Russia. Stories, Positions and Encounters,” begins on May 18, 2022. Event partners are the University of Freiburg, the Cultural Office of the City of Freiburg, the DFG-funded Research Training Group 1956 “Cultural Transfer and 'Cultural Identity' - German-Russian Contacts in the European Context,” the Literaturhaus Freiburg, the University of Music Freiburg, Kultur im Freiburger Hof, and “Happy New Ears” Hamburg. 

The individual events

The event will kick off on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, starting at 7 p.m. at the Historisches Kaufhaus Freiburg with “Shostakovich. The Viola Sonata.” Two exceptional works from the Soviet era will be presented: the documentary film "Shostakovich. Viola Sonata" (1981) by the two directors Semyon Aranovich and Alexander Sokurov, and the Viola Sonata (1975) by Dmitri Shostakovich. Both works were composed under conditions of Soviet censorship and symbolize the struggle against the suppression of free culture in Russia. Performing: Viola Tim-Erik Winzer (Ensemble Resonanz Hamburg) and piano Gilead Mishory (University of Music Freiburg). 

Vladimir Sorokin will read from his story collection "The Red Pyramid" on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, starting at 8:15 p.m. at the Alte Universität (Max Kade Auditorium 1). Sorokin is one of Russia's most important contemporary writers - and one of the harshest critics of the country's political elites. The event will be held in Russian with German translation by Dr. Elisabeth Liphardt. Heinzl Spagl will read in German, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Cheauré will moderate the event. 

Vladimir Tarnopolski will be a guest on Friday, May 27, 2022 as of 7 pm in the auditorium of the University of Freiburg. The composer of contemporary music has lived in exile since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In Freiburg, Tarnopolski will present, among other works, his composition "Chevengur" from 2001, a dirge as a text fragment from Andrei Platonov's anti-utopian novel of the same name. Tarnopolski talks with Brice Pauset, composer, and Johannes Schöllhorn, composer and director of the Institute for New Music at the University of Music Freiburg, about art and responsibility in times of war. University of Music Freiburg students will play his works. 

On Tuesday, May 31, 2022, starting at 8:15 p.m. at the Alte Universität (Max Kade Auditorium 1), regime-critical investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan will speak about their book, The Compatriots. The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia's Exiles, Emigres, and Agents Abroad. The exiled authors have been reporting on security services and terrorism since 1999. The event will be held in Russian with German translation by Dr. Elisabeth Liphardt, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Cheauré will moderate the event. 

On Tuesday, June 21, 2022, starting at 8:15 p.m. at the Alte Universität (Max Kade Auditorium 1), the Russian writer Mikhail Shishkin, who lives in Switzerland, will be our guest. His current essay from April 2022 is entitled “Hatred is the Disease; Culture is the Medicine” and addresses the role of those involved in culture in times of war against Ukraine. The discussion with the prominent Putin critic, moderated by Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Cheauré, also deals with the opportunities and limits of culture. 

On Tuesday, June 28, 2022, starting at 8:15 p.m. in the Alte Universität (Max Kade Auditorium 1), the writer Olga Martynova will read from as yet unpublished texts and poems. The author has lived in Germany since 1991 and has been writing literary texts in German since 1999. The subsequent discussion will be moderated by Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Cheauré. 

On Thursday, July 14, 2022, starting at 6:15 p.m. in Lecture Hall 1199 at the University of Freiburg, Dr. Irina Scherbakowa, a historian, Germanist, translator and author from Moscow, will speak on the topic of “Civil Society in Russia and the War in Ukraine.” Among other things, she was a board member and head of educational programs at the Russian human rights organization Memorial, which was finally banned and dissolved at the end of 2021. Since the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Scherbakova has been living in exile. 

Please find the program flyer for the series, “The Other Russia. Stories, Positions and Encounters” here: https://www.zwetajewa-zentrum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Flyer_das-andere-russland.pdf

Some of the events will be live streamed. Please find the links here:
https://www.zwetajewa-zentrum.de 

All proceeds from admission fees and donations will directly benefit the emergency aid for Ukraine at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg.