In Russia, the word “war” is forbidden for aggression by Russian troops in Ukraine. Last opposition media like the newspaper Novaya Gazetathe TV station Dozd or Radio Echo are now also banned. The human rights organization Memorial had to dissolve in December 2021 after a court order. Many Russian intellectuals, scientists, artists, journalists and activists who publicly opposed the Russian war of aggression have now had to leave the country.
With its series of events, the Zwetaeva 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 with the title “The other Russia. Stories, Positions, Encounters” begins on May 18, 2022. Event partners are the University of Freiburg, the Cultural Office of the City of Freiburg, the DFG-funded Graduate College 1956 “Cultural Transfer and ‘Cultural Identity’ – German-Russian Contacts in a European Context”, the Literaturhaus Freiburg, the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, culture in the Freiburger Hof and “Happy New Ears” Hamburg.
“The other Russia”: The individual events
It starts on Wednesday May 18, 2022, from 7 p.m. in the historic department store in Freiburg the event “Shostakovich. The Viola Sonata”. Two exceptional works from the Soviet era will be presented: the documentary “Shostakovich. Viola Sonata” (1981) by the two directors Semjon Aranowitsch and Alexander Sokurow as well as the Viola Sonata (1975) by Dmitri Schostakowitsch. Both works were created under conditions of Soviet censorship and symbolize the fight against the suppression of free culture in Russia. Playing: viola Tim Erik Winzer (Ensemble Resonanz Hamburg) and piano Gilead Mishory (University of Music Freiburg).
Vladimir Sorokin reads on tuesday May 24, 2022, from 8:15 p.m. in the Old University (Max-Kade-Auditorium 1) from his collection of short stories The Red Pyramid. Sorokin is one of Russia’s most important contemporary writers – and one of the harshest critics of the country’s political elite. The event will be held in Russian with German translation by Dr. Elisabeth Liphardt instead of. Reads in German Heinzl SpaglProf. Dr. Elisabeth Cheauré moderates the event.
On Friday, May 27, 2022 from 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the University of Freiburg is Vladimir Tarnopolski to guest. The composer of contemporary music has lived in exile since the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In Freiburg, Tarnopolski will present, among other things, his composition “Chevengur” from 2001, a mourning song as a text fragment from Andrei Platonov’s anti-utopian novel of the same name. Tarnopolski speaks along Brice Pausetcomposer, and Johannes Schöllhorn, composer and head of the Institute for New Music at the Musikhochschule Freiburg, on art and responsibility in times of war. Students at the conservatory play his works.
On Tuesday, 31 May 2022 from 8.15 p.m. in the Old University (Max-Kade-Auditorium 1) speak the regime-critical investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan about her book The Compatriots. The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia’s Exiles, Emigres, and Agents Abroad”. The authors, who live in exile, have been reporting on security services and terrorism since 1999. The event will be held in Russian with German translation by Dr. Elisabeth Liphardt instead, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Cheauré moderates the event.
On Tuesday, 21 June 2022 from 8.15 p.m. in the Old University (Max-Kade-Auditorium 1) is the Russian writer living in Switzerland Mikhail Shishkin to guest. His current essay from April 2022 is entitled “Hate is the disease, culture the medicine” and addresses the role of cultural workers in times of war against Ukraine. The opportunities and limitations of culture are also discussed in the conversation with the prominent Putin critic, which Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Cheauré moderated.
On Tuesday, 28 June 2022 from 8.15 p.m. in the Old University (Max-Kade-Auditorium 1) reads the writer Olga Martynova 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, 14 July 2022 from 6.15 p.m. in lecture hall 1199 at the University of Freiburg speaks the Moscow-born historian, Germanist, translator and author Dr. Irina Scherbakova on “Civil Society in Russia and the Ukraine War”. 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. Sherbakova has lived in exile since the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Flyer with program for the series “The Other Russia. Stories, Positions, Encounters” at:
https://www.zwetajewa-zentrum.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Flyer_das-andere-russland.pdf
Some of the events will be streamed live, links below
https://www.zwetajewa-zentrum.de
All proceeds from admission fees and donations go directly to the emergency aid for the Ukraine of the University Hospital Freiburg.
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