HBO and Sky UK’s Chernobyl draws from thorough research to evoke the fear and confusion surrounding the nuclear accident.
Tag: Soviet Union
Werner Herzog Adds to Mikhail Gorbachev’s Endlessly Strange Pop Culture Legacy
In the documentary Meeting Gorbachev, Herzog finds nostalgia for a lost past.
Vintage “Soviet Santa” Postcards Were Propaganda for the Space Race
Vintage Soviet postcards reveal a sophisticated political project, one that uses the allure of nostalgia to create a vision of a utopian, space-age future.
The Spy Who Taught Me: Bulgaria Accuses Julia Kristeva of Cold War Espionage
The Franco-Bulgarian scholar, philosopher, and psychoanalyst has been accused of being a spy for the Bulgarian government in the early 1970s.
The Newly Expanded Wende Museum Offers a Nuanced Perspective on the Cold War
Amid continued misconceptions about the Cold War and Russia, the mission of the Wende Museum is vital.
Ukraine’s Monumental Soviet-Era Mosaics
Often unremarked or dismissed as state propaganda, Ukraine’s Soviet-era mosaics are also artworks in themselves that speak to a complex history.
The Utopian Leisure of Soviet Sanatoriums
Unlike Westerners, Soviets preferred to vacation at sanatoriums, which were modernist structures infused with a sense of utopia.
An Interactive Database Helps You Explore the Art of Soviet Children’s Books
Playing Soviet: The Visual Languages of Early Soviet Children’s Books, 1917-1953 is an online interactive from Princeton University exploring children’s books in the Soviet Union.
The Graphic Persuasiveness of 20th-Century Communist Posters
The first major survey of communist poster art considers the visual legacy of propaganda graphic design in nations around the world.
The Playful Yet Sobering Anti-Alcohol Posters of the Soviet Union
A new book from Fuel features previously unpublished anti-alcohol posters from the 1960s to ’80s in the Soviet Union.
The Radioactive Ruins of the Cold War’s Secret Cities
When Nadav Kander, an Israeli-born, London-based photographer who is interested in the “aesthetics of destruction,” learned of these secret cities, he traveled to eastern Kazakstan to document their ruins.
A Soviet-Era Kinetic Sculpture Designed to Improve Factory Life
The “Positron” (1976–77) by Latvian artist Valdis Celms operated a bit like a disco ball, flashing various colors of light as the goliath metal orb rotated.