In search of Lenin

Exhibition April 20 − June 24, 2018
In December 2013 Nils Ackermann saw the demolished monument to Lenin on Bessarabska square in Kyiv. What it was: a public execution, legalized vandalism? Or natural process of parting companies with the past updates and adjustments to cultural and political codes? After the events of the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine began the official, fixed by the decrees of the President of process, decommunization. By 2015 number of Ilyich has fallen five times, and today there is not one.


Project Niels Ackermann and sébastien Gobert, "In search of Lenin" includes photographs of the demolished statues of the leader. The authors found them in the back of museums, auctions, and private collections. Some of the remained fragments, others repainted, decapitated, smashed, dumped in industrial areas, forests, garbage dumps. Some of the monuments and completely melted down in Taras Bulba and Darth Vader.

After "searches of Lenin" journalists published a book that included including interviews with local residents. Thus, the Ackermann and Gober made a portrait of modern Ukraine and reflected the inconsistency and ambiguity "Leninabad".

The search for Lenin turned out in-depth study on "the difficult situation in the country in relation to its past, and therefore present and future". How to treat the legacy of the Soviet Union the inhabitants of post-Soviet States? To follow the example of the Ukrainians and erase all reminders of Lenin, or, like Russia, to go on its way, in which the Soviet past merged with the present?

Comments on the forthcoming exhibition in Moscow sébastien Gobert: "the Project reflects the situation in Ukraine from different angles, and at the same time he is neutral. We hope that the exhibition will enable us to better understand each other and form a space for public discussion. I am confident that we can build new bridges — at least, the new channels of communication between countries, peoples and generations."

Premiere of the project took place in the summer of 2017 on the main European festival of photography "Les Rencontres d'arles" in Arles (France). The exhibition was a great success, and among its visitors was the President of France Emmanuel macron. Later the project was presented in Switzerland, UK, Lebanon, and in April 2018, the exhibition will open in Moscow in the framework of the festival PHOTOBOOKFEST.

During the exhibition there will be a tour and meeting with the authors, round table, and a three-day master class for photographers from Nils Ackermann.

Exhibition and educational program will be held with the support of the Swiss arts Council Pro Helvetia.