Bulldozer Exhibition

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Bulldozer Exhibition (Russian Бульдозерная выставка) was one of the most famous and important public events of unofficial art in the USSR.

The action was organized by Moscow and Leningrad avant-garde artists, whose artistic work went far beyond the limits of the aesthetic program of Socialist Realism. The disregard of the official doctrine of Soviet art led to the non-recognition and persecution of the artists.

Letter of invitation for exhibition

The exhibition took place on September 15, 1974, on the outskirts of Moscow, in the town of Belyayevo, outdoors. It was brutally destroyed by the government, with the participation of a large number of KGB officials and militiamen, as well as using water cannons and bulldozers, which gave rise to the name "Bulldozer Exhibition".

The organizers of the exhibition were Alexander Gleser (collector), Oscar Rabin (representative of unofficial art in Moscow) and Youri Jarki (Jarkikh) (pioneer of the Leningrad avant-garde).

Shortly before that, Youri Jarki (Jarkikh) and Alexander Rabin (son of Oskar Rabin) tried unsuccessfully to obtain permission from the Moscow Soviet for this exhibition (they received no rejection, but also no permission).

The initiative group of artists then decided to exhibit their paintings in Belyayevo and signed a letter of invitation: Oscar Rabin, Yevgeny Ruchin, Vladimir Njemuchin, Lidja Mastjerkowa, Nadjeschda Elskaja, Youri Jarki (Jarkikh), Alexander Rabin, Boruch Stejnberg, Alexander Melamid, Vitaly Komar, Wassilij Sitnikov, Valentin Vorobyov and poet Igor Holin.

Relatives, friends of the artists, journalists from Western news agencies and diplomats were invited.

The authorities reacted violently. Dozens of employees from the KGB and the Ministry of the Interior (militia officers) in training suits and civilian clothes began to harass the assembled artists and spectators using water cannons, excavators and bulldozers. The attackers destroyed the paintings, struck and arrested many artists. Alexander Gleser and Youri Jarki (Jarkikh) gave a press conference for foreign journalists on the same day. This news shocked the whole world and saved the artists from further arbitrariness by state power. For the first time the avant-garde artists were called nonconformists.

The Bulldozer Exhibition is still considered one of the most important social and political actions in the USSR to this day. A political challenge for the repressive regime and the attempt to defend the right to a free existence of artists and their own exhibitions.

After this event, which generated a great response in the foreign press, the Soviet authorities were forced to make concessions and allowed exhibitions in Izmailovo (Moscow, 1974) as well as in the House of Culture Gaza (Leningrad, 1974) and in the House of Culture "Nevsky" "(Leningrad, 1975).

Socialist realism as an official doctrine dominated Soviet art until the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

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  1. Isaak Kushnir: Наши Ниши. ООО Издательство DEAN. izdat@deanbook.ru. Saint-Petersburg, 2015, pp. 106–111
  2. Isaak Kushnir: Ленинградский андеграунд. ООО Издательство DEAN. izdat@deanbook.ru. Saint-Petersburg, 2015; Pp. 78-79
  3. Alexander Gleser: Art against bulldozers. Memoirs of a Russian collector. Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. 1982, ISBN 3-548-38034-4 .
  4. Valentin Vorobyov: Бульдозерный перформанс. Независимая газета (17 сентября 2004).
  5. Ivan Tolstoj: Художник и свобода: к 30-летию "бульдозерной" выставки. Радио Свобода (12 сентября 2004).
  6. Пригласительный билет: Invitation to the Belyayevo exhibition
  7. Бульдозерные шедевры. Историческая правда: http://www.istpravda.ru/artifacts/10736/