Soviet Unterzögersdorf

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Passport with entry stamp to Soviet Unterzögersdorf

Soviet-Unterzögersdorf is a fictional Soviet enclave in the Austrian Weinviertel , which was developed by the group monochrom in the late 1990s and is used as a background for various artistic projects (e.g. plays, computer games, interventions, films). Over the years, an extensive body of works and a historical canon of the fictional universe of Soviet Unterzögersdorf has been formed, which fans have also developed. It is one of the group's most famous projects.

action

Cory Doctorow as a character in the monochrome adventure computer game "Soviet Unterzögersdorf: Sector 2" (2009)

In fictitious historiography, the Soviet-Unterzögersdorf camp was founded in 1947 by the Soviet military Pawel Protin as part of the Soviet occupation of Eastern Austria. With the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955, the camp was not closed because there were logistical problems with the withdrawal from the village. An addition was included in the State Treaty, which from then on defined the camp as an independent enclave of the Soviet Union . The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s had a devastating effect on the economic situation in the enclave. Soviet Unterzögersdorf does not maintain any diplomatic relations with the surrounding republic of Austria or with, as the Soviet Unterzögersdorfers call it, " fortress European Union ". Nonetheless, monochrome portrays the country not only as a system of deficiencies and parody of state communist excesses, but also makes many areas of the narrative thoroughly utopian and incorporates elements reminiscent of steampunk , atomic punk and similar sci-fi genres.

background

History of origin

Soviet Unterzögersdorf is based on an idea by monochrom founder Johannes Grenzfurthner . As a child, he spent a lot of time in Unterzögersdorf , a cadastral community of Stockerau , on his grandparents' farm. The stories of his grandparents about the time of National Socialism , the resulting Second World War and the subsequent Soviet occupation initiated the project. Many real existing buildings and sights of Unterzögersdorf are embedded in the fictional history of Soviet Unterzögersdorf, such as the Tumulus (Löwenberg), which represents the controversial border to Oberzögersdorf . The real adjacent village generally plays an important role, as it represents the US Oberzögersdorf , which is interested in an imperialist takeover .

philosophy

The group monochrom has been engaged in the construction, analysis and reflection of alternative worlds and historiography models with a view to creating narrative worlds in fantastic literature for years. They call the "Soviet Unterzögersdorf" project the "implementation of a false memory in Austrian cultural memory."

The debates sparked by postmodernism have drawn our attention to questions of the representation and relevance of history and stories; for example the challenging proclamation of a post-histoire, the determination of the impossibility of meta-narrative historiography; the break between reality and sign systems, the differences between facts and fictions, the status of ethnography, the impossibility of neutral observation or testimony as well as the positioning of subjective consciousness in such representations etc. All these forms of representation represent central elements in the formation and dissemination of national and ethnic identities since World War II.

Projects

Johannes Grenzfurthner (as Nikita Perostek Chrusov) and Tim O'Reilly at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, 2008

Soviet Unterzögersdorf is mentioned for the first time in 1999 in a short film by monochrom, which was designed for the Vienna TV broadcaster TIV . The first major action was started in 2001 and was an interactive theater performance, a kind of live roleplaying in the real location of Unterzögersdorf. This was followed by music numbers (e.g. “I want planned economy ” as part of the protest song contest ), two adventure computer games , films and videos, plays and worldwide interventions by “His Excellency, Commissioner Nikita Perostek Chrusov, Ambassador of the Soviet-Unterzögersdorf Confederation”. The figure was portrayed by Johannes Grenzfurthner.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Profile: "20 Years of Monochrome: Back to the Nerd", January 28, 2013
  2. ^ Falter: "Puberty at the highest level", edition 6/13
  3. ↑ Un saut chez les Soviets. April 28, 2006, accessed February 22, 2019 (French).
  4. ↑ furtherfield review - Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner of monochrom Part 1. October 27, 2010, accessed on February 22, 2019 .
  5. ↑ "in soviet Unterzoegersdorf, game play you", ERF_, December 11, 2010
  6. ↑ FM4: "Short visit to Soviet Unterzögersdorf", July 23, 2002
  7. ↑ fm4v2.ORF.at / short visit to Soviet Unterzögersdorf. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  8. ^ Soviet Unterzögersdorf: Sector 1 - Walkthrough (Monochrom / 2005). In: Ultimate Game Solutions. March 11, 2009, accessed March 4, 2019 .
  9. ^ Soviet Unterzögersdorf: Sector 2 - derStandard.at. Retrieved March 5, 2019 (Austrian German).
  10. ↑ Tim Schürmann: Soviet Unterzögersdorf Sector 2 published. In: LinuxCommunity. March 9, 2009, accessed March 5, 2019 (German).
  11. ^ Neural: Soviet-Unterzögersdorf, surreal socialism | Neural. Retrieved February 22, 2019 (American English).
  12. ↑ furtherfield review - Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner of monochrom Part 1. October 27, 2010, accessed on February 22, 2019 .
  13. ↑ SOVIET-UNTERZOEGERSDORF / the adventure game. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Blunzen gegen den Boulevard - derStandard.at. Retrieved February 22, 2019 (Austrian German).
  15. ↑ "I want a planned economy" - derStandard.at. Retrieved February 22, 2019 (Austrian German).
  16. ↑ People of the Week. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  17. ↑ 'Best Internet Game of the Month: Soviet Unterzoegersdorf: Sector 1' , in: The Edge (magazine), November 2005
  18. ↑ Bruce Sterling: Adventures in Soviet-Unterzogersdorf . In: Wired . March 8, 2009, ISSN  1059-1028 ( wired.com [accessed February 22, 2019]).
  19. ^ Soviet Unterzögersdorf: Sector 2 - derStandard.at. Retrieved February 22, 2019 (Austrian German).
  20. ^ Soviet Unterzögersdorf: Sector 2 - all strength for communism. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Out and about in utopia - fm4.ORF.at. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  22. ^ Charlie Jane Anders: A Totally Demented Alternate History of a 21st Century Soviet Holdout. Retrieved February 22, 2019 (American English).
  23. ^ Sierra Zulu Draws Attention to Soviet Austria. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Frito-Lay Puts Cheetos Brand in Bloggers' Hands. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Nikita Chrusov of Soviet Unterzogersdorf visits ETech 2008. In: Laughing Squid. March 6, 2008, Retrieved February 22, 2019 (American English).
  26. ↑ beckedahl: NetzpolitikTV 057: Soviet Unterzoegersdorf on the 25c3. In: netzpolitik.org. December 30, 2008, accessed on February 22, 2019 (German).
  27. ↑ Greetings from Soviet Unterzögersdorf: Johannes Grenzfurthner on the Corona-Stage - derStandard.at. Retrieved May 13, 2020 (Austrian German).