About the project
“Soviet Ellipses” (SOVEL) deals with the creation and representation of ellipsis (i.e. conscious omission) in Soviet photography, literature, and everyday life.
It sets out from the premise that the significant accumulation of omission practices during Soviet times (1917–1991) did not occur by accident, but rather served as a subversive strategy to undermine censorship, political repressions, and the restriction of expression, which had been dominating the Soviet society for so long.
By bringing together Literary Studies, Border Studies, Image Theory, Cultural Semiotics, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) the research examines the making, the accumulation, the function, and the creative power of ellipses with regard to different media and in a diachronic and comparative scope.
Objectives
The main objective of the project is to demonstrate how ellipses function as techniques that challenge (constructed symbolic) borders. It focuses on techniques of creation at the level of creative production and representation, and aims to reframe our understanding of cultural (counter) practices within Soviet society.
News
Conference Program
Trauma, Memory, and Counter-Culture. Borders and Border Transgressions in (Post-)Communist Europe
UiO, June 1-2, 2023
Public Lecture
Vera Dubina: The Weapons of the Weak. Silent Protest in Russia.
Sophus Lies Auditorium at UiO, June 2, 2023, 6.00 P.M.
Workshop Program
Historical Diversity Workshop (IFIKK)
UiO, April 28-29, 2023
Conference – Call for Papers
Trauma, Memory, and Counter-Culture: Borders and Border Transgressions in (Post-)Communist Europe.
Submission Deadline: Dec. 22, 2022.
Relevant Links
Interview: In Soviet society, freedom of speech was never on offer
Guest Lectures:
"Gegen(-)Realismus“. Grenzüberschreitungen in der ukrainischen nonkonformistischen Photographie der 1970er- und 1980er-Jahre.",
12.12 2023, University of Basel.
"Zur Transgressivität der ukrainischen Avantgarde(n): Kultur – Sprache – Medien“
14.12.2023, University of Basel.
"Crossing Boundaries, Challenging Constraints – On Perspectives in Artistic and Curatorial Work."
8.1.2024, University of Arts, Poznan.
Collaborators
- Prof. Dr. Johan Schimanski (UiO)
- Prof. Dr. Susanne Frank (HU Berlin)
- Dr. Vera Dubina (HU Berlin)
Relevant Research Groups
Duration
01.11.2021 to 31.10.2023
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101024131.
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