Behind Putin's Curtain. Encyclopedia of Russian Soul

Reading and conversation with Victor Erofeev and Vladimir Velminsky

The war in Ukraine affects everyone's life and leaves no one indifferent. There are many speculations and diverse opinions about its causes and consequences.

Moscow-born writer Victor Erofeev, who has met Putin several times, deals with Russia's cultural, political and social situation in his books. As the son of Stalin's personal interpreter into French language, he was able to gain early insights into the inner circles of power. In his most recent work “The Great Gopnik” which will be published by Matthes & Seitz in 2023, he relates his biography to that of Putin. Victor Erofeev talks with publisher Vladimir Velminsky about the current situation, the background and the future.

Victor Erofeev, born in Moscow in 1947, became known worldwide for his novel “The Moscow Beauty”, published in 1989 and translated into 27 languages. In 1979, he was expelled from the USSR Writers' Union for his participation in the literary anthology “Metropol” with texts banned by the censors. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he republished this almanac. Since then, he has published numerous literary works, has been present on television and radio in Russia for years, and has been a visiting professor at European and U.S. universities. Victor Erofeev writes regularly for the New York Times Book Review, DIE ZEIT, FAZ and DIE WELT and is considered a critical intellectual as well as one of the best known contemporary Russian authors.

Vladimir Velminsky (PhD), born in 1976 in Dushanbe (USSR), studied mathematics, physics, Slavic studies and cultural studies in Berlin and Moscow. In 2008, he gained his doctorate in art history from the Humboldt University in Berlin. He has written numerous publications on the cultural history of Eastern Europe, including “Diagnose Krim. Kunst und Gewandtheit der Politik (“Diagnosis Crimea. Art and Dexterity of Politics”). Immediately after the annexation of Crimea, he founded the ciconia ciconia publishing house, which publishes Ukrainian, Georgian and numerous Russian opposition artists and writers.  

Life – A Precious Good

Exhibition by Annedore Dietze

As a painter, Annedore Dietze has been dealing with the themes of the body, physique, movement and physical threat for many years. In her large-format paintings and collages, she seeks new artistic solutions to depict the tension between transient physicality and vulnerability on the one hand, and the beauty of existence and the vitality of nature on the other.

Annedore Dietze, born in 1972 in Bischofswerda near Dresden, studied painting and graphic arts at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts until 1996, where she subsequently completed two more years as a master student with a scholarship from the Free State of Saxony. After a stay in Paris at the German student house Heinrich Heine, she was able to complete her Master of Arts in 1999 in London at the Chelsea College of Art & Design with a DAAD scholarship. In the following years, travels and scholarships took her to Italy, China, the USA, Egypt, Cambodia and Mexico, among other places. In 2022 she was a fellow of the Cultural Foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf. Annedore Dietze lives as a freelance artist in Berlin.

Exhibitions include “Wie es Euch gefällt und was wir sind” (Galerie Knust/Kunz, Munich, 2021), “Annedore Dietze” (Galerie Knut Hartwich, Sellin, 2020), “Schöne alte Heimat” (Kunstsammlung Lausitz, Museum Senftenberg, 2020), “Segment H” (Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2020), “Win Win” (Kunstfonds Sachsen exhibition, Halle 14, Leipzig, 2020), “CORPUS” (Städtische Galerie Dresden, 2019) as well as “Sumo” (Galerie Brennecke, Berlin, 2008) und “Annedore Dietze” (Galerie Mühlfeld & Stohrer, Frankfurt/M., 2010).

An event of the Landesvertretung Brandenburg beim Bund in Berlin and the Cultural Foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf.