Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Grant Watson

Thesis: BEYOND CENSORSHIP: Exhibiting Resistance

July 2025

Abstract

The underground art scene in the Soviet Union was not only an act of resistance; it also functioned as a parallel system. In this research, the apartment exhibition serves as a proxy for the larger cultural phenomenon of alternative exhibition solutions during the period of censorship and oppression. Questions of identity, migration, and postcolonialism are both universal and urgently contemporary, and my personal journey is deeply intertwined with the subject of this research. Apartment exhibitions, a rare opportunity to showcase nonconformist art from the 1960s to the early 1990s in the Soviet Union, played a unique and significant role in the development of the art scene. Though understudied, this subject holds immense significance, especially given the current political and cultural context, particularly in Ukraine and Russia. Apartment shows and alternative exhibiting solutions during the period of censorship are a crucial phenomenon that needs to be explored and understood beyond particular movements or styles. The thesis critiques the Moscow-centric narrative of Soviet nonconformist art, highlighting understudied regional movements, such as alternative shows in Odesa and the Dnipropetrovsk photo club’s experimental photography. It interrogates the paradox of “depth” in Soviet unofficial art, often constrained by trauma and censorship, while acknowledging its radical gesture. Personal narratives intertwine with archival research, reflecting the author’s dual Ukrainian-Russian identity and the war’s impact on postcolonial discourse. The final chapter, structured like Marienhof’s Cynics, collages news fragments to mirror the cacophony of contemporary repression, drawing parallels between Soviet-era censorship and Russia’s current authoritarian resurgence.

Author: Anna Buyvid