Taking up the development of the gas pipeline system between Siberia and (West) Germany since the 1970s, the exhibition consists of an installative video sculpture entitled Leak and the essay film Where Russia Ends, the contents of which intertwine and correlate.
The artist Hito Steyerl (*1966, Munich) has integrated her 5-channel video narrative into the installation Leak, which deals with the Nord Stream pipeline system and its precursors. Steyerl examines the history of the so-called cultural pipeline between the Soviet Union, later the Russian Federation, and (West) Germany. The “cultural pipeline” was an important part of the “natural gas pipeline business”: The Soviet Ministry of Culture and its successors organized major cultural exhibitions in cooperation with German companies such as Deutsche Bank in order to promote the fossil fuel infrastructure that had been jointly developed over decades. Leak also includes a walk-in sculpture. Made out of pipes and video elements, the sculpture serves as a screen for the essayistic road movie Where Russia Ends. The film examines the often-overlooked history of colonialism and environmental destruction in the Russian-occupied territories of the indigenous peoples of Siberia.
In 2022, previously unknown film footage was discovered in Kyiv science film studios (Kyivnaukfilm). It documents numerous expeditions that a group of Ukrainian filmmakers undertook in the 1980s to various parts of Siberia and the Far North. This material forms the basis for the reconstruction of the erased history of the numerous imperialist wars that Russia waged against its later colonies.
Where Russia Ends examines the manifold forms of complicity that played a role in this, shedding light on the ideology of exploitation and development of natural resources. The film is a collaboration between Ukrainian filmmaker Oleksiy Radynski (*1984, Kyjiw) and researcher Philipp Goll (*1984, Wetter/Ruhr).
The programme accompanying the exhibition is being developed in cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute in Germany.
Timeline: The End of a pipeline, 2024
Research and text: Philipp Goll
Advice: Oleksiy Radynski, Elske Rosenfeld, Hito Steyerl, Anna Zett
Layout: Manuel Reinartz
Where Russia Ends, 2024
25 min, 35mm transferred to HD
Director: Oleksiy Radynski
Development: Philipp Goll & Oleksiy Radynski
Producer: Lyuba Knorozok
Leak, 2024
Pipeline structure, 5-channel video, 21 min, sound
Connections: Hito Steyerl
Research: Philipp Goll
Idea and visual research: Oleksiy Radynski
Postproduction: Christoph Manz
Installation production: Manuel Reinartz
Production: Lyuba Knorozok for Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
Opening: 24.04.2024, 6 pm
