Moscow Lights

Moscow Lights, which was first shown at the 2nd Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art (2020), tells the story of how the publisher Gluschenkoizdat Press moved from its native Kaliningrad to Moscow. The reasons for the move are described briefly and vaguely (financial problems) and neither the activities of the publisher nor the identity of its founder are revealed. Kirill Gluschenko’s project is one of Russian art’s most successful examples of founding a “quasi‑institution” in recent years. During its existence Gluschenkoizdat Press published several photo books on the post‑socialist cities of Eastern Europe (Pskov, Dresden, Kaliningrad) and organized a monumental “summary exhibition” of its activities, Our Days are Rich and Bright (former building of the Moskva furniture factory, 2016).

The title of the video is taken from the name of a café that opened in June 1976 on Moskovsky Prospekt in Kaliningrad. The café itself does not appear in the film. Nevertheless, Kaliningrad, with its mixture of buildings from the German and Soviet periods, is the central character.

For Gluschenko the aesthetic of a European city with a regular urban plan is an object of nostalgia and admiration. And even the era of stagnation does not seem so uncomfortable: at that time, in place of complete freedom, intellectuals and creative people had access to a wide range of flexible strategies of doublethink. A person could immerse themselves in their profession and no one would touch them. They could work half the year officially and spend the other half doing their own thing or simply sitting in the boiler room and writing poetry. Gluschenko’s film immerses the viewer in a blissful state of timelessness that is apolitical and even noble.