Chto Delat? Interview: Lenin, Activism, and Art Organisation

In a 2008 interview for Afterall Journal 18, Chto Delat? member Dmitry Vilensky and philosopher Gerald Raunig discuss the collective's origins, political theory, and artistic practices. Founded in early 2003 in St Petersburg by artists, critics, philosophers, and writers from St Petersburg, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod, Chto Delat? merges political theory, art, and activism through video, installations, public actions, radio programmes, and an English-Russian newspaper. The name references both Lenin's 1902 text and Chernyshevsky's 1863 novel, emphasizing a leftist tradition of questioning and organization. Vilensky critiques documenta 12's adoption of 'What is to be done?' as depoliticized, contrasting it with Paulo Freire's radical education. The interview explores concepts of exodus, instituent practices, discipline, and the need for new forms of political organization beyond spontaneity. Vilensky discusses works like 'Angry Sandwichpeople' (2005) and 'Activist Club' (2006-07), linking Brechtian dialectics to contemporary activism. The conversation highlights tensions between micro-politics and macro-organization, the legacy of Soviet collapse, and the role of art in testing the 'communist hypothesis'.