Gianluigi Ricuperati's 'Est' explores the DAU project's immersive Stalinist reconstruction

Gianluigi Ricuperati's novel 'Est', published by Tunué as the 15th title in a series directed by Vanni Santoni, delves into the sprawling DAU project initiated in 2008 by filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky. DAU was an ambitious social biopic set in Kharkiv, Ukraine, where a 12,000-square-meter area housed 400 people meticulously recreating the Stalin-era research institute of physicist Lev Landau, including period-accurate food, clothing, technology, and interrogations. Filming lasted over two years but the project ultimately collapsed. Its legacy includes a dozen video installations featuring cameos by Marina Abramović and Brian Eno, and a strange building at 100 Piccadilly Circus in London, where Ricuperati was invited to observe the unfolding narrative from within. The novel blurs temporal, spatial, and narrative planes, resulting in what the author calls a great love story.