Sabine Hänsgen's Underground Documentation of Moscow Conceptualism in the 1980s
In the 1980s, Sabine Hänsgen, a researcher and curator from Zurich, captured the underground conceptual art movement in Moscow with a covertly obtained Blaupunkt VHS camera. As part of Collective Actions, she filmed performances by notable artists such as Dmitry Prigov, Vsevolod Nekrasov, and Ilya Kabakov. Her 1984 video, Moscow Moscow, showcased art beyond the realm of official Soviet institutions. Hänsgen co-curated exhibitions such as Präprintium. Moscow Samizdat Books (1998) and Subversive Practices (2009), while also creating an audiovisual archive dedicated to Moscow Conceptualism and organizing the traveling exhibition PRIGOV. She collaborated with Georg Witte under pseudonyms for the publication Kulturpalast and translated works for German readers. Hänsgen studied at VGIK and the Pushkin Institute, investigating the contrast between state culture and unofficial art. In 2015, Olga Martin's interview with her appeared on ARTMargins Online.
Key facts
- Sabine Hänsgen documented Moscow's underground conceptual art scene in the 1980s with a smuggled Blaupunkt VHS camera.
- She is a member of the Moscow-based artist group Collective Actions and contributed performances like To Elena Elagina (Place of Recording).
- Hänsgen co-curated exhibitions including Präprintium. Moscow Samizdat Books (1998) and Samizdat. Counterculture in Central and Eastern Europe (2000).
- She curated the traveling exhibition PRIGOV. The Text Works of Dmitry Aleksandrovich, shown in Bremen, Graz, and Prague.
- With Georg Witte, she published Kulturpalast. New Moscow Poetry and Performance Art in 1984 under pseudonyms Günter Hirt and Sascha Wonders.
- Hänsgen translated works by Dmitry Prigov, Vsevolod Nekrasov, and Lev Rubinstein into German, introducing them to Western audiences.
- She studied at the State Film Institute in Moscow (VGIK) and the Pushkin Institute, experiencing the divide between official and unofficial cultures.
- Her research is motivated by family trauma from World War II and the existential experience of living in Moscow during the Soviet era.
Entities
Artists
- Sabine Hänsgen
- Dmitry Prigov
- Vsevolod Nekrasov
- Ilya Kabakov
- Lev Rubinstein
- Georg Witte
- John Cage
- Valery Sherstjanoi
- Vladimir Tarasov
- Elena Elagina
- Sergei Romashko
- Roman Grabner
- Max Bense
- Günter Hirt
- Sascha Wonders
- Olga Martin
Institutions
- Collective Actions
- State Film Institute in Moscow (VGIK)
- Pushkin Institute
- Academy of Arts in Berlin
- Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
- Weserburg Museum
- Hermitage
- Tretyakov Gallery
- Moscow Museum of Modern Art
- Ruhr University in Bochum
- University of Zurich
- Charles University in Prague
- S-Press
- Edition Temmen
- Reclam
- Maro-Verlag
- ARTMargins Online
- A–Ya
- Inostrannaja Literatura
- Literaturnaja Gazeta
- Moscow Library of Foreign Literatures
- Chto delat
- 54th Biennale in Venice
Locations
- Zurich
- Switzerland
- Moscow
- Soviet Union
- Bremen
- Germany
- Berlin
- Stuttgart
- Graz
- Austria
- Prague
- Czech Republic
- Essen
- Leningrad
- Russia
- Bielefeld
- Wuppertal
- Brest
- Belorussian
- Düsseldorf
- Britain
- France
- Netherlands
- Stalingrad
- Pomerania
- Paris
- New York
- USA
- Vnukovo
- Belyaevo
- Volgin Street
- Venice
- Italy
- St. Petersburg
- Bochum