Set against the backdrop of the 1974 Bulldozer Exhibition, Bulldozer Exhibition by Russian artist Mikhail Maksikov revisits one of the most pivotal moments in Soviet avant-garde history. On September 15, 1974, outrider and underground artists from Moscow and Leningrad gathered in Belyayevo, a district of Moscow, to defy Soviet censorship by exhibiting their work on a vacant lot in the Belyayevo urban forest (Bitsa Park). The exhibition was organized by artists Oscar Rabin, Youri Jarkikh, and Alexander Gleser, and included works by prominent nonconformist artists such as Vitaly Komar, Alexander Melamid, and Evgeny Rukhin, among others.
The event quickly escalated when authorities violently intervened with a large force that included bulldozers, water cannons, dump trucks, and hundreds of off-duty policemen. Officially, these "gardeners" were tasked with expanding the urban forest, but it was clear that they were acting under KGB orders to crush the unofficial art movement. Paintings were destroyed, and artists, spectators, and journalists were beaten and arrested.
Oscar Rabin himself hung on to the blade of a bulldozer, a dramatic symbol of the defiance of these artists in the face of an authoritarian regime. The words of militsia lieutenant Avdeenko, who shouted, "You should be shot! Only you are not worth the ammunition," highlighted the extreme hostility faced by the participants. In case you were wondering, yes, this events is as horrifc as Apple's infamous anti-culture and anti-art commercial.
Despite the brutal crackdown, the international coverage of the event embarrassed the Soviet authorities, eventually forcing them to permit another open-air exhibition on September 29 in Izmailovo, where thousands of people attended. This event, often remembered as The Half-day of Freedom, marked the beginning of a gradual relaxation of state pressure on unofficial artists and played a significant role in the history of modern Russian art.
Bulldozer Exhibition allows players to experience the struggle between state power and artistic defiance, encapsulating the tension, fear, and ultimate power of censorship. Maksikov's game presents the harrowing experience of seeing art (paintings, installations, not to mention the artists themselves - but Western reporters must be spared to avoid an international scandal) crushed under bulldozers controlled by the player while demonstrating how this pivotal moment inadvertently paved the way for increased acceptance of unofficial art in the Soviet Union. Imagine a wild Russian (Ant) Farm Simulator (sorry, I couldn't resist), both conceptually deep and practically fun. I can't wait for Maksimov's machinima created with Bulldozer Exhibition...
Mikhail Maksimov is a Moscow-based artist and filmmaker whose multimedia practice bridges architecture, technology, and moving image. After receiving degrees in Architecture and Photography, Maksimov began exhibiting experimental films and installations that investigate game aesthetics, 3D graphics, algorithms, and neural networks. His works have been featured internationally at Manifesta 10 (2014), Locarno Film Festival (2018), Hamburg KurzFilmFestival (2019), Riga Biennial (2020), Venice Architecture Biennale (2021), Art for the Future Biennale (2022), and DA Z festival in Zurich (2022), among others. Blurring the real and virtual, Maksimov’s practice contemplates emerging technologies and their role in shaping our social environments and collective imagination.
LINK: Mikhail Maksikov's Bulldozer Exhibition (All images and videos courtesy of the artist)
