NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour
Pelmeni in champagne and the notion of the mysterious Russian soul in the 21st century
The Mysterious Russian Soul: Twenty-First-Century Edition
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Observations
Observations · Society
Observation on a plagiarist who casts himself as the victim and on modern society
You see, a man is caught in flagrant plagiarism, yet he contrives to turn the situation so that he himself becomes the victim. In my view, that in itself is a most powerful statement about modern society
Art · Observations · Society
The story of the Kazakhstani artist's project withdrawn from the Biennale takes on a new meaning as she is accused of plagiarising the work of Chiharu Shiota, a contemporary Japanese artist based in Berlin, who has been creating similar installations sinc
It turns out that the Kazakhstani officials may not have been censoring a statement about repressions at all, but trying to avoid the charge of exhibiting plagiarism. Which, in fact, is just what the official side says: the artist, so we are told, was pointed to an improper borrowing and
Art · Museums · Observations · Society
It Turns Out the Biennale Also Has a Kazakh Pavilion, and a Scandal to Go With It
"The Machine", an installation by the artist Assel Kadyrkhanova devoted to Stalinist repression and the Red Terror, was secretly dismantled by the administration of the pavilion itself before the opening, and the spot where it had been displayed was hung with a black curtain. Officials are reported to
NB! · Observations · Society
So That Trump Does Not Flatter Himself Overmuch
NB! · Observations
I Pretend to Be Glad to See Someone
Archaeology · Observations · Science · Humour
Scientists' conclusion on food procurement outside agriculture after its emergence
Prehistoric Danes kept hunting and fishing as their main sources of sustenance even centuries after the arrival of agriculture! Now there's a discovery! People went on procuring food outside agricultural practices, despite their appearance. When I hear scientific conclusions of this kind, I am never quite sure: is
Observations · Society · Humour
Author doubts that painting a pool could cost 13 million dollars
Friends, painting even the largest swimming pool in the world cannot possibly cost 13 million dollars. Unless it is the pool of some middling river with its tributaries. Officials, for all that, are the same the world over. And the most dreadful thing is that the social order which allows
NB! · Observations · Humour
Don't you think that's rather a lot of preliminaries for assembling a simple IKEA bedside table?
Observations · Society
Restrictions on Soviet symbols in Berlin and the USSR's role in defeating the Third Reich
On the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Germany introduces restrictions on displaying Soviet, Russian and Belarusian symbols at a number of memorials. The Germans, of course, might be reminded that the Soviet Victory Banner and the hammer and sickle are the chief reason why Berlin today
NB! · Observations · Humour
When You Have Counted How Many Days Off Lie Ahead
Architecture · Observations · Society
The Russian pavilion and the Trans-Siberian Railway at the 1906 World’s Fair in Milan
1906 in Russia was, frankly, a bad year. Especially for self-presentation abroad. In January the first attempt at revolution was bleeding out. The country had not yet recovered from Bloody Sunday, the mutiny on the Potemkin, the December fighting on the Presnya, the dreadful Treaty of Portsmouth and the