Freedom Comes on Foot
2018
Project objectives
Restoring the chronology of the events of August 1991 and showing that the Soviet state and freedom could not exist together.
Project description
The events of August 1991 for the Soviet history are not accidental. One hundred years ago, the Bolsheviks seized power and established a totalitarian regime in the country, which claimed the lives of millions. People who retained internal freedom were persecuted throughout the years of Soviet rule. The supporting structure of the state was terror, lies and total control over society: the very setup of the Soviet regime was incompatible with any freedoms. Society demanded more freedom than the state was ready to give.
It was the last years of Soviet power - the years of transparency and Perestroika, attempts at democratic reforms within a deliberately undemocratic state - that clearly demonstrated the insolubility of contradictions that lay at the heart of the Soviet system.
The main project part is a chronology of the six days of August 1991. The map of Moscow represents around three hundred events with hourly timing of the last confrontation between society and the Soviet state.
Project outcomes
- The project restored the chronology of the events of August 1991 and collected memories of witnesses of the August revolution.
- Annually from August 19 to 22, the authors of the project lead thematic tours around Moscow.