A Vibrant Field: Distinguished Lecture and Reception

A Vibrant Field is the first exhibition at the Zimmerli to explore the wide range of meanings that the natural world held for unofficial artists in the Soviet Union. The exhibition brings together works that challenged dominant tropes in Soviet visual culture, which tended to promote life-affirming, bountiful landscapes as extensions of human achievement, productivity, and optimism. Drawn from the strengths of the Dodge Collection, approximately 60 objects map alternatives to this model by artists and artist groups from the Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine. Despite the diverse creative approaches and backgrounds of the artists assembled in A Vibrant Field, their art addresses the entanglements between nature and culture during late socialism with a shared sense of urgency. While answering to specific Soviet realities, their work raises questions about one’s individual and collective relationship with the natural world that remain ever-pressing today.