conTEXT

Texts by researchers, curators, journalists, and writers that examine the phenomenon of migration from diverse social, political, cultural, and personal perspectives. This section brings together analytical materials, essays, and testimonies that trace how the experience of migration shapes identity, artistic practices, and modes of expression. In addition, the section includes texts on waves of artistic migration beyond the Soviet Union during the twentieth century, allowing for a comparison between historical processes and contemporary forms of forced and voluntary movement.

Nika Parkhomovskaja

“Russian-Speaking Theater Outside Russia”
(University of Zurich, 2024)

A dense and compelling text that explores the Russian theatrical diaspora following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Parkhomovskaia draws a true map of Russian theatre in exile — from Berlin to Tbilisi, from Almaty to Tel Aviv — where directors, actors, and set designers reconstruct a theatrical language “without a homeland.”

The author examines how the Russian language functions both as a constraint and as a point of support: it remains the primary medium of artistic communication, yet it also risks creating cultural ghettos. Figures such as Serebrennikov, Kulyabin, Didenko, and Khamatova emerge as key protagonists, reinventing the European and Caucasian theatrical scene by blending local experiences with Russian cultural memory.

The text offers a complex perspective: theatre in exile is not merely a form of survival, but a laboratory for new forms of artistic freedom, in which the scenic gesture replaces the lost homeland.

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