Author and cultural historian Robeson Taj Frazier will discuss the role that different forms of media played in Yugoslavia's and China's efforts to represent themselves as allies of African independence and liberation movements. For China and Yugoslavia, and their respective leaders, media and representation were key tools in fostering an image of their governments as central agents in advancing a global anticolonial wave that would change the world for the better. Furthermore, such representation aided them in nationalizing and domesticating their own citizenries. In his discussion of this history, Dr. Frazier will incorporate a variety of media and artistic examples to highlight the importance that representation and culture played -- particularly depictions of Africa—in both Yugoslavia's and China's efforts to circulate particular narratives of nonalignment and anticolonial solidarity.  

Hanns Eisler settled in the United States in 1938 after fleeing National Socialism. In the late 1940s, he was interrogated by HUAC and blacklisted. Described as “the Karl Marx of music,” Eisler left the United States in 1948, and eventually settled in East Germany, where he composed the national anthem for the GDR. Hollywood Elegies, a program of compositions by Hanns Eisler presented by Long Beach Opera, reflects on one of the most divisive periods of the Cold War. 

Inna Faliks, a renowned pianist and the head of UCLA's piano department, presents a program that explores, through music, Mikhail Bulgakov's iconic Soviet novel of art, irony, love, religion, and Faustian legend, The Master and Margarita. Faliks will perform the world premiere of two compositions that celebrate the novel and have been composed especially for this evening: Maya Miro Johnson's Satan's Ball, and The Master and Margarita suite for piano by Vera Ivanova. Both Faliks and Ivanova grew up in the Soviet Union. The premieres also reflect on a painting by Stanislav Molodykh in the Wende Museum’s collection that references the famous Soviet novel. The program will also include Liszt's Piano Sonata in B Minor, an epic Faustian work.

Nueva Canción: Songs of Protest and Resistance is a new, music-based multimedia event created by Sandra Powers and Timur, and performed by the glam rock band Timur and the Dime Museum. Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, the concert is rooted in the Latin American song movement that began in the 1960s and criticized political oppression and spurred sociopolitical change. These songs told multilayered stories about unequal distribution of wealth, corrupt politics, and abuses of power, evolving from folk to incorporate electronic, classical, and rock influences. Nueva Canción focuses on the songbook of Mercedes Sosa, the driving force behind the movement. In addition, Timur’s memories of being raised under communism and then witnessing the collapse of the Soviet Union will provide a personal perspective on the complexity of political regimes. 

Medea: controversial archetype of female strength and passion from the East. In the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East European writers and painters often turned to ancient mythology to express their discontent with authoritarian rule. Their interpretations of mythological figures like Medea, Cassandra, and Penthesilea were crucial in shaping contemporary images for women, and sometimes they were straight-up punk. Working under the radar of the accepted art establishment, the artists in this exhibition provoked, protested, played with fire, and experimented while refusing socialist and bourgeois stereotypes. The Medea Insurrection pairs countercultural women artists from Cold War-era Eastern Europe with contemporary subversive women and non-binary artists from Southern California. Organized in collaboration with the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, and guest curator Susanne Altmann. 

Proving that photography is no more “objective” than any other medium, two photographers with the same mission offer very different views of East Germany. Through reports published by Stern, unpublished photographs, and documents and photos from the Stasi archives (both photographers were closely monitored by the East German secret police), this exhibition highlights Thomas Höpker and Harald Schmitt’s very different approaches to East German life, culture, and society.

In the fall of 1981, Bill Aron, the “Dean” of American Jewish photographers, visited the cities of Leningrad, Minsk, and Moscow. In each city, Aron photographed the local synagogue – which served as the common ground for Soviet Jews who were trying to hold on to, or regain, their religious heritage – as well as Jews who wished to leave the country, the so-called refuseniks. He also made striking portraits of the Soviet Jewish population at home and in public life. Aron’s photos will be paired with artist Yevgeniy’s Fiks’s images and artifacts from Birobidzhan, the Jewish autonomous region in the Soviet Union near the border with China.