Showcasing Socialist Flower Power: The World of Soviet Hippies

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Soviet hippies may seem to many a paradox in terms. Very few people, even in the Soviet Union itself, knew that there was a thriving hippie community. The hippie 'sistema' was located in various cities throughout the Soviet empire from 1967 to the very end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Extensive research made possible by the AHRC grant 'Dropping out of Socialism' has made first inroads into this topic and is going to be presented in the monograph 'Flowers Through Concrete' by the PI of this project, forthcoming with OUP in 2017. An unexpected corollary of the research has been the collaboration between the PI Juliane Fürst and the Wende Museum in LA, which offered a home to many of the invaluable and highly eccentric hippie archives unearthed in the course of research. The Wende is now sheltering, restoring and making accessible over 3000 artifacts relating to the Soviet hippie culture. This grant proposes to extend this collaboration in order to facilitate an extensive exhibition on the history of the Soviet hippie movement in June 2017, commemorating its 50th anniversary. It proposes not only to showcase the many interesting items in the possession of the Wende Museum, but also to provoke discussion about the nature and universality of countercultures, the working of dictatorial regimes and the parallels and differences between East and West. It aims to engage new audiences by exhibiting unique and new material. At the same time resonates with California audiences, because of its evocation of the American sixties. Many visitors are likely to have themselves a countercultural past. The museum will also host a study day, in which participants of the Soviet hippie movement will meet with audiences and representatives of local countercultures. The programme of workshops, accompanying the exhibition is tailored to younger people with the aim to highlighting continuity and change, e.g. showing not only that all generations knew rebels, outsiders and countercultures, but also that these marginals left significant impact on the mainstream. A digital archive, sponsored by the original grant 'Dropping out' will ensure continued access to exhibition materials for interested audiences. Finally, the extensive and multi-level collaboration between the Wende Museum and Dr. Juliane Fürst will provide a blueprint for future collaborations between the museum and academics, highlighting how research, archiving and exhibition activities can fruitfully engage with and further each other. The exhibition highlights not only the need to preserve archives' 'on the margin' of societies, but also the value that can be added to academic research by using historical sources in an innovative, accessible and visible manner.