December 2015

Empires Take a Look at Each Other: Single-Story America

Travel Epilogue: An Asteroid Returns
with Felicitas Hoppe, Jana Müller and Alexej Meschtschanow

“3668 IlfPetrov” is the name of a mysterious minor planet discovered by Soviet astronomer Ludmila Georgievna Karachkina and named after the writing duo Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov, who, in the mid-1930s—at the height of Stalinist terror and the Great Depression— traveled through the United States for four months on assignment for Pravda and wrote a travelogue—both in words and pictures—titled “One-Story America,” a work as original as it was fascinating. 

Eighty years later, visual artists Alexej Meschtschanow and Jana Müller, together with writer Felicitas Hoppe, embarked on a five-week artistic journey retracing the original route. *Das einstöckige Amerika* (published in German translation in 2011 by Die Andere Bibliothek) set the route and prompted the artists to reexamine East-West relations using their own methods and from a European perspective. Over the course of five weeks and more than 10,000 miles, they traveled through the United States—from east to west and from west to east—following in the footsteps of the two Russians, reading, listening, photographing, and writing along the way. In the process, they created an archive of images, texts, and sounds at www.3668Ilfpetrow.com, in which they form intersections of the past, present, and future in their own unique way. The travel prologue, held this past summer at the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle on the occasion of the exhibition “Checkpoint California,” is now followed—upon their return from the follow-up journey—by the epilogue and, with it, a warm invitation to watch and listen to the artists as they unpack their suitcases live.

Felicitas Hoppe, born in Hameln in 1960, lives in Berlin as a writer; she writes novels, short stories, and children’s books, and teaches both in Germany and abroad. In 2012, she was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize for her body of work.

Jana Müller, born in Halle/Saale in 1977, lives and works in Berlin. She studied photography at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, earning her diploma in fine arts in 2006. A multi-award-winning and widely traveled artist, her work explores memory, cinematic forms of expression, and storytelling. In addition to photographs, she creates unconventional installations—records of mysterious events that play out in an interplay between real occurrences and fiction.

Alexej Meschtschanow, born in 1973 in Kyiv, lives and works in Berlin. The multi-award-winning artist studied at the HGB/Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. In 2008, he completed his master’s degree under Timm Rautert. With his quasi-sculptures, he has developed a distinctive visual language that oscillates between figuration and abstraction. In addition to the visual arts, his interests include experimental literature and the creation of spaces for reflection.

A joint event organized by the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle and Villa Aurora

Last summer, author Felicitas Hoppe traveled through the United States together with artists Jana Müller and Alexej Meschtschanow. They followed in the footsteps of the Russian writing duo Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov, who traveled throughout the United States for months in the mid-1930s on assignment for the Russian daily newspaper Pravda.

In mid-December, the epilogue to the journey took place, following the prologue that had been held that summer at the same location, the Friedrichsaal of the Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle. Together with her travel companions Jana and Alexej, Felicitas recounted the events, the hardships, and the people they encountered during the 9,928 miles of their Grand Tour.

Together with Tanja Dückers, Johan de Blank and the Kantkino are presenting a benefit reading for refugees featuring eight renowned authors: Ahne, Cecilia Barbetta, Zehra Cirak, Tanja Dückers, Annett Gröschner, Jakob Hein, David Wagner, and Peter Wawerzinek.

The event will feature musical accompaniment by the well-known singer and accordionist AnniKa von Trier. Proceeds will go to the Berlin-based organization “Flüchtlingspaten Syrien e.V.”

// Literature Salon at the Kantkino
// Kantstraße 54
// Charlottenburg
// Admission: €7, reduced €5
With support from Villa Aurora