Russian Revolutionary Festivals: Radical Secularism in a Sacred Key FREE January 19, 2007

Free
RSVP Required: 310-440-7300



Presenter: Mark Steinberg, University of Illinois

The Russian Revolution and the project to create a new socialist life was an apocalyptic moment in which ordinary time was replaced by a mythic time of transfiguration and salvation. This was politics and culture in a sacred key. But the revolutionary state and its followers also struggled to eradicate existing religion in the name of modern secular truth.

Mark Steinberg, professor of history at the University of Illinois and editor of the interdisciplinary Slavic Review, discusses this ambivalent intertwining of secular and sacred, examining how it pervaded the public festivals and rituals that were meant both to symbolize the new era and to help create it. Steinberg also examines a variety of stories from this era, such as revolutionary "mystery plays," commemorations of revolutionary holidays, artists' designs for festive public spaces, religious symbols and vocabularies in revolutionary language, and appropriations of Christian festivals.

This is part of the scholarly seminar series Five Thousand Years of Festivals "A life without festivals is like a road without inns," said the ancient Greek philosopher Demokritos. Festivals still are the most spirited collective activities celebrated in any society. From ancient Mesopotamian rites to the annual Burning Man celebration held in Nevada, festivals have played a crucial role in societies. In them, communities ease social conventions and display power structures, gender roles, and religious ideals. Festivals seem so indispensable to the lives of communities that totalitarian regimes, such as those of the Soviet Communists and the German National Socialists, invested considerable energy in transforming religious rituals into staged civic festivals. As part of the 2006–2007 research theme, "Religion and Ritual," and complementing the Festival Collection at the Research Library, the Getty Research Institute presents a series of scholarly seminars at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa that explore how festivals have been celebrated over many millennia. Please note that seating is limited and programs are subject to change. Procession of the vintners in Vevey, Switzerland, with grape-pickers, a wine press on a wagon, and Noah's Ark with the Dove of Renewal (detail), Christian Gottlieb Steinlen. Lithograph in Fête des vignerons, 1833 Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, 87-B10043 Seminars at the Getty Center Russian Revolutionary Festivals (January 19, 2007) Spanish Fiestas (March 2, 2007) Seminars at the Getty Villa Athenian Dramatic Festivals (March 30, 2007) New Age Festivals (April 13, 2007) Babylonian Festivals (May 11, 2007) Zoroastrian Festivals (June 8, 2007)

Official Website: http://getty.edu/visit/events/festival_seminars.html#russian