crime and violence of saint petersburg
A 300-year history of robberries, murders, rapes, repressions, coups d'état, war crimes and other violent activities in a poster format structured in time and space.
COUP D’ETAT
Assassination of the Emperor
“Time to grow up! Stand up and rule!” — he heard. He was Alexander, heir to the throne, standing in his father’s bedroom, witnessing the stabbing.
A coup against Pavel, Alexander’s father, took place in the Engineers’ castle by Pavel’s closest circle.
“It was unexpected! I thought we’d just scare him a little...” — mumbled Alexander, and rulled happily ever after for the next 25 years.
POISONING
Mayor’s controversial election campaign
Anatoly Sobchak — a foster father to the young russian democracy, as well as to his bodyguard, ex-KGB agent, Vladimir Putin. Sobchak ended his political career in 2000, clearing the way to a new boy in town.
We’ll change “Premeditated murder” to “Food poisoning” — proclaimed the judge and closed the case.
RAGE OF THE CROWD
Execution of the
Royal Family
Nicholas the Second deeply cared about two things in his life: his family, and his Empire. But no matter how big his love was, it didn’t help save neither of them.
Russian empire was swept away by the revolution. Family members were arrested, shot in a basement, their bodies burnt and obliviated.
Russian empire was swept away by the revolution. Family members were arrested, shot in a basement, their bodies burnt and obliviated.
BUSINESS SEIZURE
Disputed aquisition of a social media monopoly
Floating 5K-rouble notes filled the sky of Saint Petersburg. This is how Pavel Durov stated the fact, that social media came to Russia.
Vkontakte — A No.1 russian social network— became so lucrative, that it was only a matter of time, till the corrupt police establishment decided to gently change its ownership.
They flocked like bees to honey. The big brother accessed to the biggest user database in history. Durov fled the country after selling his shares for nothing.
OSTRACISM
The dissidents and alcoholism
Double standarts were the trademark of the Soviet system. The choice was simple: freedom of thought in prison, or hypocrisy outside of it.
The intellectuals found their escape either outside of the country, or inside the bottle.
The writer Sergey Dovlatov managed to combine both. However he is famous not only for that.
SUICIDE
Poet Yesenin’s misterious suicide
“Goodbye my friend, goodbye...” — proclaimed Sergey Yesenin and willfully died. These words were inscribed on many women’s death notes many years later on.
Poet Mayakovski objected: “Please stop this epidemic of copycat suicides!”
“In this life it is not hard to die! To carry on — is more difficult!” — continued he, and swallowed the entire can of sleeping pills.
BLOCKADE
WW2 hunger
A 2½-year-long siege of Saint Petersburg resulted in millions of deaths, caused by starvation and freezing alive.
The tragedy could have been avoided by establishing a simple supply chain, however Stalin-in-charge decided to save some coins, and abandoned the city.
He left the citizens face to face both with the hunger and the enemy bombardments.
