Culver City’s Wende Museum Stirs Controversy at Venice Biennale

Among the exhibits at the 55th Venice Biennale is an installation in the British Pavilion by UK artist Jeremy Deller  that has provoked controversy and ignited social debate in England.

The controversy surrounds Deller’s  presentation  against the backdrop of Culver City’s Wende Museum’s recently acquired collection of early post-Soviet stock vouchers, privatization certificates, and Ponzi scheme coupons that dominated alternative currencies of the early 1990s in Russia.

The vouchers and certificates were given to workers at the various factories and collectives as ownership shares that were bought or otherwise obtained by Russian businessmen who would be become known as The Oligarchs, including Mikhail Chernoi , Oleg Deripaska, Boris Berezovsky, and Roman Abramovich.

Deller’s installation  is entitled “We Sit Starving Amidst Our Gold,” and according to a release is “anchored by a mural of Victorian designer and socialist politician William Morris as a giant mythological superhero throwing tycoon Roman Abramovich's yacht into the sea. Abramovich along with the other Oligarchs are major players in the art world and are among the wealthiest residents in the UK…. the illicit sources of their wealth are underscored by the larger-than-life presentation of The Wende Museum's newest collection.”

In a statement, Deller said of the collection, "It's so important that an institution like The Wende exists to collect items from such a fascinating moment in world history. Collections like this and the museum's willingness to lend the material are the life blood for artists like myself who enjoy investigating and playing with history."

The Wende Museum is located at 5741 Buckingham Parkwa. As Patch mentioned in an earlier story, The Wende will move to the former Culver City Armory in 2014.