Andrejs Strokins
Palladium

Limited edition of 500 copies
Hard cover
170x240 mm
96 pages
ISBN 978–9934-8476-7-7

Author of this archive, the unknown photographer, was working in the Palladium movie theater in soviet Riga starting from 1957, when it was restored after the first fire, untill the second fire, which occured in 1963. During that period of time the Palladium movie theatre was used not only as a cinema, but also as a Сulture House where children morning matinees, chess competitions, choirs and dance groups performances and, of course, the inevitable speeches of political figures regularly took place. The book is introducted with movie critic Vadim Agapov essay about the vanishing culture of collective film watching. “Thankfully, Strokins also brought his own unique sensibility to the edit, often picking the most stubbornly odd pictures, pictures that it would have been all-too easy to reject as failures. Consequently, there is a strong line of somewhat disturbing deadpan humour running through the book. As a counterpoint to what might be seen as “cool” or “weird” it’s a very effective device. The world of Latvian Soviet-era thus becomes a strange theater of the absurd that, for this Western viewer, breaks every expectation it sets up almost immediately.” Jörg Colberg

Andreja Strokina grāmata «Palladium»
Grāmata «Palladium» sastādīta no atrasta fotoarhīva uzņēmumiem – to autors ir nezināms fotogrāfs, kas 50. gadu beigās un 60. gadu sākumā strādājis kinoteātrī ar tādu pašu nosaukumu kā grāmatai. Laika periodā no kinoteātra atjaunošanas 1957. gadā līdz pat ugunsgrēkam 1963. gadā «Palladium» ne vien demonstrēja kino, bet arī kā kultūras nams organizēja bērnu rītus, šaha turnīrus, koru un deju kolektīvu un arī neizbēgamās partijas funkcionāru uzstāšanās. Veikdams savu atlasi un montāžu Andrejs Strokins akcentē atšķirību starp ekrāna varoņu dzīvi, kā arī skatītāju un kinoteātra darbinieku dzīvi. Viņa sarkastiskais skatījums pasvītro propagandas elementu kuriozitāti un uz skatuves notiekošā absurdumu. Grāmatu ievada kinokritiķa Vadima Agapova eseja par par izzūdošo kolektīvās skatīšanās kultūru.