Presentations by Streams

The 1960s and 1970s saw a remarkable revival of interest in organised religion, esotericism and spiritual practices, which in turn shaped the thought and artistic production of underground circles across the Soviet Union, including those in Kyiv, Moscow and Leningrad. In this context, artists, writers and philosophers became engaged with Eastern religious philosophy, especially Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as Sufism. Particularly Buddhism infused various texts and images that were produced in the underground milieus of late socialism. This panel explores how a “Buddhist turn” in the late Soviet Union shaped the aesthetics in literature, performance art and music. Some of the questions that this panel aims to address are the following: why did artists across the Soviet Union choose to incorporate Buddhist ideas and practices in their artistic expression? And how does the turn towards Buddhism in culture relates to the shift in perceptions of time during the late Soviet period? This panel explores these questions through three different case studies: Buddhist elements in metaphysical realist writing, and particularly that by Yuri Mamleev; the influence of Zen Buddhism on Valentin Silvestrov’s music; and the relationship between Buddhist meditative practices and the performance art of Collective Actions.