Archive of the Alternative Culture of the 1970s and 1980s

The archive contains materials on a number of representatives of alternative culture and Russian émigré artists of the late Soviet period.

The archive is divided into two parts. The first is the archive of the almanac Muleta, which focused on literature and art and was published in Paris from 1984 to 1992, edited by artist and poet Vladimir Kotlyarov (Tolsty). Documents include letters, samizdat publications, and photographs.

The second part of the archive is devoted to novelist and poet Eduard Limonov. Model and writer Elena Shchapova and art historian, gallerist, and publisher Alla Zaitseva were involved in the preservation of materials related to the life and work of Limonov. Garage Archive Collection mainly contains materials related to Limonov's Moscow period: poems and essays, letters, photographs, measurements of pants, and unique documents such as manuscripts of his unpublished works and samizdat collections.

The two archives were merged based on their origin: they were acquired by Garage at the auctions by organized by Antiquarium and Litfond to mark Limonov's birthday in 2022.

Key Figures

Eduard Limonov (né Savenko, 1943–2020) was a poet and writer, author of numerous novels, essays, and short stories and several poetry collections. He was active in the Moscow art scene from 1967 to 1974.

Konstantin Kuzminsky (1940–2015) was a poet and one of the key figures of the Leningrad underground scene. From the mid‑1960s he was actively involved in unofficial literary life, publishing samizdat books and compiling The Anthology of Soviet Pathology, a collection of poems by Soviet authors who were not published in the USSR. In 1975, he emigrated to the USA.

Vagrich Bakhchanyan (1938–2009) was an artist and conceptualist writer. In 1974, he emigrated to the USA. He participated in many exhibitions in Europe and the USA and, from the late 1990s, Russia.

Leonid Gubanov (1946–1983) was a poet. He published his works in samizdat, as well as the almanacs Avangard, Chu!, and Sfinksy.

Yevgeny Kharitonov (1941–1981) was a poet, novelist, playwright, and director. During his life he did not publish his work. He was posthumously awarded the Andrei Bely Prize (1981).

Alexei Khvostenko (Khvost, 1940–2004) was a poet, songwriter, and artist. He wrote over 100 songs and several plays in collaboration with Anri Volokhonsky (under the joint pen name A. Kh. V.).

Ilya Bokshtein (1937–1999) was a poet, artist, essayist, and translator. He spent five years in a Gulag labor camp Dubrovlag‑17 on charges of anti‑Soviet propaganda. In 1972, he emigrated to Israel.

Alexander Borodulin (b. 1952) is a photographer. In 1973, he emigrated to the United States and opened a photo studio in New York, whose customers included Eduard Limonov, Joseph Brodsky, Yuri Mamleev, and other representatives of the third wave of Russian emigration. He collaborated with Playboy, Vogue, and other magazines. In 1980, he moved to France.

Mikhail Roginsky (1931–2004) was a nonconformist artist. In 1978, he emigrated to France.

Genrikh Khudyakov (1930–2019) was a poet, artist, and translator. In the 1960s, he published his poetry collections in samizdat. In 1974, he emigrated to the United States, where he turned to visual art.