Colonial time is not linear: it turns and swirls in different directions. To understand the conflicting and overlapping temporalities of the Russian settler colonial project, I will read an archive of Soviet visual culture alongside the archives of nuclear contamination of water, soil and human and non-human bodies. Leaving residues in bodies and lands, the long-term violence of Russian settler colonialism traverses its visions of progress.  The consequences of Soviet futuristic terraforming visions stay in the soil, water and bodies long after the dissolution of the USSR.  

Sasha Shestakova is a decolonial researcher. Their work deals with russian settler colonial histories and presents, combining visual culture and critical infrastructure studies. Their works and activities have been featured at transmediale festival, Venice Biennale Architettura, Parse Journal, the European Review, nGBK Berlin and Goldsmiths University of London

Contact: Fabienne Rachmadiev <fabienne.rachmadiev@gmail.com>