Date: 2017

​

Conceived by Yevgeniy Fiks, a conceptual artists based in NYC, this project juxtaposes the experiences of Jewish life in the former USSR with the Soviet Space Program.

​

What is the project about?

 

The experiences of Jewish life in the former USSR juxtaposed with the Soviet Space Program. According to Yevgeniy Fiks, the initiator and curator of the project, “the Soviet Cosmos became the epitome of the Soviet Homeland for Soviet Jews, and therefore, defines the Soviet Jewish narrative as one of longing for scientific progress as a “homeland” that embraces them” (http://yevgeniyfiks.com/section/440872-Sovetish-Kosmos-Yiddish-Cosmos-2016.html, accessed on 02/02/2018).

​

What was my role?

 

 I did archival research on Soviet-Jewish astronauts and scientists (such as Ary Shternfeld) and any connection they might have had to Yiddish culture and language. I also looked at how Yiddish has been used in books on astronomy from the Soviet period, as well as popular journals and literature (i.e., Sovetish Heymland).