''Material Evidence'' (Russian: Вещдоки) is an international exhibition first presented in Russia in 2013 by Vladislav Shurigin and Denis Tukmakov with direct financial support from ''Zhurnalistskaya Pravda'' (Journalistic Truth), a

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

-based newspaper, indirectly financed by

Internet Research Agency The Internet Research Agency (IRA; ; 2013-2023), also known as ''Glavset'' (, ), and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino () or Kremlinbots (), was a Russian company which was engaged in online propaganda and influence ...

. Both Shurigin and Tukmakov are authors of for

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

magazine Zavtra, members of the National Bolshevik Party and nationalist ''Izborsk Club''. The exhibition displays a strongly anti-Western and

pro-Russian Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the Russia, country, Russians, people, Russian language, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its Opposite ...

view on civil conflicts in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. It is advertised as an "evidence of USA aggression" and the section on Ukraine describes the events of surrounding

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

as an "upsurge of nationalist-

banderite A Banderite or Banderovite (; ; ; ) is a name for the members of the OUN-B, a faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The term, used from late 1940 onward, derives from the name of Stepan Bandera (1909–1959), the ultranation ...

groups" and the

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

as "opposition against banderites and Western Oligarchs".

Layout

Photo exhibition is based on the material submitted by war correspondents illustrating countries where civil conflicts take place, including

Andrey Stenin On 5 August 2014, Andrey Alexeyevich Stenin, a Russian photojournalist, disappeared while covering the War in Donbas. He was confirmed dead on 3 September 2014, having died on 6 August according to the Investigative Committee of Russia. Backgr ...

who died near

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

. The exhibition's original

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

in Europe, Benjamin Hiller, is a German freelance photographer and journalist who works mainly on conflict photography in hotspots such as

and

Locations

The exhibition was held in a number of Russian, European, and American cities including

, Ufa, Grozny,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is planned to hold the exhibition in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and Washington, as well as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Reactions

According to organizers, over 50 thousand people have visited the galleries. While it was on display in New York City the exhibition was attacked and vandalized by group of people who Hiller claimed were neo-Nazis upset with Hiller's negative representation of Ukraine. As a result, some pictures had been defaced with black paint.

Funding and controversies

The exhibit has become controversial due to its ties to Russian extremist newspaper '' Zavtra'' and its connection to a widespread Russian propaganda

content farm A content farm or content mill is an organization focused on generating a large amount of web content, often specifically designed to satisfy algorithms for maximal retrieval by search engines, a practice known as search engine optimization (SE ...

network. In an article by

Gawker ''Gawker'' was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Fo ...

, according to the assistant curator of the New York exhibit "in Berlin, a "silent guy" visited, told the organizers he liked what he saw, then left. Later, he came back with a bag of cash and dropped it for them with no explanation." Russian state-sponsored company

is among the main sponsors of the exhibition. The organizers are also offering financial grants of 10-20,000 euro for journalists.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.stopfake.org/en/trolls-on-tour-how-kremlin-money-buys-western-journalists/ , title=Trolls on tour: how Kremlin money buys Western journalists , publisher=StopFake.org , date=September 7, 2015 , accessdate=2015-09-13 {{cite web , url=http://lifenews.ru/news/148451 , title=В Москве покажут "вещдоки" агрессии США на Ближнем Востоке , publisher=LifeNews , accessdate=2015-09-13 {{cite news, last1=Babiak, first1=Mat, title=New York's anti-Ukrainian art gallery, and the far-right Russian network behind it, url=http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/10/06/new-york-material-evidence-anti-ukrainian-art-gallery-from-far-right-russian-propaganda-network/, accessdate=6 October 2014, publisher= Euromaidan Press, date=6 October 2014 {{cite web , url=http://www.dynacon.ru/content/articles/1024/ , title=Шурыгин Владислав Владиславович , publisher=Institut Dinamicheskogo Konservatizma , accessdate=2015-09-13 {{cite news, url=http://material-evidence.com/, title=Learn The Truth About What Is Going On, publisher=Material Evidence, accessdate=2014-09-30, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713203410/http://material-evidence.com/, archivedate=2014-07-13 {{cite web , url=http://material-evidence.com/ukraine/ , title=Ukraine , publisher=Material Evidence , accessdate=2015-09-13 {{cite web , url=http://www.stopfake.org/en/emails-link-kremlin-troll-farm-to-bizarre-new-york-photography-exhibit/ , title=Emails Link Kremlin Troll Farm to Bizarre New York Photography Exhibit , publisher=StopFake.org , date=2015-08-20 , accessdate=2015-09-13

External links