''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 ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

-based newspaper, indirectly financed by

Internet Research Agency The Internet Research Agency (IRA; russian: Агентство интернет-исследований, translit=Agentstvo internet-issledovaniy), also known as ''Glavset'' (russian: link=no, Главсеть) and known in Russian Internet sla ...

. Both Shurigin and Tukmakov are authors of for

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

magazine

Zavtra Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov (russian: Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Проха́нов; born 26 February 1938) is a Russian writer, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation and the author of more ...

, members of the

National Bolshevik Party The National Bolshevik Party (NBP; russian: Национал-большевистская партия), also known as the Nazbols (russian: нацболы), operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of Nat ...

and nationalist ''Izborsk Club''. The exhibition displays a strongly anti-Western and

pro-Russian Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th Century, ...

view on civil conflicts in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

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

Euromaidan Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...

as "upsurge of nationalists-banderovtsy groups" and

War in Donbass War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

as "opposition against banderovtsy 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 who died near

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

. The exhibition's original

curator A curator (from la, cura, 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 parti ...

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 Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...

, Grozny,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It is planned to hold the exhibition in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, as well as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

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 ''

'' and its connection to a widespread Russian propaganda

content farm A content farm (or content mill) is a company that employs large numbers of freelance writers to generate a large amount of textual web content which is specifically designed to satisfy algorithms for maximal retrieval by automated search engine ...

network. In an article by

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

, 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 ''Euromaidan Press'' (EP) is an English-language news website launched in 2014 by contributors from Ukraine, sponsored by reader contributions and the International Renaissance Foundation. It shares its name with the Euromaidan movement in Ukrain ...

, 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