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Socialism Failed, Capitalism is Bankrupt. What comes Next?

Krakow, Bunkier Sztuki
Socialism Failed, Capitalism is Bankrupt. What comes Next?
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    • Socialism Failed, Capitalism is Bankrupt. What comes Next?
  • 2010
  • 2-channel video installation, color, sound/silent, photobased work on floor
  • 19min Duration: 5min
This project focuses on the political and economic situation in the Republic of Armenia, one of the successor states to the Soviet Union. The film itself was shot in Yerevan’s largest bazaar, which is known as “Bangladesh.” Every day, more than 1,000 individuals strive to survive as traders at the “Bangladesh” bazaar, where the average vendor earns no more than between 100 and 250 Euros a month. In the film, these individuals talk about their struggles to survive during the various crises of a post-socialist state that closed most Soviet-era factories and eliminated social safety nets. The market’s traders, primarily former factory workers, also describe how their living conditions deteriorated following the end of the Soviet Union, and go on to speak about their hopes and expectations regarding social change. And while they live in misery, a small but highly influential class of corrupt politicians and super-rich oligarchs teams up with international corporations to line their pockets with profits made from the transference of state property and mineral rights. O.R.