Starman

As the month of March comes to an end, the Wende will bid farewell to our GDR State Gifts exhibit and begin the installation of our new exhibition, Cedars Flight Vostock 1: Icons and Artifacts of the Soviet Space Program. Commemorating the 50^th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s 108-minute voyage into space, the exhibition will feature commemorative objects from East Germany and the Soviet Union and its satellite states.

Known as the first cosmonaut to enter space, Yuri Gagarin became the hero of the USSR and a symbol of Soviet achievement. In the recently released biography of Gagarin titled, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend Yuri Gagarin, Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony explore interviews and secret government files to shed light on Gagarin’s public and private life.

Click here to read excerpts from Starman that were featured in the March 8^th edition of the New York Times.

On Tuesday, April 12^th at 6:00 PM the Wende Museum will host a discussion with Lawrence Gipe and Andrew Jenks* on the use of Soviet imagery in contemporary art. This discussion will also coincide with the opening of the exhibition, which will prove to be out of this world! For further details on this and other upcoming events, check out the website.

*Andrew Jenks is currently working on a biography about Yuri Gagarin. Click here to read his blog and follow his writing process.

Correction: The book, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend Yuri Gagarin, is being re-released in lieu of the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight.