Pictures at an Exhibition: Science and Technology in Early USSR (A Case Study of the All-Russian Exhibition of 1923)

This book is dedicated to the history of the First All-Russian (All-Union) Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition, which included a Foreign Section, held in 1923. The author emphasizes the exhibition’s scientific, educational, and technological aspects. Drawing from extensive archives, Yelina explores various narratives of the exhibition, such as the objectives set by its organizers, the role of scientists as the exhibit’s experts and exponents, the interaction between scientific and artistic groups in creating the displays, and the purpose, content, and image of the exhibitions themselves, as well as the exhibit’s daily activities and celebrations. Simultaneously, the exhibition is portrayed as a representation of the image of authorities, a tool of “scientific diplomacy,” and a propaganda campaign aimed at the peasantry. Through documentary descriptions of a local historical event, the author provides an overall characterization of the technological and socio-cultural panorama of early Soviet modernization that aimed to create “science for peasants” and discover new formats for organizing scientific research.

Moscow: Ruthenia, 2024.