Boris Michailov - Unvollendete Dissertation - 1998

In 1984 and 1985, during the time of the USSR, Boris Mikhailov worked on Unfinished Dissertation. In an ‘endless dissertation’ he glued together images of everyday life in Kharkov, Ukraine, noting fragments of thoughts, observations, and quotes from books he read in the margins of the pages. These are reflections, sometimes tinged with melancholy, on Soviet society, art, and photography. Mikhailov discovered beauty amidst the desolation and absurdity of everyday life in a provincial town in a crumbling empire. His notes are a stimulating counterpoint to the photographs, demonstrating that no matter how banal and monotonous life may be, man can always take refuge in his mind and imagination. Unfinished Dissertation weaves together critical thoughts, narrative fragments, and enigmatic and brilliant sequences of images, creating a new genre of art book.