While working on audio descriptions of news from old newspapers, I developed the idea of translating this material into a video format.
The first example of this approach was the film What Happened to the Roof of the DEPO in Moscow? Year 1907.
The work sought to recreate the news agenda of a century ago in a contemporary context.
It is based on a 1907 article about the construction of a tram depot — a building that, after its reconstruction in 2019, was converted into a grocery shopping centre and food court.
The video combines animated imagery from pre-revolutionary glossy magazines with contemporary drone footage.
The second video in the series devoted to working with historical media is based on a 1909 newspaper note about a collection of forgotten items left behind in Moscow’s pre-revolutionary trams.
In this film, the original text is expanded into a narrative of its own, telling the story of a wife who “supposedly” lost her mother-in-law’s extravagant yet mocking gift — a gold badge inscribed “for drunkenness” (a reference to the punitive badge issued under Emperor Peter I).
The newspaper story is reframed as part of an old-fashioned television programme, watched by a married couple.