David Bowie in the Soviet Union

DAVID BOWIE IN THE SOVIET UNION

APRIL 1-OCTOBER 22, 2023

David Bowie in the Soviet Union is guest curated by Olya Sova with Joes Segal, Emma Diffley, and Anna Atkeson. Special thanks to Geoff MacCormack and Jo Clark. The exhibition is generously supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Catalogue design by Ananya Madiraju

Following the Japanese leg of his international Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane tour in 1973, David Bowie traveled on the Trans-Siberian Express. Geoff MacCormack, one of Bowie’s closest friends, accompanied him during this period as a backing vocalist and percussionist. Using a Japanese Nikkormat camera, MacCormack captured private and relaxed moments as well as spontaneous social gatherings and performances during the journey. These images, previously exhibited at New Holland Island in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Brighton Museum Gallery in England, document an intimate relationship between the photographer and his subject.

Bowie decided to travel by boat and train from Japan to France because of his air travel phobia combined with his eagerness to visit the Soviet Union. He and MacCormack took the SS Felix Dzerzhinsky from Yokohama, Japan, to Nakhodka, Siberia, from where they traveled to Khabarovsk to embark on a one-week train ride to Moscow. They stayed in Moscow for two days, visiting the Kremlin and the GUM department store and attending the May Day parade before continuing their travels to Paris via Warsaw and East Berlin.

For David Bowie in the Soviet Union, the Wende Museum presents a selection of MacCormack’s photographs alongside the film The Long Way Home, Bowie’s own 16mm footage from the trip interspersed with photographs by MacCormack. These and many more images are presented in MacCormack’s recent book David Bowie: Rock ‘n’ Roll with Me, published in 2023.

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie in Front of the Trans-Siberian Express, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

David Bowie, Geoff MacCormack in Front of the Trans-Siberian Express, 1973 Courtesy of Geoff MacCormack

Geoff MacCormack, Soviet Locomotive, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Scenic Siberia, 1973

Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie on the Trans-Siberian Express, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Railway Station, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Church, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Leee Black Childers, David Bowie and Geoff MacCormack on the Trans-Siberian Express, 1973, Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie Looking Out from the Trans-Siberian Express, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Skipping Lady, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie After Long Drinking Sessions on the Train, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Russian Boys, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie at the GUM Department Store, Moscow, 1973

Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Rush Hour, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Saint Basil’s Cathedral (The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, Red Square), 1973

Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Fence Painting, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, Chat on the Tracks, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie Filming the May Day Parade at Red Square, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie with a GAZ Chaika, 1973 Courtesy of the artist

Leee Black Childers, David Bowie and Geoff MacCormack at the May Parade in Red Square, 1973

Courtesy of the artist

David Bowie and Geoff MacCormack, The Long Way Home, 1973, 16mm footage, duration 7:47 minutes

Courtesy of the artists

Film

Soviet Regulations on Photography, 1973, typewriting

Courtesy of Geoff MacCormack

Artemy Troitsky, Interview with David Bowie in the USSR, 1996, duration 20 minutes

Courtesy of the artist