The Re(hear)sal by Gilles Aubry | 12:01

MP3

25.4.2005

This audio recording documents a rehearsal of the Victory Day ceremony which takes place each year on May 9th on the Red Square in Moscow in order to celebrate the end of WWII. Staged as a performance in the most pompous Soviet-style, the rehearsal is directed by an invisible amplified voice, commanding to the singers, soldiers and even the church’s bell what to do.

In the foreground, the voices of extras and tourists seem to have very different preoccupations: …need to call the office… need to buy cigarets…soldiers, 900 people…100 meters straight and then to the left…please make a list and we’ll make a decision…we have to stay here until 22h without drinking or eating anything, that’s terrible…please stand there, young man, and look at me, I want to take a picture… we don’t give a shit, we’ve been waiting for 3 hours and we can’t see the end…

Thanks to Natasha Kandinskaya for the translation from Russian.