A Requiem: Vladimir at Night, 1920.5.5–2007.3.2 

Morimura Yasumasa makes photographs and video works in which he assumes the identities of subjects from masterpieces, or actresses from classic movies, or other prominent figures from the 20th century. In this work, he became 20th century revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. The photograph was staged at Kamagasaki, an area of Osaka known for its day laborers. In a video work made at the same time, Morimura-as-Lenin talks about the emptiness of human existence to the kind of workers who powered the construction booms of the period of rapid economic growth in the 1960s and the bubble economy of the late 1980s. Morimura juxtaposes the history of the socialist revolution, which aimed to build an ideal society for workers, with the people actually sacrificed in the shadows of the capitalist economy.
(KIMURA Eriko)