In August 1991, the Soviet Empire collapsed. The giant whose power had towered over the world for nearly a century was revealed to be a paper tiger. An aborted coup, power changing hands – a few days of iconic significance reveal the bankruptcy and the endemic problems undermining Soviet power. At that point, all the rules are swept away, leaving everyone groping their way forward. What happens when a state disappears, when it can no longer administer or finance the territory it is responsible for? What happens to teachers who have no salary? When civil servants have no income, aren’t they tempted to merge their operations with the mafia bosses? Who looks after the security and maintenance of the state’s nuclear weapons? And what about culture? Who takes care of that now?

Everything is swept away and we (re)build on the ruins.