His daughter Maria confirmed his dying on Sunday morning, writing on her LiveJournal weblog: “My father, Lev Rubinstein, died in the present day.”
Mr. Rubinstein was thought of one of many founders of Soviet-era Moscow conceptualism, a creative motion that sought to undermine socialist ideology and its restrictive codecs imposed on artists. Serving as an antithesis to the official doctrine of the socialist realism artwork kind that churned out idealized and superficial scenes of Soviet life in a realist fashion, the conceptualism motion concerned daring experimentation throughout varied media comparable to portray, sculpture, efficiency and literature.
Mr. Rubinstein labored in his personal distinctive fashion on the intersection of literature, visible arts and efficiency. He was identified for his “postcard poems,” through which every verse was written on a separate card, impressed by his time working as a librarian at his Moscow alma mater. The ultimate work, resembling a library catalogue, prompted the reader to work together bodily with the poem.
Starting within the mid-Seventies, he revealed his works first overseas after which in Soviet samizdat — clandestine, makeshift publications aiming to repeat and distribute censored works throughout the Japanese bloc.
Later in his profession, Mr. Rubinstein turned to journalism and activism, writing for staple Russian retailers of the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s comparable to Itogi journal, Kommersant newspaper and the Weekly Journal. In 1999, he was awarded the Andrei Bely Prize, the oldest Russian impartial literary prize, celebrating samizdat writers and poets who labored outdoors Soviet censorship.
Mr. Rubinstein intently labored with Memorial, one of many nation’s oldest human rights organizations, which was not too long ago shut down and outlawed by Russian authorities.
“Shakily poetic, astute and ironic, he was himself a manner of perceiving the world. We communicate, have spoken, and can proceed to talk Rubinstein’s language,” Memorial mentioned in a assertion on X.
“At this time’s Russia has no place totally free residents and impartial poets. It barrels by means of them, not stopping on the purple gentle to see them cross the highway,” the assertion added. “The poet who had many occasions outlived himself, couldn’t dwell by means of Putin’s Russia.”
Mr. Rubinstein’s dying prompted an outpouring of memorials from many Russian activists, writers, artists and supporters, contained in the nation and in exile.
“His poems, his tales, his ideas about how human nature works, and his makes an attempt to know and clarify the world round him will stay with us and lengthy after us. His voice is heard now and can proceed to be heard,” journalist Sergei Parkhomenko wrote on his Fb web page.
Mr. Rubinstein took half in quite a few demonstrations in opposition to the persecution of fellow artists and writers and was an outspoken critic of repressions in Russia and in neighboring Belarus, President Vladimir Putin’s insurance policies and the 2014 Russian incursion in Ukraine. In 2021, he voiced help for opposition chief Alexei Navalny, who was arrested when he returned to Russia from Germany after being handled following his poisoning with a nerve agent.
Final March, Mr. Rubinstein signed an open letter in opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
“Any conflict is horrible not solely as a result of it is extremely simple to begin and really troublesome to finish. It’s horrible not solely as a result of individuals die and cities get destroyed. In conflict, individuals’s souls are destroyed and distorted, and the results of a conflict are at occasions disastrous even for the generations that come after,” Mr. Rubinstein mentioned of the conflict.
“There may be an outdated girl who, in fact, seems dangerous now, however you shouldn’t overlook about her. Her identify is hope,” Mr. Rubinstein mentioned in an interview final 12 months with impartial Russian-language media outlet Meduza. “And you need to flip to her on occasion as a result of she is constructed into the human psyche. You need to have hope and do what you’ll be able to to the perfect of your capacity.”
