The making of Prawda

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In 1935, Soviet writers Ilya Ilf and Evgeniy Petrov embarked on a legendary journey across the United States, commissioned by Pravda. They traveled ten thousand miles in a gray Ford, ultimately concluding that “if America were Soviet it would be paradise,” a sentiment captured in their travel novel. Eighty years later, a group known as The Fearless Four—artists Jana and Alexej Meschtschanow, writer Felicitas Hoppe, and cultural scholar Ulrike Rainer—set out to retrace Ilf and Petrov's route. Their online project, 3668ilfpetrow.com, documents their findings, which are now presented in a conceptual printed work inspired by Aby Warburg’s design approach. This travelogue features photographs, a conversation with the artists, excerpts from Hoppe’s novel Prawda: Eine amerikanische Reise, quotes, historic documents, and cartographic entries that bring America to life. Images of Las Vegas’s Trump Tower, motel carpet patterns, and barren landscapes along the Mexican border are juxtaposed with the original travelers' experiences. The Making of Prawda explores how the earlier work resonates with contemporary social issues, illustrating how stories and myths evolve and acquire new meanings over time.