Igor Vaganov

Biography

Igor Vaganov was born on July 1, 1959, in Rostov-on-Don. At the age of six years tried to set fire the Rostov Museum of Fine Arts on Pushkin Boulevard in protest to the art presented in it. His first musical project was The Stream, a school experimental rock band founded in 1974. In 1974, he founded Hallo, the first specialized illustrated music magazine (hand-made fanzine) known in the USSR. He took part in the activity of THIS (Russian: ЭТО / ETO), a city high school pupils’ club, and attended Yuri Popov’s famous pantomime studio. Participated in Rostov surrealism movement (1976–1981), numerous art actions, poetry readings, theater performances and happenings. In December 1980, he took part in organizing and developing scenic design of the event held in memory of John Lennon and the first break festival on Don. In 1981–1982, he took part in organizing Opus, a rock festival (prohibited later) in Vilnius, Lithuania. In autumn 1987, he played the drums in Tora! Tora! Oss!, German Dizhechko’s fist punk-band.

From 1988, he worked as a columnist in TNC, i. e. The Nameless Column (Russian: РБН, i.e. Рубрика Без Названия / RBN, i. e. Rubrika Bez Nazvaniya) in Komsomolets (Russian: Комсомолец), Rostov oblast youth newspaper. From 1988 to 2008, he worked as a journalist in the sphere of culture, collaborating with a great number of periodicals, including Izvestiya-Yug (Russian: Известия-Юг), Moskovsky Komsomolets-na-Donu (Russian: Московский комсомолец-на-Дону), Donskaya Panorama (Russian: Донская панорама), Gorod N (Russian: Город N), Pleasure, Absinthe (Russian: Абсент), Style, 69, Vash Kapital (Russian: Ваш капитал), Re:publika (Russian: Re:публика) (Rostov-on-Don, Russia), Ensk (Russian: Энск) (Novosibirsk, Russia), Tango (Lithuania), Descent (Great Britain – USA), Ongaku Otaku (USA-Japan), Occidental Congress (Italy), Runen (France), etc.

From September 1988, he edited his own underground press project, the newspaper titled Rock-OPO, i.e. Rock in Opposition (Russian: Рок-ОПО, i. e. Рок в оппозиции / Rock-OPO, i. e. Rock v oppozitsii), an illustrated periodical, photocopy, 5 issues. Information coverage region: Rostov -USSR – Western Europe, underground stage in the East. It was the first independent illustrated periodical in Don Region. The project existed till late 1989, the number of copies printed amounted to 25; it was sent according to a special mailing list; in its Russian underground press review, Program A (Russian: Программа А / Programma A) has referred to Rock-OPO as “the most unusual and unique periodical in Russian music underground press”.

In 1988–1989, he took part in organizing and developing scenic design of Rostov rock-club underground festivals Rock Debut (Rock 707) (Russian: Рок-дебют (Рок-707) and The Closed Zone (Russian: Закрытая Зона Zakrytaya Zona). In April 1989, he published his book Tell Troitsky the News (Donsky Beat and Ways of Combating It: A Handbook for Official Power Structures) (Russian: Расскажите Троицкому новости (Донский бит и как с ним бороться. Методическое пособие для официоза / Rasskazhite Troitskomu novosti (Donsky Beat i kak s nim borotsya:. Metodicheskoe posobie dlya ofitsioza) in samizdat (free press).

In April 1990, he created Cuckoo Air (Russian: Ку-Ку Эфир / Ku-Ku Efir), a musical and informational program about alternative and independent rock stage, at Rostov oblast radio (it was the first so-called independent radio program in the former USSR, along with The Soft Parade (Russian: Тихий парад / Tikhiy parad), a program by Roman Nikitin in Moscow). He was the manager of Sergey Pimenov’s early punk project Sprinkler Tops (Russian: Головки от пульверизатора / Golovki ot pulverizatora). He got acquainted with Lydia Lunch, New York avant-garde queen, and Peter Jenner, one of the most famous managers in British music culture (Pink Floyd, Mark Bolan & T’Rex, Clash, etc.). Besides, he collaborated with Peking Row-Row (Russian: Пекин Роу-Роу) Rostov legendary band. In autumn 1990, he created a new editorial project, SCREAM (Russian: КРИК), an independent culture music magazine, edited in collaboration with the famous Kiev magazine Guchnomovets (Ukrainian: Гучномовецъ). It was the first “international” underground press alliance, in which the most significant creative and organizational powers of the country, such as influential rock journalists, photographers, event and festival organizers, producers, and musicians took part. According to The Golden Underground (Russian: Золотое подполье / Zolotoe Podpolye), Russian music underground press encyclopedia, Scream magazine was referred to as “the most complete and exhaustive chronicle of cultural trends in our country during that time”.

In summer 1991, he was a member of the organizing committee of Formula-9 (Russian: Формула-9), the yearly international music festival in Rostov-on-Don. In 1992, he worked as the A&R director with the Russian representative office of Blue Baltic Records Russia, a Lithuanian and British recording company. Along with working with their own music publishing works, he was a distributor with Zona Records (Vilnius, Lithuania), Fee-Lee (Moscow, Russia), involved in distributing books and records belonging to different music trends. In summer 1992, he founded Radio Amadeus (Russian: Радио Амадеус), the first alternative music radio in Don Region. In 1992, he founded the first independent radio station in Rostov-on-Don, Radio Province (Russian: Радио Провинция / Radio Provintsia), acting as its ideologist and music editor. He finished working on his book Wild World of Lydia Lunch (under the editorship of Artemy Troitsky). He founded and took control of the Russian department of Blue Baltic Records Russia (Britain – Lithuania), one of the first independent music and distributor labels in the ex-USSR. At the same time, he started initiating Achtung Baby! project. [2].Together with Kirill Serebrennikov, he was working at Sheegee Jeegee, or Everything’s Gonna Be Alright… (Russian: Шиги-Джиги, или все будет хорошо… / Sheegee Jeegee, ili vsye budet horosho…), a movie in memory of Sergey Timofeev, Peking Row Row band leader, artist, and musician. Bomba-Don (Russian: Бомба-Дон) Company was founded on the basis of Blue Baltic Records Russia distribution activity.

In July 1997, Achtung Baby! online version and electronic magazine emerged. He took part in a virtual art exhibition (mail-art) held in memory of William S. Burroughs and the anniversary of his novel Nova Express in Belgium (Chez Lulu art café).

In 2001, he initiated the Art-House (Russian: Арт-Хауз) regular column, which included the independent art news in the country and abroad (cinema, theater, music, literature, plastic and visual art) in Moscovsky Komsomolets – Yug (Russian: Московский комсомолец — Юг) and was in charge of it. In 2002, Mitin Zhurnal (Russian: Митин журнал) magazine published chapters from The Wild World of Lydia L, Igor Vaganov’s book about Lydia Lunch, the first translations of her literary essays, and fragments of her novel Paradoxia in Russia.

Most notable projects and exhibitions

Selected filmography