Ilya Kabakov is a Russian artist who has traditionally been seen as an anti-Soviet dissident. This article from the Daily Beast explains how “after Stalin died in 1953, the frozen Soviet Union saw Khrushchev’s Thaw. Artists and intellectuals found themselves suddenly uncensored, which catalyzed an unprecedented period of creative experimentation.”
This was all to be short-lived, but at least it gives us an insight into Khrushchev and the recurring concepts of repression and reform in the course.
