Performing the Camp is part of Sharashka and was filmed at Perm-36, a former Soviet labor camp near Perm, Russia.

 

The camp was built in 1946 within the Gulag system and initially operated as a logging camp. In 1972 it became a prison for political prisoners, including dissidents and human rights activists. It continued to operate until 1987. In the 1990s, preservation efforts transformed the site into a museum and memorial.

 

Tati approaches the camp as a place containing several historical layers: forced labor under Stalin, its later uses within the Soviet prison system, and the detention of political prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s. These overlapping histories form the research context for the performances filmed there.

 

The work connects bodily actions with the site’s spaces and memories. Within Sharashka, the former camp becomes a starting point for examining how political systems shape bodies, knowledge, and collective memory.

 

Historical background: Gulag Museum history, George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media.