How to Fix the World

Adapted from psychologist A.R. Luria’s research in the Islamic outskirts of the Soviet Union in the 1930s, How to Fix the World brings to life Luria's conversations with Central Asian farmers learning how to read and write under the unfamiliar principles of Socialism.

Colorful digital animations based on Max Penson's photographs of collective farmers play against a backdrop of landscape images shot in Uzbekistan in 2004.

At once humorous, conflicting, and revelatory, these conversations between Luria and his subjects illustrate a particular historical moment when one culture attempted to transform another in the name of education and modernization. The subtleties of this transformation are found in the words exchanged and documented seventy years ago.

"A 1930s Soviet literacy study of Central Asian farmers is brought to life in this stylized digital animation. The responses of the collective workers are both humorous and revealing: the clash of ideologies is as apparent as the difference between the cognitive processes of written language and their oral tradition." --Mark Webber, London Film Festival 2005