David Bowie in the U.S.S.R.

 Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie Looking Out from the Trans-Siberian Express, 1973

A fortune-teller told David Bowie that he would die in a plane crash. Bowie thereafter refused to travel by air. In 1973, after performing in Japan, he returned to the West via the Trans-Siberian Express. Along the way, he sent dispatches to teen magazine Mirabelle, gave impromptu performances to mystified Soviets, and played tourist in Moscow, visiting the Kremlin, a May Day parade, and the GUM department store. The Soviets blasted Bowie's gender-fluid persona as Western decadence. Bandmate Geoff MacCormack chronicled the trip, and his photos are the basis of a small exhibition now at the Wende Museum, "David Bowie in the Soviet Union." 

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie After Long Drinking Sessions on the Train, 1973

Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie Filming the May Day Parade at Red Square, 1973

Also on view are two films, Bowie's home movie of the 1973 trip, and a later (1996) TV interview with Russian journalist Artemy Troitsky. Trained as a mathematician, Troitsky became one of Russia's most astute proponents of rock music. His conversation with Bowie raises the bar for a celebrity Q and A. Bowie discusses the visual artist who most inspired him (Joel-Peter Witkin); the most innovative music being made in 1996 (rap); and the meaning of life.

Also on view at the Wende is "Vietnam in Transition, 1876–Present," the museum's first presention of Southeast Asian art; and a guardhouse installation by Katya Tylevich and Alexei Tylevich, "T.G.I. Freitheit." All run through Oct. 22, 2023.