'Leak. The Other Side of the Pipeline' with Oleksiy Radynski, Hito Steyerl, and Tjan Zaochnaja, moderated by Philipp Goll

Based on the research project Leak. The End of the Pipeline by Philipp Goll, Oleksiy Radynski, and Hito Steyerl, the event addresses the ecological impacts of Russian colonialism and the inter-imperial gas pipeline deals between (West) Germany and (Soviet) Russia since the 1970s.

The discussion will also address the situation of indigenous peoples in Russian-occupied territories as well as anti-colonial activism in Northern Eurasia against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.

Hito Steyerl is a filmmaker and writer based in Berlin. Her work explores media, technology, and the global circulation of images, encompassing video installations, digital environments, and written works. She is a professor of Emergent Digital Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and co-directs the academy’s research platform with Francis Hunger.

Philipp Goll works as a freelance artist-researcher, combining forms of knowledge production in theory, film, and dance. Since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Philipp’s research has focused on the history of the German-Russian gas trade, petro-aggression, and activism against extractivism. Among Philipp’s recent publications is *Western Dissidence* (Spector 2025) on literary activism in West German popular culture since 1968.

Oleksiy Radynski is a filmmaker and writer based in Kyiv. His films have been screened at the Berlinale, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Oberhausen Short Film Festival, among others, where he received the Grand Prix for his film Chornobyl 22. His writings have appeared in e-flux journal, The Atlantic, and taz – die tageszeitung, among others. Since 2008, he has been involved with the Visual Culture Research Center in Kyiv. Radynski is also a co-founder of the filmmaking collective Kinotron Group.

Tjan Zaotschnaja is a Soviet dissident and human rights activist. Since the 1980s, she has advocated for the rights of indigenous communities that are oppressed (in the context of the Soviet Union and Russia). After her expulsion by the Soviet authorities, she moved to Munich. Since then, she has been raising awareness about the impact of resource extraction on indigenous ways of life—particularly given that, until Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Germany and Europe were among the largest consumers of Russian oil, gas, and coal. She is a member of the Munich chapter of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) as well as the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICPR).