Art From Russia

Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.

This exhibition is no joke, even if the title echoes one of those quips about how Communist regimes like to convince their people that they are living in paradise.

If a whole room of hardened crims from Chelyabinsk's modern-day Gulag showing off their tattoos doesn't wipe the smile off your face, then another suite of photographs, of Soviet tower block residents sitting with their legs dangling out the window, probably will.

Then again, these hapless 'Neighbours' shot in grisly black-and-white by Vikenti Nilin since 1993, at least look comfortable in their position of peril, unlike the Ukrainian tramps unsympathetically posed by Boris Mikhailov in his widely exhibited 'Case History' series of 1998.