(E-E) E.v.g.e.n.i.j ..K.o.z.l.o.v Berlin |
|
home // E-E // biographie // art // eros // Leningrad 80s // Valentin Kozlov // 2 x 3m // events // lageplan // kontakt /
 / |
(E-E) E.v.g.e.n.i.j ..K.o.z.l.o.v Berlin |
|
home // E-E // biographie // art // eros // Leningrad 80s // Valentin Kozlov // 2 x 3m // events // lageplan // kontakt /
/ |
Joanna Stingray.
|
|||||||||
|
Text: Hannelore Fobo, 18 January 2026 Photos: Hannelore Fobo, Alexander Kan, (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov, Olga (Ola) Pronina |
|||||||||
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov and Joanna Stingray with two of Kozlov's works, E-E from 2004, (211 x 320 cm, mixed media on canvas) and Е-Е Люди / E-E People, 80 х 60 см, 2017 more >> Video still: Hannelore Fobo |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
In October 2025, Joanna Stingray, a singer, writer and film producer from Los Angeles, asked Berlin-based artist (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov to shoot two videos of her songs with his art. Stingray was planning to visit Berlin the following month to present her new documentary at the Soundwatch Music Film Festival: Kino-Film, produced with her Leningrad interviews with Viktor Tsoy (Виктор Цой, Tsoy/Tsoi, 1962-1990), singer of the Soviet cult-band KINO. Stingray’s and Kozlov’s acquaintance went back to the 1980s, when Kozlov was still living in Leningrad. In 1984, Kozlov had created the cover for KINO’s seminal album Nachalnik Kamchatki (The chief of Kamchatka). Stingray’s picture of Tsoy holding the cover became famous; it features the album’s CD-release from 1998 more >>.
 Forty years later, Stingray’s visit to Berlin was a unique opportunity to combine her own sound with Kozlov’s visual art. On 16 November 2025, she shot the video footage for Shades of Yellow (1998) and Drama (1985) at (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov’s Berlin art storage. Coming from different corners of the world, a group of seven people joined to help realising the project. Apart from singer Joanna Stingray and artist (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov, there were director and cameraman Andrei Airapetov (Paris), curator and publisher Hannelore Fobo (Berlin), photographer Olga Pronina (Moscow / Berlin), music journalist and translator Alexander Kan (London), and gallerist Ronald Wendorf (Hamburg). Most were connected to Leningrad’s art and music scene from the 1980s in one way or another. The music videos Shades of Yellow and Drama were released on Joanna Stingray’s Youtube channel in November and December 2025, respectively. Shades of Yellow
Drama
CONTRIBUTORS JOANNA STINGRAY – Singer, Producer Joanna Stingray is well-known in the world of Russian rock music for her close friendship with musicians from the Leningrad rock club scene, which began in 1984 with her first trip to the USSR, followed by many more. She supported the bands with equipment and instruments and performed with them on stage in Leningrad and Moscow. In 1986, she smuggled the recordings of four Leningrad bands – Aquarium, Kino, Alisa, and Strange Games – into the States, where Red Wave became the first album of Soviet underground rock music released in the West more >>. Red Wave received extensive press coverage, and the Soviet authorities felt compelled to allow these bands to officially record their music in the Soviet Union, too, but blocked her next visa application so that she couldn't attend her wedding with KINO guitarist Yuri Kasparian. It was only after months of intervention at the highest political level that the couple could finally marry in November 1987 (Kozlov gave her his painting America as a wedding gift) more >>. In the 1990s, having moved to Moscow, Stingray pursued her own career as a singer and media host until she returned to the States in 1996.
(E-E) EVGENIJ KOZLOV – Visual Artist (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov was a member of the Leningrad avant-garde group The New Artists (1982-1989 more >>), who, together with the Leningrad rock club scene more >>, formed the core of Leningrad’s artistic underground. Many of his photos and paintings from that period feature the city’s “unofficial” artists and musicians more >>, including Joanna Stingray more >>. His Portrait of Joanna Stingray and his Self-portrait with Blue Eyes (both from 1989) could be seen next to many of his paintings, portraits and painted photographs that presented the Leningrad art and music scene at the exhibition Notes from the Underground . Art and Alternative Music in Eastern Europe 1968–1994 (Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, 2016 more >> and Akademie der Künste,Berlin, 2018 more >>).
ANDREI AIRAPETOV – Director, Cameraman, Editor Andrei Airapetov is a Paris-based cameraman, film director and animator. He has recently been creating Joanna Stingray’s music videos and has become the editor of her vast Leningrad video archive of interviews and concerts, among them documentaries on Viktor Tsoy (“Kino-Film”,”), Kolya Vasin (“I Am the Walrus”) and Mike Naumenko.
HANNELORE FOBO – Location Shooting Manager Hannelore Fobo (Berlin) is an independent researcher on the Leningrad art and music scene and the curator of (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov’s art, with whom she has collaborated in many of his projects since 1990.
OLGA (OLA) PRONINA – Still Photographer Olga (Ola) Pronina is a Berlin-based photographer and visual artist working with portrait, documentary and video. Her practice is focused on contemporary culture, music and independent art projects. Alongside commissioned work, she collaborates with artists and filmmakers on long-term creative projects. Andrei Airapetov used her pictures to edit Joanna Stingray’s videos. Instagram: @Hollollo
ALEXANDER KAN – Production Assistant Alexander Kan is a producer and broadcaster and an expert on the Leningrad music scene. From 1979 to 1983, he was the President of the Leningrad Contemporary Music Club, the first platform for New Music in the USSR. Between 1985 and 1993, he produced the Open Music Festival, simultaneously contributing to a number of music periodicals in Russia, Europe and the USA. In 1996 he left Leningrad for London to work for the BBC Russian Service as an arts and culture correspondent. He authored several books on the new music scene in the late USSR/post Soviet Russia, including a monograph on Sergey Kuryokhin, and translated Joanna Stingray’s biography and other texts for the publication of her books in Russia..
RONALD WENDORF – Production Assistant Ronald Wendorf is an established art-dealer with a network of national and international collectors. He fell in love with (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov’s art when he discovered the Leningrad Album.
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
Shooting Shades of Yellow and Drama Andrei Airapetov, Joanna Stingray. Photo: Olga (Ola) Pronina, 2025 |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
Shooting Drama Andrei Airapetov and Joanna Stingray. Handbag USA (1988) by (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov Photo: Alexander Kan, 2025 |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
Andrei Airapetov, (E-E) Evgenj Kozlov, Joanna Stingray, Alexander Kan. Photo: Olga (Ola) Pronina, 2025 |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Uploaded 18 January 2026 Last updated 28 January 2026 |
|
home // E-E // biographie // art // eros // Leningrad 80s // Valentin Kozlov // 2 x 3m // events // lageplan // kontakt /
|
