chemistry

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Soviet Unterzoegersdorf rather than just read about it. In short: Soviet Unterzoegersdorf (German: Sowjet-Unterzögersdorf) is a fictitious country created by the art/technology/theory group Monochrom. It is the "last existing appanage republic of the USSR", located inside the Republic of Austria.

Key takeaways

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Soviet Unterzoegersdorf to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf (German: Sowjet-Unterzögersdorf) is a fictitious country created by the art/technology/theory group Monochrom. It is the "last existing appanage republic of the USSR", located inside the Republic of Austria.

Background Soviet Unterzoegersdorf is partially based on an existing village well known to Johannes Grenzfurthner, the creator of the concept. As a child and teenager, Grenzfurthner spent a lot of time at his grandparents' farm in the small village of Unterzögersdorf (a cadastral municipality of Stockerau). His grandparents' stories about Nazism, WWII and the Soviet occupation in Allied-occupied Austria (1945–1955) form the inspirational basis of the long-term project Soviet Unterzoegersdorf.

In the early 2000s, notorious Austrian art group Monochrom decided to have a little fun with the spirit of Ostalgie (nostalgia for the Soviet era), the cultural whiplash from the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union a decade earlier. Monochrom founder Johannes Grenzfurthner, having been born well after the USSR ceded East Austria in 1955, realized he knew nothing about the Soviet occupation of his hometown, the tiny rural hamlet of Unterzoegersdorf, aside from the hyperbolic, implausibly demonic stories his grandmother had told him when he was young. He was curious about that era, but the older generation was unwilling to talk. (Considering the shame of Anschluss followed by ten years of Soviet annexation, could anyone blame them? As Grenzfurthner himself put it, "We Austrians are known for two things: Classical music and mass murder.") Leave the past behind, they said. No one wants to remember Soviet Unterzoegersdorf. Debates triggered by postmodern culture have directed Monochrom's attention towards questions of representation and relevance of "history" and stories. With Soviet Unterzoegersdorf, a fictitious and misplaced handling of the past and the present is being discussed and put to use. In this regard, the project is also taking part in the production as well as the criticism of cultural and collective memories.

Projects Monochrom transformed the basic theoretical concept into various projects (LARPs, computer games, short films, performances).

Short film (1999) A short film ("Der Installateur (bis 14:28)") about a plumber trying to cross the border of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf to repair a nuclear warm-water boiler.

Public theatre performances (2001 and 2002) In 2001, ten years after the end of the Soviet Union, Monochrom transformed the theoretical concept into an improvisational theatre/performance/LARP that lasted for a couple of days. They organized bus tours from Vienna to Unterzoegersdorf—a small Lower Austrian village that really exists—and acted the setting; beginning with the harsh EU Schengen border control. In 2002 they staged the 55th anniversary of the Communist Party of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf (CPSUZOeD). Among other things Monochrom presented a computer called "Hyper Hegel" that was powered with burning wood and that would only run a low-tech version of Tetris. Later "Hyper Hegel" was presented as an art installation in exhibitions.

Computer game series (2005–)

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf: Sector I In 2005 Monochrom presented the first part of a computer game trilogy: "Soviet Unterzoegersdorf – The Adventure Game" (using AGS). To Monochrom it was clear that the adventure game would provide the perfect media platform to communicate the idea of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf. The first part of the game was very popular and was well received in the media. The game magazine Edge chose the game as their 'internet game of the month' of November 2005. The back story of the adventure game series features the really existing Tumulus of Unterzoegersdorf.

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf: Sector II

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf: Sector II was presented on December 28, 2008, at the 25th Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin. The game features special guest appearances of Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling, Jello Biafra, Jason Scott, Bre Pettis and MC Frontalot. The game was released in March 2009 in San Francisco.

Interventions (2008–)

In 2008, Monochrom staged a couple of public appearances of "His Excellency Ambassador of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf, Nikita Chrusov" in the United States. The "Ambassador" (played by Monochrom member Johannes Grenzfurthner) visited a corporate afterparty of Disney.com at the Marriott Hotel in San Diego (part of O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference). He wanted to talk to executives about "the sugar-coated bullets" the corporation is firing at "his country" and other concepts of "cultural imperialism". The "Ambassador" got expelled from the party by Disney personnel. On September 11, 2009, the "Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Intelligence Corps" released a press statement referring to a pretty detailed list of Austrian civilian and military air traffic frequencies and recordings of two embarrassing conversations on Austrian police radio.

Film

Sierra Zulu project (2011–) Monochrom announced on September 12, 2011, that they are working on a feature-length film that is set in the universe of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf. They are collaborating with the Austrian film production company Golden Girls Filmproduktion. Johannes Grenzfurthner gave a presentation at TEDxVienna about the project. On February 4, 2012, Monochrom and Golden Girls Filmproduktion premiered the 16-minute short film "Earthmoving". It is a prequel to the feature film Sierra Zulu and features actors Jeff Ricketts, Martin Auer, Lynsey Thurgar, Adrienne Ferguson and Alexander Fennon.

73rd Communique of the CPSUZOeD (2020) Johannes Grenzfurthner presented, as Nikita P. Chrusov, Soviet Unterzoegersdorf's official statement about the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. The short film was presented by Der Standard and at the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image in Frankfurt, Germany.

Side projects Monochrom created a series of video spots for Boing Boing Video, dealing with a mysterious packages full of Cheetos. The series is set in the alternative universe of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf.

References

External links

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soviet Unterzoegersdorf

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soviet Unterzoegersdorf claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Soviet Unterzoegersdorf before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Soviet Unterzoegersdorf ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf

In research: Soviet Unterzoegersdorf appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Soviet Unterzoegersdorf in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Soviet Unterzoegersdorf is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Adventure Game Studio games, Fictional European countries, Fictional city-states, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soviet Unterzoegersdorf outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Soviet Unterzoegersdorf in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soviet Unterzoegersdorf means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Soviet Unterzoegersdorf out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soviet Unterzoegersdorf in simple terms?

Why does Soviet Unterzoegersdorf matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Soviet Unterzoegersdorf?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Soviet Unterzoegersdorf.