"Volunteering at Rückenwind Kept Me Going"

I was co-founder of a PR company working with top museums, theatres and festivals, I have also taught at the theatre university GITIS and given master classes in Russia, Ukraine and UK.

But I also had a secret passion… I set up a non-profit children's cycling school Red Pump in Museum Of Moscow .

The bike school Red Pump is a non-profit organization created in the spring of 2019. At our master classes, children, teenagers and their parents learn to ride a bicycle in a metropolis, get acquainted with the rules of the road, acquire the skills of independently servicing a bicycle and eliminating basic breakdowns, and also communicate with bicycle travelers, proriders and cycling enthusiasts — residents of our cycling club.

The title was inspired by the installation ‘Pump the Red Pump’ by the art group ‘Gnezdo’ (Nest). In September 1975, it was presented at the All-Russian Exhibition Centre. The slogan is written on bright red cardboard: the authors call on people to pump the Red Pump ‘in the name of peace on earth,’ ‘the happiness of your children,’ and ‘friendship and love,’ because ‘the Red Pump is a pump of relaxation, and its opposite, the Black Pump, is a pump of tension.’ Underneath the poster-painting stood both pumps, which could actually be pumped.

We wrote to one of the creators of the installation, artist Victor Skersis (who now lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania), and asked for his blessing. Viktor liked our idea and said we ‘could pump.’ Later, a young mother and artist friend of ours pointed out that the human heart is also a ‘Red Pump,’ and this image became the basis for our emblem.

We pump the red pump!

Futhermore I opened a self-repair shop - a bike kitchen and partners to open the bar/museum Record – the world smallest cycling museum.

In February 2022 this life ended, after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. I moved to Germany with my, wife Tanya, born in Mariupol, and my son Ivan and finished all my projects in Russia. For the first time since I was 16 years old, I was unemployed, a refugee and without a clear plan of action. It was hard.

Finally I setteled in Berlin, I met volunteers from Rückenwind at their DIY workshop t the Technical Museum, who helped me adjust the height of my saddle. I took a flyer and came to check it out, as I lived nearby in Neukölln.

It turned out that I have a superpower - I can speak Russian and understand Ukrainian. This was very important for Rückenwinders.

I started coming to DIY sessions on Saturdays when refugees can fix their bikes under the guidance of a key master. Chatting, learning, listening. For me, it became a crucial part of my very unstable life.

I also started helping, using my experience working with kids, to repair and helped to donate bikes from Rückenwind to children and teens in refugee camps.

I felt needed, useful. Plus I met terrific guys and girls from all over the world - they also as me chose the way to volunteer. And how I loved bicycles!

Now, three years later, I am starting to teach again, mentoring and producing theatre projects. I am starting to dream again. But every time I am happy to think about how I will get back into the Rückenwind bike workshop.