The Cure for Capitalism · Vsevolod Lisovsky

The work

The Cure for Capitalism treats capitalism as a mental disorder: a condition in which people compulsively assign value and price to objects, relationships and actions.

The project searches for a therapeutic agent in the biography of Leo Tolstoy, who late in life attempted to abandon property, family privilege and the social order around him. Based on the chemical composition of Tolstoy's diet, the work proposes a hypothetical active substance — L-tolstin — and administers it in homeopathic doses through sweets available to visitors.

Participants can take the remedy and observe whether their attachment to ownership, exchange and monetary value begins to weaken. If nothing happens, the diagnosis remains open: perhaps the dose is insufficient, perhaps contemporary metabolism has changed, or perhaps capitalism has developed resistance to treatment.

The installation operates as a speculative clinic for a disease whose symptoms have become indistinguishable from normal life.

The festival

Emigration to the Future was an interdisciplinary festival that took place in Berlin-Wedding, 7–9 August 2026, bringing together artists, performers and researchers from seven countries working across performance, installation, video, sound and public intervention. Curated by Vsevolod Lisovsky and Anton Polski (MAKE / Citizen Make), across venues including exBrache, Chto Delat and public space around Wedding.

emigrationtothefuture.org · Telegram: @emigrationtothefuture

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