Indeed, the whole show has an air of disconnect: Kabakov’s ironic faux Socialist Realism is lost on a new generation ill equipped to engage with his work. Most seem unaware even of the basic concept behind Alternative History: Anecdotal evidence suggests that few viewers understand that the artists are not real. There is a market here for Soviet nostalgia, and Kabakov’s works could possibly enter it, but those who capitalize on that feeling — TV producers, Kremlin pundits — tend to present a clean-cut version of the USSR, one that differs dramatically from the artist’s ironic take. In a country where adolescents don’t know who Lenin was, and don’t really care, Kabakov’s works simply appear cryptic.

But one wonders if the artist finds it such a bad thing to get VIP treatment but still remain controversial and outside the mainstream.