The Wende Museum

10/15/2026

For Day one of our archivists, Anya, shared her favorite object in the archive!

Ksivnik (ксивник) was a staple of a Soviet hippie wardrobe. Ksivnik got its name from the Russian jargon for documents - “ksiva” that hitchhikers carried with them. Most hippies in the Soviet Union traveled cashless out of respect for the road (and out of lack of funds). This ksivnik with an embroidered image of John Lennon comes from the Wende’s Soviet Hippie Collection.

☮️✌️ Explore highlights from this collection and more at https://wendemuseum.org/collection/

10/10/2026

🚨🚨🚨Closing weekend alert! Two exhibitions end Sunday, October 11, at 5 p.m.

Enrique Martínez Celaya: The Sextant centers on a sugarcoated reproduction of the modernist house the artist's father built in a Cuban coastal village during the revolution.

Anton Roland Laub’s Mobile Churches in Ceausescu’s Bucharest shows the seven churches that were lifted onto rails, moved, and hidden behind housing blocks while Ceausescu demolished one third of the city’s historic center.

The Wende Museum is open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our parking lots are closed Saturday, October 10, so consider rideshare or allow extra time to find parking.

The Sextant is made possible by generous support from Alicia Miñana and Rob Lovelace.

09/30/2026

Thank you to the Daily Bruin and Alexis Coffee for covering Postcode Ukraine: Diary of a Volunteer. The story follows photographer Mark Neville, who has lived in Kyiv since 2020 and founded the aid charity Postcode Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Today is the last day to see Postcode Ukraine's exhibition at the Wende Museum's Westwood Contemporary space, 1101 Westwood Blvd., open 4 to 8 p.m.

This post was updated Sept. 29 at 9:11 p.m. Over portraits that show Ukrainian soldiers, children and families as they experience war, one photographer is looking for solidarity in Westwood.

09/28/2026

Thank you to Miranda Huang and the LA Times for covering our textile workshop series Samizdat Sundays, led by artist and poet Kate Ingold. Participants of all ages use fabric scraps, collage, and material from the Wende's collection to explore how Soviet dissidents shared banned writing in secret and what private expression means today.

Wende Museum workshops center on samizdat, in which Soviet dissidents hand-typed literature to bypass state censorship. At a time when the U.S. government is curtailing public discourse, the practice remains relevant for cultivating forms of individual resistance.

09/26/2026

What would your dream museum be? At Family Day this Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. kids can design their ideal museum in the garden at the Wende with collage, drawing tools, stickers, and colorful paper. All ages are welcome, and we provide the materials and light refreshments.

09/26/2026

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. UCLA film scholar Lilya Kaganovsky presents Boy Gets Tractor (Plus or Minus Girl) in the A-Frame Theater at the Wende. She looks at two films made in Soviet Uzbekistan in the early 1930s, Her Right and Arabi, and what they show about gender, ecology, and power. A Q&A follows, then a reception in the garden. Presented with the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies

09/25/2026

Tonight at 6 p.m. the ESMoA Video Art + Film Festival comes to the A-Frame Theater at the Wende Museum. Artists from around the world answered one theme, FREEDOM, in 60 seconds each. Watch the selected shorts in film, animation, and video art, then stay for the awards, announced live. Presented by our community partner ESMoA.

09/22/2026

We are saddened to share that Enid Wurtman, a friend of the Wende Museum, has passed away. For decades, she fought for refuseniks, the Soviet Jewish citizens who were denied permission to emigrate. Her efforts produced a large collection of advocacy materials and firsthand testimonies. We are honored to preserve her life’s work in the Yuli Kosharovsky & Enid Wurtman Digital Archive at kosharovsky.wendemuseum.org.

Photos:
1. Enid Wurtman and her husband, Stuart Wurtman, in Jerusalem, April 1978.
2. Inna Kosharovsky, Enid Wurtman, and Yuli Kosharovsky in Moscow, October 1976.
3. Enid Wurtman accepts honorary membership in the Hebrew Teachers Association from Israeli President Chaim Herzog on behalf of refusenik Hebrew teacher Yuli Kosharovsky. Also pictured: Yitzchak Navon and Avraham Harman. Jerusalem, April 14, 1986.
4. Enid Wurtman and Zee Raiz at a yeshiva in Moscow, May 1989.

09/17/2026

Mark Neville's 22-minute film Fresh screens on loop in the A-Frame Theater at the Wende Museum tomorrow, Friday, September 18, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and again Friday, September 25, from noon to 5 p.m. The film spotlights three people working on the ground to protect Ukraine speaking for themselves about their experiences.

The screening accompanies Postcode Ukraine: Diary of a Volunteer, a pop-up exhibition at the Wende Museum's Westwood Contemporary, 1101 Westwood Blvd., on view through Wednesday, September 30.