April 12, 1992 – The Second Gagarin

Oleg Tsodikov:
«The second "Gagarin party," on April 12, 1992, we did in earnest already, together with Haas. He was the true soul of this project, its ideologist and main driving force. In general, back then a great deal in the business of throwing parties rested on the artists. It was their way of self-realization, an attempt to grasp beauty with the help of new technologies.
The spirit of "Gagarin party" was heroic in the highest degree. You only have to look at its promotional posters today to feel all of it. They depicted not some pole strippers, but pilots soaring upward. It was this eternal striving upward, an unquenchable thirst for flight.
In all, about ten people made the second "Gagarin." Each of them had a wide circle of acquaintances. Plus – fairly long preparation and constant talk about it. We really lived by it, and did the seemingly dirtiest work ourselves. After finishing our main jobs, we drew flyers, hand-colored some posters with markers. Then we piled into cars, drove around the city and pasted all of it onto walls and fences ourselves. In the end my partner in the "daytime business," seeing all this, told me: "Make up your mind who you want to be – a businessman or an artist." At the time I was a bit taken aback by that phrase. Organizing parties wasn't a burden for me, it wasn't perceived as work. The process itself brought a separate joy, was part of the game. Production was life itself.
Apparently, this enthusiasm of so many people created the necessary information field. In the end, people were simply curious to see what had been talked and written about so much.
About three thousand people came to the first "Gagarin," and about four thousand to the second. Admission was paid, and cost 15 dollars. Almost everyone paid. Back then the question wasn't even put that way; only a very limited circle of people got into the party for free, our truly very good acquaintances. Later, I can say honestly, all the people who had once been at "Gagarin" started going to clubs for free. It was the first generation of clubbers. Not all of them, of course, came to live that life. At the first parties a mix formed of businessmen, their girlfriends, foreigners, journalists, bohemians. These were insanely beautiful people.
However, for all these financial volumes, at "Gagarin" we miraculously broke even. None of us was a professional back then, none of us really knew how it's done. I was probably the only one who understood how to balance debit with credit. Thank God, we had a Swiss friend who worked at "Sadko Arcade" back then. He really liked all these parties, and decided to help us, out of friendship. That was probably the project's only profit. Anyway, we blew that money merrily, and only some part of it went toward buying a laser for the club "Tunnel."
At the second "Gagarin," some Englishmen played, very amusing. It seems they prepared to go to Moscow back then the way I'd now prepare for a voyage to Antarctica. They were paid symbolic fees, but we spent all our time with them – showed them the city, fed them, gave them drinks, walked around.
The party itself was fantastic. There was a wall of red heating radiators laid out across the entire stage. There were unique satellites, of incredible beauty. I've never seen a better set design. There was a vaulted round ceiling that completely transformed thanks to lasers and light. On the walls hung paintings by Timur Novikov, which now probably cost tens of thousands of dollars.
From all this activity I got non-stop pleasure. And when it turned out that you could even make a living from it, I decided to do only this».