WAM Journal Issue No. 28/29 was published in 2007. The issue contained 416 pages. This issue was dedicated to Russian actionism from 1990–2000 and presented a fundamental study of the most radical performances, actions, and happenings that shaped «live» contemporary art in Russia after the collapse of the USSR. The renowned Russian art critic Andrei Kovalev served as the editor of the publication.
Performance—the highest form of contemporary art, driven to absolute and crystalline purity. The semantic distinction between performance, happenings, and actions has lost its fundamental significance in modern times, and all these phenomena have been consolidated under the umbrella term «performance, ” becoming a kind of weak synonym. One can state this precisely: performance is the ultimate form of exploring and testing the boundaries of art.
The introductory article by the author-compiler concluded with the following thesis: «…the questions posed by Russian actionists with extreme maximalism regarding the essence of art, the artist’s place, and identity received only one answer—a negative one. In that, in fact, lies the entire historical value of the nineties actionists' work. They did everything they could to get answers to insoluble questions.»
The publication was organized chronologically: sections dedicated to each year—from 1990 to 2000—featured photographic evidence of the most renowned performances by various artists and art collectives.
Among those whose works and performances are featured in this issue are Gor Chakhal, the «zAiBi» movement, Sabine Hensgen, Andrei Monastyrsky, Yuri Albert, the «Medhermenevtika» group, Alexander Petlyura, the «BOLI» group, Sergey Bugayev (Africa), Olga Tobreluts, the E.T.I. movement, Vladislav Mamyshev-Monro, Ilya Kabakov, Dmitry Prigov, Vladimir Tarasov, the «Cloud Commission» group, Dmitry Gutov, Andrei Bartenev, Vladimir Dubosarsky, Vadim Zakharov, Leonid Tishkov, German Vinogradov, Elena Kovilina, Liza Morozova, and many others.
Documentation of events is accompanied by a detailed description (including date, time, and location, participant list, and names of the photographers), as well as press quotes, and excerpts from invitation tickets, flyers, and other materials.
In his afterword, Andrey Kovalyov remarked: «Performance is such an ephemeral and fleeting genre that there were moments when I felt panic because of the impossibility of executing what I had envisioned. Many facts—even those I witnessed firsthand—faded from my memory; the visual material seemed to dissolve into the depths of merciless time. <…> Some fragments of the story I had to reconstruct literally from individual pieces, like an archaeologist gathering a shattered vase.»