In the Arctic wilderness of Spitsbergen in Norway, the mining town of Barentsburg is a Russian enclave built by the former Soviet Union to showcase socialism and pay homage to the miner.
Today, Barentsburg bears the hallmarks of the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the mine’s coal seam will soon be exhausted. But Russia wants to maintain its presence in Spitsbergen for strategic reasons. It has set out to reinvest in Barentsburg.
Survivors of a bygone era, isolated on the confines of the inhabited world, how do its residents endure these transformations ?