Matthew Kendall

Matthew Kendall is an Assistant Professor in Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. His research examines intersections of media technology, cultural production, and political ideology in Soviet and post-Soviet contexts.

Dr. Kendall's scholarship explores sound recording as a cultural practice that shaped Soviet modernity, analyzing how audio technologies mediated ideological expression. His current book project Revolutions per Minute investigates sound recording's impact on literature and cinema from 1917-1965. Additional research interests include:

• Representations of waste in Soviet/post-Soviet cinema
• 19th-century Russian realist literature
• Video game adaptations of literary classics

His publications consistently engage with media materiality, analyzing how recording formats and viewing technologies influenced artistic expression. Thematically, his work traces Soviet technological imaginaries through case studies of filmmakers (Dziga Vertov), writers (Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin), and media innovators (Aleksandr Andrievskii).