The exhibition was organized by Project Russia magazine, the oldest and probably the most famous of the post-Soviet professional publications on contemporary architecture, and is timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the publication. The works from the exhibition were taken into the collection of the Museum of Architecture, continuing the tradition begun by the series of exhibitions “Project Building No.”, when the exhibited building was then sent to storage, replenishing the museum with modern things.
The anniversary of the magazine and the exhibition were last autumn, in October 2005, and now, a year later, a beautiful catalog with large pictures, non-standard square format and, as always, in a stylish "project" design has been published.
At the presentation, it was said that the idea of celebrating the tenth anniversary of Project Russia with an exhibition reflecting the mood of the “paper” contests was proposed by architects. The list of workshops that supported the idea is quite large - there are sixteen workshops in the catalog, the degree of their connection with the “paper architecture” of the eighties is different, so one cannot say that the “former wallets” have united to revive the movement or just to remember it. The participants are united by another common feature - this is “… architects who risked leaving the ships of MOSPROEKTS and other architectural monsters 10-15 years ago to start their own business”, we read in the introduction to the catalog, and not taken separately, but together with all the young studio staff.
We collected 120 works, which turned out to be a nice, curious catalog to look at, beautiful and very nostalgic, imbued with a fantastic feeling of a “second attempt” - we recall concept competitions, recall the youth of today's masters, recall studying at the Moscow Architectural Institute. This feeling is caught very subtly, looking at the catalog, it is easy for them to penetrate and plunge into the spiritual atmosphere of reflections - is a second attempt possible, what is it in general, what does it give to the performer?
The second attempt is, in fact, the basis and plot of the project. Students of the Architectural Institute in their third year receive an assignment (the first independent) - to design a club for 300 people. Curator Elena Gonzalez suggested solving this problem, familiar from her student days, as an encore, adding to the similarity with the educational process by the fact that the sheet size is limited - 60x80.
The difference from a training project is freedom. The absence of the inevitable practicality of a full-fledged, even educational, building project. Therefore, the attempt is not such a second one, but rather it is a reflection on a topic, a reflection of experience, either a student's, or the experience of 20th century architecture, in which clubs occupy a prominent place, or an understanding of everyday communication and communication as a concept. Someone like. Hence the variety.
Projects in the catalog can be roughly divided into two types. Some answer the question “whose club is it?” - gentlemen (Timur Shabaev, Meganom), deaf-blind people (“A-B”), demonstrators (Katya Lyubavskaya, workshop “Architects Ass”), lovers of holes or birch sap (“Vitruvius and Sons”). A tribute to the post-perestroika bitterness from the loss of the high - the tenants' club: "… the one from the first attempt is not needed today." These projects are more literary, they bring and develop the plot and make the viewing fun.
Other projects are considering the specific architectural form of the club. Here it should not have been possible without the recollection of Melnikov - these sheets gravitate towards clear, harsh, energetic red and black forms. Fashionable bionic and "speaking" forms are undoubtedly relevant - such as the club-"tuber" (potato) by Alexei Bavykin, combining witty literature (potato warehouse, museum of great potatoes and a large fork) with architecture,at the same time, contrary to all tendencies "… made without a computer, drawing board, flight tire" and even without a compass …
Yuri Grigoryan burnt his club (the project is a one-step action, the instrument is paper and fire), focusing on “gaining new experience and emotions” … There are attempts to count the club members (Valery Kanyashin, Ostozhenka) or rewrite their names (Architects icing).
According to Elena Gonzalez, the project can be continued in the form of the next "second attempt" - an exhibition with the same conditions and the task "garage", no less significant for the architecture of the 20th century.
