Yuri Avvakumov, who is the curator of the festival for the second year in a row, this time proposed a theme borrowed from the heritage of the great avant-garde artist Vladimir Tatlin. The whole phrase of Tatlin, which became the motto of the festival, sounds like this: “not to the new, not to the old, but to the necessary”, but briefly the slogan of “Architecture” -2010 - “Necessary”.
This word is written in large red letters on the walls of large white cubes - pavilions, inside which Avvakumov, like last year, placed most of the festival's exposition. White pavilions are built in two rows in the Manege. Those on the left say "what you need", and on the right - "Tatlin"; both words begin at the entrance and end at the end of the Manezh, and progress through the exhibition, once dense and hectic like a fair, can now be imagined as a process of intent reading of two short words. In any case, it is impossible to read them right away, the words break up into letters, one for each pavilion: St. Petersburg got the melodious "U", Moscow the hammer-shaped "T", the Krasnodar Territory with its (as always) Sochi exposition - the flamboyant "Zh". The resulting effect is akin to a table from an ophthalmologist's office: a large letter, a smaller inscription with the name of the pavilion, the names of individual stands are even smaller, but inside there are fractional texts on tablets.
The exhibition, edited by Avvakumov, also resembles a schematic three-dimensional image of a conditional city street or a similar conditional “exhibition of achievements” such as VDNKh. Moreover, some pavilions are lovingly inhabited by one owner, while others are more like houses, in the lower floors of which several shops are open, as a rule, selling something like roofing tiles. From time to time, among these shops you come across exhibitions of architectural bureaus, sometimes decorated with some sophistication. Thus, Aleksey Bavykin blocked the entrance to his “territory” with a wall with a single drawing in a classical frame depicting a “booth for gray and white dogs”. The drawing was made specifically for Zodchestvo and I would like to recognize it as the most ingenious disclosure of the “necessary” architecture set by the curator. Especially when you consider that, strictly speaking, there are not so many other answers on the topic. The curator, with its complex and thoughtful manifesto, and the exhibition, with its usual formats and established participants, live a rather parallel life and rarely intersect with each other.
One of the pleasant consequences of the new format of the pavilions, introduced by Yuri Avvakumov at Zodchestvo and definitely claiming to become the signature reception of the festival, is a new attitude to space. Firstly, the interior of the Manege, thanks to the “general cleaning” arranged by the curator, opened up and played, there was a lot of daylight in it. Secondly, especially in mono-pavilions with one theme, there were claims to the exhibition design.
Among such expositions, the best and most beautiful one is in the pavilion of St. Petersburg. It is dedicated to the city's iconic construction projects (among them Pulkovo, Mariinka, Nevskaya Town Hall, Baltic Pearl), which are divided into several typological groups - one might think that for clarity, but in fact, of course, for beauty. The center of the pavilion is occupied by a schematic map of the city, where the location of objects is indicated by color and numbers. A lot of black strings are chaotically stretched between the map and the walls - their ends on the walls indicate different smart words (there are many words, for example, "ecological culture", "regulation", and even "accessibility"). Obviously, the strings denote multiple and cross connections between concepts, reality and it’s hard to say what else. True, they are somehow arbitrarily tied to the map, but they look great as a decorative device.
The worst is the Moscow pavilion, it is full, literally crowded with panel construction and standard projects. There is even the quintessential architectural nightmare, "a typical prefabricated temple for 500 believers." However, even in the Moscow pavilion, in its very center, one can find an attempt at design: a stretched ceiling with flying creatures painted on it (apparently, these are "letatlins", an attempt to fit into the theme). There they resemble the skeletons of angels who left the city, in which even the temples are typical. However, one must think that the panel exposition in Moscow was a response to the curator's theme “necessary”.
The Russia pavilion, conceived by Yuri Avvakumov last year for the competition of Venetian curators, this time does not belong to the competition: according to the curator, the competition did not take place. The pavilion retained its sonorous name, but it shows the results of two contests "House of the XXI century" held by the RHD Foundation in 2009 and 2010 - probably as a stage of thinking about what is "necessary" for Russia. However, the Moscow pavilion answers this question in a more realistic, albeit unpleasant way.
The Urban Planning pavilion is developing the topic of the day in its own way: it finally brings together plans of large territories previously smeared around the exhibition with designations that are obscure to the uninitiated. To revive this kingdom of maps and plans, the pavilion houses a conference room for stories about projects on display and urban planning issues. There, applicants for the new, established this year, the festival's town-planning award present their projects to the jury. When I entered this pavilion, a charming woman was proving to a skeptical audience (the first row consisted exclusively of experts) the need to create a new pilgrimage route in the Suzdal area, because several temples in this area are being destroyed that are not needed by either museums or churches.
The United States pavilion is responsible for the international experience at the current Zodchestvo, a result of cooperation between CAP and AIA; for professional communication - a pavilion called "Press Center of the SA", in which performances (under the name "press hour") of the candidates for the "Crystal Daedalus" are scheduled.
There are three of them: Valery Lukomsky with the building of the Nuvi-At Ecocenter in the city of Beloyarsk in Altai, Nikita Yavein with a hotel complex in Peterhof and Alexander Dekhtyar with the WTC building in Nizhny Novgorod. The first is a mixture of somewhat dashing deconstructivism a la Libeskind with the imagery of some authentic Altai building, similar to a wooden juta. The second is a group of very modest and small buildings, almost invisible behind the trees, even in the pictures dedicated to these buildings. The third is a spectacular, well-made metal hi-tech, remarkable in all respects except that it looks somewhat rough in the historical center of Nizhny Novgorod.
The nominees for all three degrees of the Zodchestvo diplomas are exhibited, as in the previous year, at the end of the central arena promenade; it must be assumed that all these projects and constructions, as well as last year, will receive appropriate diplomas. The intrigue, as always, remains with "Daedalus" - although now this award for some reason is not displayed in the hall in a crystal showcase, as it was done before. In addition to Daedalus, two new awards are expected: for urban planners and for young architects based on the results of the competition with the complex name “Global Utopia in Global Dystopia”.
It is easy to see that the Zodchestvo festival, the transformations of which we have been observing for many years in a row, is definitely developing in some right direction, although it cannot be said that it is too fast. There are no dances, songs and dances - a lot of serious conversations. On the opening day, in particular, they discussed the future of the Museum of Architecture - Yuri Grigoryan for the first time demonstrated the project for the reconstruction of the museum; the project involves the construction of a new depository building in a neighboring courtyard on Starovagankovsky lane.
True, with the loss of folk-authentic entertainment, everything became somehow very serious, rather dry - probably due to the complete absence of architectural installations that dilute other exhibitions: there have never been installations at Zodchestvo, it is very far from contemporary art. However, the design of the exposition by Yuri Avvakumov can be considered the only art gesture of the festival.
It is customary to judge the state of architecture in the vast expanses from the Zodchestvo exhibition - this state is also rather pleasing. Although there are still very few Muscovites at the main exposition (Mosproekt-4 is the main exhibit for all of them), the quality is quite Moscow, sometimes it is even surprising how different cities offer a similar architectural product. Moreover, there is an interesting tendency - many architects demonstrate the ability to master almost any style: checkered and striped high-rise buildings, multi-colored kindergartens, plaster grandchildren of "Luzhkov style" … everything is available, and on average is of sufficient quality.
More order, light, clarity in the exposition of the exhibition. Abstruse, but Europeanly relevant in the spirit of sustainability, Avvakumov's motto, his program is to strive for what is needed, in other words, what is necessary, no frills - frankly speaking, more than wonderful. Although the curator's manifesto contains reservations - they say that everyone needs it their own, someone needs a boat, and someone needs a yacht. From the architecture shown, this is clearly readable, especially about the yacht. Not the happiest conclusion is that architecture in its best incarnations is somehow connected more with those who need yachts. For those who need boats, boats cannot be seen (the utopias of the 21st century houses do not work yet and therefore are not very interesting) - they are offered anthills. For every taste, mind you, there are many: 15, 20 and 25 floors, multi-colored and monochrome, checkered and striped, but more typical. Which is not very happy.
