The exhibition, which takes place within the framework of the Moscow Biennale of Architecture, consists of two complementary expositions: the exhibition-manifesto "Khan-Magomedov's Avangard" prepared by the "TAF Workshop" and the exposition "From a graduate of the Moscow Architectural Institute to a researcher of VKHUTEMAS" presented by the Museum of institute.
The exhibition-manifesto "Khan-Magomedov's Avangard", which occupies the main hall, is an author's - visual, plastic statement of the head of the TAF workshop, professor of the Department of Environmental Architectural Design of the Moscow Architectural Institute Alexander Ermolaev. Ermolaev defined the task of this statement as the desire of some - to return love to the avant-garde, to others - to discover its enduring plastic and artistic values.
The space of the exposition is interpreted as a model of a studio-studio, where, in a constant dispute between different directions, the phenomenon of Russian artistic avant-garde is born. The subject environment interacts with the architectural and historical context of the interior, in which at the beginning of the last century the workshops of VKHUTEMAS-VKHUTEIN were located. On the tablets, placed and hung in an apparent disorder ("a model of an ideal environment, an environment bordering between organization and freedom, an environment in which one can live, a workshop environment" - A. Ermolaev), the works of the masters of the Russian avant-garde - Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, Ivan Puni, Konstantin Melnikov, Lyubov Popova and others. Methodological developments and educational work on the identification of masses, colors, spaces and structures, created in the workshops of Nikolai Ladovsky, Vladimir Krinsky, Gustav Klutsis, Alexander Rodchenko. Project graphics - projects and layouts of cities of the future, blacksmith, elevators, water towers, interiors of workers' clubs, furniture sketches. The gallery of photo portraits of the heroes of Khan-Magomedov's books "covers" the concentrically swirling composition of the exhibition, the voices of the heroes of his books "sound" in the program statements printed on white tablets.
“Here are collected my favorite objects, projects, faces, in fact - this is my avant-garde, my love. I have been immersed in it since 1960 - that is, for more than 50 years, 40 of which Khan-Magomedov helps me to dive. So this is our avant-garde with him, - explains the concept of the exposition Alexander Ermolaev. - Following Malevich, Krinsky, Melnikov, Leonidov, I discovered the beauty of a straight line, a lattice of straight lines, intersecting planes, cutting volumes, organized spaces. The propedeutics of Ladovsky and Krinsky seemed to me to be formulated for a child, that is, for me. I saw behind her a philosophy of clarity, restraint, silence, minimalism, truth. The late restorers of the avant-garde - postmodernists, deconstructivists - added little, losing in truth."
Much of what makes up the current exposition in the VKHUTEMAS gallery was already presented 2 years ago at the exhibition "The Phenomenon of Russian Design" at the M'ARS Center for Contemporary Art - the concept was also developed by Alexander Ermolaev. But unlike that exhibition, the main emphasis is on architecture and the time that S. O. Khan-Magomedov. His portrait opens the exhibition, in a small showcase - his books dedicated to the masters of the Russian avant-garde art - only a small fraction of what has been written. S. O. Khan-Magomedov published in Russia and abroad over 450 works devoted to the history of the Russian avant-garde in architecture and design.
The MARCHI Museum supplemented the author's statement by Alexander Ermolaev with the exhibition "From a graduate of the Moscow Architectural Institute to a historian of VKHUTEMAS", which presents original documents from the museum's funds related to the life and research work of S. O. Khan-Magomedov.
Having penetrated the atmosphere of the avant-garde, the environment that was the main subject of the scientific interests of Selim Omarovich Khan-Magomedov, one can climb to the mezzanine of the VKHUTEMAS gallery and get acquainted with the documentary part of the exhibition. The exposition "From a graduate of the Architectural Institute to a historian of VKHUTEMAS" presents documents from the funds of the Moscow Architectural Institute: the graduation project "Men's secondary school for 960 people", performed by S. O. Khan-Magomedov in 1951 under the leadership of M. P. Parusnikova, G. Ya. Movchan and S. Kh. Satunts, as well as the works of students of VKHUTEMAS-VKHUTEIN and other architectural departments of Moscow educational institutions at the beginning of the last century donated to the museum.
Here is what Anna Ilyicheva, curator of the VKHUTEMAS gallery, says about the exhibition: “The heritage of the avant-garde has long been published, attributed, reconstructed and is familiar not only to specialists, but also to the widest circle of spectators and lovers of Soviet art. What you will see at the exhibition "Khan-Magomedov's Vanguard" is the author's, personal plastic statement of Alexander Ermolaev on the replicated theme of the avant-garde, his history of relationships with material and modern myths. The exhibition-manifesto smoothly turns to a conversation about the personality of the first and main researcher of avant-garde art and the VKHUTEMAS school, Selim Omarovich Khan-Magomedov. Museum MARCHI as a scientific successor of ideas and materials of S. O. Khan-Magomedov added an element of authenticity to the exhibition by presenting the student works of the architectural departments of Moscow educational institutions of the 1910-1920s donated by him. In my opinion, this is a union of the art of plastic expression and authenticity."
