In just a couple of years, the architecture of Soviet modernism has rapidly acquired all the features of an intellectual fashion: from international scientific conferences to glossy albums and publications in youth magazines - and, it would seem, quite recently, "Soviet Modernism: 1955-1985" by Felix Novikov and Vladimir Belogolovsky was one of the first and rare books on this topic. So many Petersburgers looked forward to the exhibition and lecture cycle "City of the Sun" in the Peter and Paul Fortress with interest. Now we can say that expectations, unfortunately, are not being met.
The author and organizer of the exhibition, Vladimir Ivanov, presented on the website of the project "City of the Sun: Architecture of Communism" as a "guide-translator, philologist-biblical scholar", has not yet been known as a historian or researcher of Soviet architecture, but together with other project participants he is an activist of the social and political movement "The Essence of Time". Along with Ivanov, the author of the idea of the exhibition is named Frederic Schaubin, the author of the album "USSR: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed". However, the network could not find any other mentions that a French photographer and traveler, a well-known popularizer of the architecture of Soviet modernism, took part in the preparation of this exhibition: it is quite possible that he was only co-authored. The photographs at the exhibition represent, in general, the same set of objects as in the book by Schobin: the Research Institute of Robotics in Leningrad, the yacht club in Tallinn, the Ministry of Transport in Tbilisi …
The porch of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the exhibition is located, is not the most advantageous space: the viewer passes through an underground passage, and already in the corridor, the helplessness of the exhibition solution is striking. Compared to the photos of different formats posted here, stands and tablets at the recently held Biennale
"Architecture of St. Petersburg", which many reproach for its conservative presentation, seems to be the height of expositional skill and intelligibility. There is a feeling that the organizers of the exhibition did not allow the material to express itself - apparently, this was not their task, and they pursued other goals. One can regret this, because the architecture itself, in spite of everything, retains its expressiveness, its power is still felt, which gives great opportunities for an effective disclosure of the topic even by the simplest means.
The decoratively hung photographs are practically not accompanied by explanations, although in the four decades that have passed since the construction of these buildings, even the obvious realities of the time often require comments. Instead, the organizers of the exhibition preferred to replace the painstaking explanation and consistent enlightenment of the viewer with myth-making and propaganda. It is well understood by everyone that the topic of the relationship between architecture and power throughout the twentieth century remains one of the most difficult, and this problem has not been fully resolved. The authors of the exhibition from the "The Essence of Time" movement have already found their answer, which is entirely in the field of ideology, not the history of architecture. The really existing Soviet system is inconvenient, if you prefer the imaginary "Soviet communism", then the answer to the main question - "thanks" or "in spite of" this architecture arose - is formulated simply, through a series of loud but empty ideological statements. However, on the project site you can find a minimal structure that makes the material more understandable: there objects are divided by authors, typology and dates. In the exposition, the entire structure is reduced to three pieces of matter, two red and black, hung in the form of a frieze from the ceiling. Most of all, this "exposure technique" resembles a valance, which is used to decorate the curtain rod in the apartment. As it turns out, the red pieces should denote the still existing buildings for the viewer, and the black ones - the already lost buildings.
It seems that the participants in the project of the political scientist Kurginyan, thrown in the winter of last year to fight the opposition, are trying to find a new sphere of application. The exhibition and the announced lecture program, the attendance of which is made free of charge, may turn into a series of campaign events for an odious political movement.
The architecture of Soviet modernism has not yet been properly demonstrated and studied, but is already being used as a political tool. Well, this is one of the forms of heritage struggle.
