Young, as they say about themselves, "class up to 35 years old" - the architects of St. Petersburg recently announced a new movement of maximalism, organized an exhibition (on the A.city forum "Values of sustainable development") and wrote an article about it under a pseudonym Liza Maksimova. Participants of the movement are Futura-Architects Bureau, Simmetria Architectural Bureau, Yusupov Architectural Workshop, Studio DA, TSANarchitects, Gray wood, RHIZOME group [removed at the request of the bureau, stated that they have nothing to do with the movement], RED studio. The name is formulated as a challenge to minimalism, and the adherents of the “maximum style” have everything as much as possible: stability, plasticity, functionality and even “adaptability to the opinion of residents”. The poster adorns the ironic 'less is a bore' of the father of postmodernism Robert Venturi (“climb the fence!” - our maximalists immediately laugh), although the precursors - “the style of maximalism has already arisen” - the authors of the manifesto call neo-modernists Calatrava, Hadid, and also Herzog and de Meuron.
Looking from the outside, one could say that the degree of irony rolls over rather towards post- rather than neo-modernism. Meanwhile, many times taught that manifestos are serious, we publish extracts from the manifesto, and no less manifesto text of the article [we emphasize once again that the article and manifesto were written by the exhibitors and are published in their original form]. So, the floor is given to the maximalist architects.
*** Fragment of the manifesto - description of the exhibition:
“We have all known for a long time what minimalism is. In architecture, this is primarily a minimum of color - as a rule, one white. This is a minimum of details - as a rule, their absence. This is a minimum of a variety of shapes - as a rule, a square or a rectangle.
And according to the law of the genre, one paradigm is replaced by another. After the socially oriented architecture of constructivism, the Empire style came. Today, after the minimalism style, focused on those who belong to a narrow circle of adherents, a new style appears - maximalism, focused on a wide range of the public.
Maximalism means maximum plasticity and color, maximum possibilities and comfort, maximum variety of forms and functions.
It is worth paying attention to the latest buildings of such famous architects as Calatrava, Zaha Hadid or Herzog and de Meuron. And you will see that the style of maximalism has already begun. In this architecture, more color, details, ornaments and a variety of materials appear.
Ascetic and simple forms are being replaced by more complex ones. Design and construction technologies are being improved every year in order to make the imagination of architects a reality. ***
Exhibition "MAXIMALISM" and the conspiracy of architects
“Architecture is second nature. Rather, technique is second nature, as Martin Heidegger wittily wrote. But architecture is part of technology. Indeed, it is like an integral natural environment, it is everywhere: try to hide from it! Is that - to fly into space.
With all this, ordinary residents give little thought to “some kind of houses” as an aesthetic category. And this is, in fact, a very common story. Here you are walking down the street, there are clouds in the sky, buildings on both sides. Well, a cloud of one form flew by in the sky, well, another. Here is one house, here is another, here is one hundred and fifteenth. Here in the park there is a high Christmas tree, and here it is low. And this tree has all the crooked branches … So what?:) But if I found a white mushroom under the tree, it's already interesting. And if it is an oak planted by Peter I, or an oak under which there was Stalin's secret bunker, this is even more interesting. This is almost a landmark, you can install it.
But the considerations of everyday comfort of ordinary people, in fact, are even very worried. Kazimir Malevich, in his article "Architecture as a Measure of Man's Liberation from Weight", once called it "stomach issues."Architecture is so that it is warm, cozy, to have a tasty meal, watch a movie in a comfortable chair, play bowling. We rise above the belly - we get "architecture for architects and critics" and "art for art and art critics." Is it possible to make architecture finally noticed by someone other than critics, art historians, architects and developers ?!
The creators of the MAXIMALISM exhibition were seriously concerned with this issue, which practically leaked in a pirate manner this week to Pavilion 4 of the Lenexpo complex in St. Petersburg, breaking the subtle harmony of the usual stands with tiles, roofing materials and liquid wallpaper. And they say the exhibition made a lot of noise! In conservative circles, there was already a rumor about a cunning and insidious conspiracy of architects. Allegedly, they decided to show everyone an interesting (sic!) And new (sic! Sic!) Maximalist architecture. In short, renegades!
And this exhibition (remember!) Was made by some FUTURA-ARCHITECTS and SIMMETRIA Architectural Bureau, as well as conspirators who joined them: Yusupov Architectural Workshop, Studio DA, TSANarchitects, Gray wood, RHIZOME group, RED studio. And some of the “troublemakers” do not even boldly hide their real names: Zhenya Novosadyuk, Anatoly Kotov and Nikita Timonin.
Not only did the attackers hang all the walls of the conference hall of the DesignDecor exhibition and the A.city forum with their tablets, they also dragged a large installation made of pipes to the second floor of the pavilion. And they installed this purple "krakozyaka" already in the press-zone of the forum!
By the way, the title tablet of the exhibition bears the apocryphal motto “less is bore!”, Whose author no one really remembers (it seems that in the 1970s he inflated some rubber columns and hung the rooms with plastic chandeliers of acid shades). In the updated and revised translation into modern Russian, this motto literally sounds like "climb the fence!" This, by the way, is quite traditional for Russian culture, the curse of laughter (see Velimir Khlebnikov's poem "The Curse of Laughter") calls for immediate and very decisive action! It is time to make architecture again as interesting as possible: to go beyond the "questions of the stomach", dull offices, "inter-party" exhibitions and corporate sites; and - blossomed into a lush flower on the soil, generously fertilized with money (stable Cypriot and Gibraltar) ambitious investors!
MAXIMALISM is not a style or a direction. This is architecture that will be MOST interesting to EVERYONE! This architecture is polyphonic and multi-tone (like all dialects of Chinese combined). And, of course, this architecture is truly, uncompromisingly modern!
In short, if someone accidentally missed the MAXIMALISM exhibition, we do not envy you. But, our insiders report that it will be shown at least once again.
Where? Are you in a hurry already?
So we told you!:)
Now - wait and see for yourself:) Liza Maksimova ***
