This year the architect Sergei Tchoban is a frequent visitor to Milan. As the head of the team of the Russian pavilion at the world exhibition EXPO-2015, he has repeatedly made presentations of this project in Milan, and the idea of the exposition came from the curators of the SpazioFMG gallery in order to reveal other aspects of the architect's work. Sergei Tchoban proposed to make an exhibition of his drawings - reflections on the contrasting interaction of historical and modern architecture, which is so interestingly traced just on the example of the urban development of Milan. Curators - Luca Molinari, Alessandro Benetti and Valeria Kashirin selected 60 drawings by the architect, both made from nature and sketches of future buildings and architectural fantasies, and named the exhibition - "Realtà e Fantasia".
The exposition is divided into two main sections: the first is devoted to the architecture of Italy, which for many years has been the most important source of inspiration for the architect, the second presents his own searches and experiments. Take, for example, the series "Layers of the City", "Two Worlds" or "Bridges of the Future", in which the architecture of modern times is shown in the form of transparent broken galleries and "pipes" filling the space between and above historical monuments. And although this is far from the only form of existence of modern architecture, the contrast that arises between it and the historical buildings is, according to Tchoban, its integral and most important quality. “Now, when expressive sculptural buildings can appear on the conventional old European square, the feeling of“contrasting harmony”accompanies us constantly,” explains the architect. - Much of what was previously unimaginable is now recognized as having the right to exist. And personally, I am not inclined to immediately criticize any new architectural forms that clearly contrast with the prevailing historical environment - much more I want to figure out what impulses led to their emergence, why architectural layers are constantly superimposed on each other and what this process has there are patterns."
The SpazioFMG gallery is ideal for this kind of research. Light, spacious, with panoramic glazing and laconic columns that do not interfere with the perception of the exposition from the street. As Sergei Tchoban says, the decision of the exposition was largely prompted by this space itself - it looks so much like a blank sheet, which one just wants to fill with drawings, sketches, and handwriting. Moreover, the key word here is precisely "fill" - the principle of "Petersburg hanging" chosen by the curators, when the works are placed practically without gaps between each other, made it possible to place those same sixty drawings on two walls. Whereas the windows are covered with a translucent film, on which one of the early sketches of the Museum of Architectural Drawing has been applied. This drawing, depicting, on the one hand, chimeras bursting from the facade of a Gothic cathedral, and on the other, an absolutely modern building with dynamic consoles deployed in different directions, was chosen by the curators as the poster for the entire exhibition. Moreover, spaced across two windows, it actually turned into a dramatic diptych dedicated to the same contrasting union of the old and the new.
The square columns are also elegantly beaten. Curators from all four sides surrounded them with glass racks with pockets for postcards with drawings by Sergei Tchoban and views of buildings (primarily the Russian pavilion at the EXPO). To diversify the too strict geometry of the space, these elements were given the shape of checkmarks, the upper part of which was made mirrored. As Sergei Tchoban himself admits, the mirrors appeared simply to diversify the laconic space of the gallery. But the result in its meaning turned out to be much deeper: stopping at the postcards, visitors see both the architect's buildings and reflections of the sketches, that is, the very prototypes from which work on each of these buildings began. The appearance of mirrors in the exhibition can also be considered a tribute to one of Tchoban's favorite techniques as an architect, who uses reflective surfaces in objects of various scales and purposes. In other words, the sections “reality” and “fantasy”, although formally and separated along different walls, in the gallery space - as well as in the work of Sergei Tchoban himself - are inextricably and organically linked. The Realtà e Fantasia exhibition runs until September 11th.
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