- How many projects will you show at Zodchestvo and which ones?
- First, I’ll tell you about the original idea of the exposition and what was realized from this. I work at two festival sites, but all my projects are united by a common manifesto called "Inversion" and are consonant with the theme of the festival - "Space later". Initially, it was supposed to master a large territory of the creative space B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT, located on Savvinskaya embankment, in the premises of the former Moscow Silk factory. We have conceived there a not quite usual for the festival, but a very interesting exposition, but due to tight deadlines we will show only a part of it.
One of these projects will be shown on the territory of the former Moscow Silk factory on Savvinskaya embankment. Currently B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT is developing its own innovative creative space in this area. There will be exhibitions, expositions, master classes and all kinds of educational and cultural programs. The project in question is a personal exhibition of the photographer Sergei Shestakov, dedicated to his trip to Chernobyl, twenty-five years after the tragedy. Just at the moment when Sergei went on a trip to Chernobyl, another terrible disaster occurred in Japan, at Fukushima-1. What Sergei tells through his camera makes you shudder. He himself speaks of this project as a reminder to future generations that we should all think about the future of our planet, conserve its resources, and be responsible for what we do today.
“Everything will be fine, even if it is different,” reads the inscription made with a ballpoint pen on one of Sergei's works, which became his own manifesto of the exhibition. This is "Stop number 2", Gudym, where Sergei went after Chernobyl. There is no such settlement on the map, this is a common noun, invented. We, the inhabitants of the Soviet Union, know this place as the Anadyr-1 missile base. Both of these projects have already been part of the "A Trip to the Future" exhibition, which the Moscow House of Photography has shown both at its site and in Europe. Our idea with Sergei to repeat this exhibition, but already as a personal one, within the framework of the Zodchestvo festival, was supported by the director of the Moscow Multimedia Art Museum Olga Sviblova, who provided unique photographs from the museum's storage.
"There should not be empty cities and towns, the nature around us should not be destroyed, people should not engage in self-destruction!" - this is what Sergei encourages us to think about with his works. And what we will see in his photographs is an inversion. Inversion of space and time. The inversion of life, which from full-fledged, rich and meaningful, turned into survival at any cost …
In addition, from October 12 to December 19 on the territory of B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT will host another exhibition of French artists - "XYZT, Abstract Landscapes". The exhibition is held within the framework of the TERRITORIJA festival and continues the theme of the relationship between the reality of the human body and the ephemeral art of multimedia. She also deserves attention. Artists from France, working with light effects, create a new, different reality. And this is also a kind of inversion.
If we talk about the main site of the festival, Trekhgornaya Manufactory, then here I will show more than one project. Among my projects is the exposition of the Avangard + Prize, which became a continuation or successor to the previously existing Avangard Prize, the last of which I
showed in Milan in 2013, and then, together with Bart Goldhorn, held it during Arch of Moscow. Today, the Avangard + award, which has gathered around the entire color of the architectural community, is primarily focused on a dialogue between investors and architects, and should become, in the end, a response to a developer's request. For this, together with "Arch Moscow", we have written a whole program called "Workshops Arch Moscow".
The festival will show the results of the first competition "KROST in Avangard", held as part of the program commissioned by KROST (see his page on facebook). This is a competition for the development of a unique fiber-reinforced concrete module that can be transformed into small architectural forms. During the Zodchestvo festival, we will have to choose the winners of this competition and hold an awarding ceremony. Running a little ahead, I will say that I intend to announce the next competition of the program in the same place.
I will also show the first film in the Memory series. I plan to dedicate it to talented and gifted, but, unfortunately, architects who have left us. These will be films - memories, films - memory. About architects, professionals, teachers, testers, innovators, people who lived and worked with us next to us, who were not too early. I dedicated the first episode to Katya Movchan.
Another of the expositions presented within the framework of the festival - a special project under the auspices of the manifesto "Inversion", will be devoted to my recent past, the territory of VDNKh, the chief architect of which I worked in 2015-2016. This is an ironic and somewhat unexpected project, which will be implemented jointly by the Department of Design of the Architectural Environment of the Moscow Architectural Institute, students of Tatiana Shulika and the TAF workshop of Alexander Ermolaev. We named this project "Premonition", it will also be shown on Savvinskaya Embankment, on the territory of B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT.
What is the essence of Project Premonition? Did I understand correctly that you will show student works, somehow related with a rethinking of the VDNKh space? Will this be similar to the fantasies now exhibited in the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale?
- Of course not. We have no connection with the exposition exhibited at the Biennale. Moreover, our sense of this territory does not affect such problems as the preservation of heritage - there is already too much controversy about this, or a new concept for the development of the VDNKh territory, which neither the VDNKh administration nor the city is in a hurry to make public. We speak a completely different, sensual and fantasy language, trying to turn our philosophical, and in some ways even childish, sensations into architectural fantasy, it is no coincidence that the Theater of Architectural Form under the leadership of Alexander Ermolaev appeared on this project. But I do not want to run ahead and reveal the whole intrigue of the exposition, programming our viewer in advance for some specific experience or perception. Everyone who sees it should hear their music, get their emotions and feelings, their experiences. I intend to collect them.
In the manifesto "Inversion" you talk about a sculptural composition capable of "changing …, breaking the usual space." Are you talking about a specific composition that will participate in the exhibition?
- This phrase is taken out of context. In the manifesto, I reveal the theme of inversion through artistic expression, and I regard sculpture, among other things, as a tool. Initially, the exposition was supposed to consist of works by several renowned sculptors, including Sergio Selari and Valeriy Kazas … But the work of high-flying artists requires significant investments, in contrast to the work of students of Moscow Architectural Institute, for example (laughs). In the conditions of the economic crisis, it is especially difficult to organize serious exhibitions. But this does not mean that one should give up. For example, I am sure that everything planned will be implemented. Let not within the framework of the Zodchestvo festival, even later. B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT has very ambitious plans for cultural projects. And I think that gradually I will be able to implement all the projects conceived for this site.
How many people participated in the KROST in the Vanguard competition? Among the competition projects that you have published in facebook - mostly urban furniture, apparently intended for the sites of this company. How many winners are planned to be selected - in other words, how diverse, or, conversely, will the environment eventually become typical?
- Initially, about a hundred applications came to the organizing committee of the competition, and we reviewed all the portfolios sent. Of these, about thirty were selected to participate in the competition. Of this number, ten are submitted for the competition and are subject to consideration by the jury. Of these, the jury must choose the three best works, the most interesting of which was decided to be implemented on the production base of the KROST concern.
The competition was not about urban furniture. According to the assignment, the participants had to come up with a universal module, from which to offer all kinds of small architectural forms for the improvement of KROST's residential quarters. This is the difficulty - to come up with a module that allows a variety of solutions. A kind of constructor game, if you will. I think that in the end KROST will be able to implement all the projects he likes, not only the first prize, and this will allow him to make the environment of his neighborhoods individual and recognizable.
About the project B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT. When did it start, who is in charge of it, where has the factory moved to and how long ago?
- The Bereg District company was founded in November 2015. Today, the main object of the company's renovation is the Moscow Silk factory, founded in the early 19th century on the banks of the Savvinskaya embankment, on the territory of which the multifunctional complex B. E. R. E. G. is being created. DISTRICT. The space is being built as a separate, independently functioning cluster, and is not a real estate project. The factory in its original form has not existed for a long time; the business quarter "Moscow Silk" is now functioning on its territory.
What are you doing in this project - are you its chief architect?
- No, the chief architect of the B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT - Elena Orelskaya. As for me, I am in charge of the architectural department, whose tasks are the planning and implementation of exhibitions. This is a separate type of design that requires special experience, I have it.
What has already been done now? Will the factory buildings be demolished, something new will be built? If so, who is the designer?
- The project does not provide for any global reconstruction works, especially with regard to the demolition of buildings, this is not included in the plans of the owners of the territory. At least for now. There are ideas for internal reorganization of premises, development of internal infrastructure, creation of a comfortable urban area that meets the needs of citizens, starting from the needs of students, since the complex is located in a dense ring of higher educational institutions, such as the Second Medical and All-Russian Pedagogical Universities, and ending with the business elite with her needs.
I saw information about the project B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT, it talks about optimizing life in a metropolis. What is it, how is it expressed specifically?
- In this case, we are talking about the fact that all the services necessary for a person should be concentrated on one territory in order to optimize urban life in order to save time, the most important resource of our time. B. E. R. E. G. DISTRICT includes blocks of various topics and directions and allows you to fully satisfy the interests of modern residents of the metropolis: gastronomy, education, entertainment, sports, healthy lifestyles, multimedia, innovation … This is a kind of “city within a city”.
