Archi.ru:
How did it all start?
Vladimir Plotkin:
- Everything turned out quite unexpectedly. In the early summer of 2016, in late May - early June, a call rang, and they suggested such a topic. At first I doubted. Then, a few days later, I met with Zelfira Ismailovna Tregulova, she told me that they recommended me and that they were familiar with my work.
Who recommended you?
- Sergei Choban, and there were other recommendations. I was recommended as an architect imbued with the ideas of modernism, as it were, close to the trend of the thaw era. At first I didn't want to do this, I have never done exhibition design other than designing my own exhibitions. I immediately said that I did not have the slightest experience. But …, in general, I was persuaded. The topic seemed interesting to me.
Then there was a pause, 3-4 months. However, even then I began to look closely at examples of exhibition design; I didn’t attach much importance to this topic before, perhaps subconsciously. Previously, at exhibitions, I primarily paid attention to the content, now I began to pay attention to how everything works.
In the end, you were inspired by something, did you find any positive examples?
- No, I was not inspired by anything. I just watched, visiting various museums, including modern ones. I was in New York, in Kalmar, I watched how everything is done. I have been to many museums.
In late September - early October there was another meeting with Tregulova, I was introduced to the curators of this exhibition, Kirill Svetlyakov and two girls: one Anastasia, the other Julia. We discussed their concept, aimed at covering different aspects of the topic: cultural, artistic, social - different aspects of life that make up our idea of this era. Each of them is important and represented by fine art, architecture, household items, design, science, cinema, photography, events, etc.
Regarding spatial ideas, I was only told that there will be 7-8 sections, and that the section "Into Communism" will be located on the mezzanine, which suggests itself: the wide ramp that leads up there quite well embodies the way forward and higher. To work on the exhibition, I invited a colleague - Elena Kuznetsova. I thought that now there will be hard work on the analysis of content, work with the situation, with the material, setting a problem for yourself, generating an idea, then the technical part … - an accurate, understandable algorithm, an architectural approach that is applicable to any creative or scientific activity. I thought that since the process of working with an exhibition is completely unfamiliar to me, the work will take a long time. But it turned out that just a few sketches were made. It instantly became clear what needs to be done to ensure that all the topics at the exhibition are perceived simultaneously.
We proposed the idea of, relatively speaking, line / chess, transparent buildings - for example, as in Cheryomushki. You find yourself in a space where you can see almost everything from any point. I covered it entirely, felt it, then you see the sections, you can approach anyone, no matter in what order, and look. There is no consistent acquaintance, the visitor is not forced to follow a specific route. In addition, almost all the stands are the same and are staggered - a diagonal movement is obtained, as if moves from the center. There is both a free layout and a radial-ring effect - they diverge in rays.
I have the very first sketch, I drew it instantly. Here is the central hall (draws). Being here, we read almost everything, we see absolutely all surfaces, all planes, almost everything. There is only one closed element, a closed part of the exposition - a prelude, a prologue, this is a conversation with my father - about the experience. This is part of the curated concept. Dad tells his son about the war, about the camp, about everything that preceded it. Then you leave the black box and suddenly - ah! … Light and completely permeable, free space.
Then the idea was expressed that in the center there should be a section "The best city". But it seemed to me that this is wrong, because since we believe that all sections are of equal value, then the center should be a free open space, which will also somehow represent part of the culture of that time: the same performances of poets at the Polytechnic, on Mayakovsky Square etc. I said something about Mayakovsky Square, it was not in the initial concept - and so a lightened white circle appeared, a conditional city square, and the curators gladly erected a bust of Mayakovsky sculptor Kibalnikov there.
The third topic is the actual stands. The idea is simple: a thaw, a return after the Stalinist totalitarian design to the beginning of our avant-garde, our modernism - it quickly became clear that two-part compositions, similar to Lissitzky's prouns, were needed. It turns out curious: buildings are read from above, and they are made up of more or less identical elements.
As for black and white - at first there was white plus some oblique shading, hinting at the "July rain". Then we decided it was too much.
Did the curators immediately accept your idea?
- Yes, almost without a doubt. They said that the idea should be read as easily as possible, be understood by everyone. Of course, an unprepared person, not an architect, and maybe even an architect, when he walks among these stands, may not immediately realize that he is walking, as it were, in a microdistrict, but going upstairs, you can definitely feel it. But we did not strive for literalism. We wanted to create an inner feeling and I think it did. But I would not want a literal reading. I even regretted talking about this idea at the press conference.
May I ask about your attitude to the thaw in general?
- My conscious childhood fell on this period. My whole school is the 60s, a little bit of the 70s. Yes, I remember that, I saw all these films, I know these pictures, I somehow felt the mood, there were parties in my family, they danced the twist, rock and roll, that was all. I did not understand then that this was a "breath of fresh air", but I knew that somewhere, once upon a time, quite in ancient times, almost Homeric, there was Stalin, the Great Patriotic War, there was some kind of horror. And here we are moving towards communism, into a bright future. Everything is modern, free, open. But those were my feelings at the time.
At this time, somewhere in the mid-60s, in general, still a child, I realized that I would be an architect. I began to look at architectural books, magazines as best I could, although there were no architects in the family. My family was quite advanced, there were always some magazines like "America"; England was such a small magazine. And I watched all this eagerly, not because I was such a Westerner, but I really liked this particular modern design, modern architecture, modern cars, everything that moved us forward to progress. Films made a very strong impression on me - the very Soviet and foreign films that we released, where elements of modern cities appeared. I have the most banal thaw sensations, like many, this is the time of my formation.
