Mikhail Beilin and Daniil Nikishin, having at their disposal the third hall of the second floor of the Russian pavilion and a very general theme of the “future”, turned their project into a study in the spirit of the manifesto: what is the possible future of railways, what is their potential and what is the choice? questions posed by the authors. It must be said that it is not the first time for the exhibitions of the Russian pavilion to divide the exposition into the past-present-future, for example, two years ago in the first hall there was the history of VDNKh, in the central present, in the third the future in the form of partly glitchy student fantasies and real plans for the renovation of the All-Russian Exhibition Center. Now the scope of futurological thought is much wider - it embraces railways in general and requires much more generalization.
In fact, one half of the CITIZENSTUDIO exposition - “The Great Russian River” on the wall opposite the entrance - is not so futuristic and rather close to the present: the problem of revitalizing industrial zones, in this case, railways. In all honesty, Beilin and Nikishin were not the first to talk about her, now it is generally difficult to remember who was the first (Glazychev? Lezhava? Skokan?), But he turned the theme into a beautiful installation of white circles - by the way, a proprietary technique - where the volumetric negative is depicted emptiness of exclusion zones and train stations. Railways connect cities to each other, but once inside they, on the contrary, divide the urban fabric, - the authors comment. This space, excluded from city life, after being revitalized, can become the centers of city life, - they continue, showing themselves as true urbanists, “Citizens”. Therefore, the railways between the outside of the circles are shown with volume, and inside - with voids, as the authors emphasize the difference between their role, positive between cities and negative in their centers.
Roads must change and change our lives, - Beilin and Nikishin emphasize, - having accelerated, the trains will carry us 2-3 times faster, like Hyperloop [and by the way, everyone drew attention to the Hyperloop phrase in the Danish pavilion], our country will become more connected, migration to big cities will weaken, and passive space will finally activate. Have you read the novel "ZhD" by Dmitry Bykov? - I ask Mikhail Beilin. - Yes, I really, really liked it! - he reacts vividly.
Here we get to the future, the middle of the hall and its two end walls, painted with graffiti by Anatoly Akue, are dedicated to it. The second half of the project is called Dichotomy and simulates two options for city development: a low-rise distributed garden city and a high-rise skyscraper city-City. Two layouts, cut with the same branded white circles, demonstrate slices of a hypothetical development with a lag of 100 years and a 500-year perspective, all using the example of the Three Station Square, so that the skyscraper and the stations highlighted in bronze are quite recognizable. The intrigue is created by the opportunity to look at the platforms from above and below, especially the upper ones, from the future. Here, in a skyscraper version, impressive "roots" of communications grow underground. The mirrors installed at the top allow you to view the mock-ups of the future without much difficulty.
It is easy to see that the main futuristic thinking is devoted not so much to roads as to roads in the city, or even to the prospects for the development of cities proper, including roads, but without a special emphasis on the railway track. The authors also do not impose a choice: whatever their intended preferences, the visitor can determine their own priorities, simply twisting their head from left to right. Julia Tarabarina
Authors of the exposition: Mikhail Beilin, Daniil Nikishin, with the participation of Alexander Yazlovsky. Also for the "Waiting Room of the Future", street art artist Anatoly Akue created a diptych, which is his vision of the two development options presented in "Dichotomy?" The production of our exposition was carried out by the well-known Moscow model team “Studio 911” under the leadership of Viktor Krylov and Ilya Assorov. Below is the author's description.
The waiting room of the future
Author's description
The general theme of the XVI Biennale of Architecture in Venice is "Free space" - Free space. We see great potential in today's rail infrastructure. It was interesting for us to consider the development of the city in the light of the changing transport concept and the inevitable changes in railway technology. Indeed, today the railway and its infrastructure occupies colossal areas in cities, especially in the historical centers where the stations are located. And, therefore, we should expect the release of space with a change in the technology of railway transport (hyperloop and other projects). This is potentially "Free space" - the general theme of the 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture. What to do with this "Free space" and how to use it correctly - this is the question we wanted to consider.
In the Waiting Room of the Future, we present two graphic essays. "Great Russian River" - a study of how the railway, in particular the Trans-Siberian, passes through the major cities of Russia. This is an observation of the phenomenon of the railway: connecting cities with each other, in the cities themselves, it is a dividing factor, carries along a significant exclusion zone. Extra space.
"Dichotomy?" - two speculative scenarios for the development of the territory of the railway infrastructure of the metropolis on the example of the area of Three Stations in Moscow. Turning excess space into useful space.
Great Russian River
Historical background / from
Wikipedia:
The Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib), the Great Siberian Way (historical name) is a railway across Eurasia connecting Moscow with the largest East Siberian and Far Eastern industrial cities of Russia. The length of the highway is 9288.2 km, it is the longest railway in the world. The result of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was the opportunity that arose by 1905: for the first time in history, to follow trains only on rails, without using ferry crossings, from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean (from Western Europe) to the shores of the Pacific Ocean (to Vladivostok). The Transsib connects the European part, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East of Russia, Russian western, northern and southern ports, as well as rail links to Europe, on the one hand, to Pacific ports and rail links to Asia.
Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of territory. It represents a huge and mostly free space. The backbone of this space is the railway. It is a river that flows from West to East through the whole country. And from East to West too. Most of the country's population is settled along its "channel". This artery unites both Russia and the continent as a whole: from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
Flowing through all the major cities of Russia, the "River" reveals an interesting contradiction. Uniting the settlements of the country, the railway for the cities themselves is rather a dividing factor. This is due to outdated technology and infrastructure. A colossal exclusion zone accompanies the road. It is surrounded by urban garbage: garages, services, small warehouses and just wild wastelands. The city is forced to protect itself from the "River" by all methods available to it.
Observing the "channel", several types of cities can be distinguished. First, the city-centers. These are Moscow and St. Petersburg - two sources of the "Reka" - the beginning of the Russian railway. Secondly - transit points - all large, and not so, cities through which the "River" passes, along the way, cutting them. There are also two extreme points - Kaliningrad and Vladivostok - the points where the railways of Russia end.
All these cities are united by the zone of necrosis of the urban tissue described above, which accompanies the Road. This space is free not only from the actual urban function, but also from the person. But it is fraught with tremendous development potential for cities. When treating this space as a value, it can turn into a space of opportunities, into points of intensive development of Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Moscow and other cities. For the whole country, a change in the technological concept of railway transport is no longer only an opportunity, but also an urgent need.
The Trans-Siberian Railway was built in a very short time. For 26 years at the turn of the century, this road has linked an entire continent. But since then we have continued to live in the transport concept of the 19th century. The average speed of movement on the "River" today is 64 km / h. The journey from Moscow to Vladivostok takes more than 6 days. Obviously, with an increase in speed by at least 2.5 times, which is far from the limit for modern technology, the connection between cities and regions will significantly increase. For cities, this means the transformation of the railway into an agglomeration transport. The development of the intensity and speed of ties will fill a significant territory of Russia with life. Weaken the migration of the population in 2-3 megacities. Together with the development of a post-labor society, the need to live in large cities will disappear. Access to the transport artery is enough to reduce the dependence of a person on economic centers, while maintaining the mobility of citizens. The development of the railway network and the filling of the system with additional "rivers" will allow, on this basis, to create a much more uniform system of settlement of the country. Russia has the ability to transform ties that carry oil and gas into ties that distribute life and human resources. This is one of the potentials of the Free Space of Russia: transformation into a space of people and a space for a person. By changing our attitude, we can reveal the true power of the "Great Russian River", turning it from an urban outcast into a source of life for both cities and the entire Country.
