Soviet Modernism 1955-1991

Speakers at the opening:

Dietmar Steiner, Director Az W
Irina Korobina, Director Shchusev State Museum of Architecture
Katharina Ritter, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair, Alexandra Wachter, curators of the exhibition
Susanne Scholl, freelance journalist and author

Video about the exhibition:

The Architekturzentrum Wien writes architectural (hi)stories: ‘Soviet Modernism 1955 – 1991. Unknown Stories’ explores, for the first time comprehensively, the architecture of the non-Russian Soviet republics completed between the late 1950s and the end of the USSR in 1991. The research and exhibition project shifts the Russian-dominated perspective and focuses attention on the architecture of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, The Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

While Constructivism and Stalinist architecture have largely been included in Western architecture history, the Soviet modern architecture of the second half of the 20th century has remained practically unknown to date. Working in close collaboration with local experts and architects, a research group at the Architekturzentrum Wien has pursued the specialities in the architecture of the period and its ‘stories’. In the course of this extensive project a network has been created between a large number of researchers from the East and the West and interviews conducted with eyewitnesses of the time. Their stories have hardly been documented in writing and their works have not yet been viewed in context. Time is running out, and action is urgently needed as many of the buildings, which are still waiting for appraisal by architectural historians, are threatened. The poor construction techniques used at the time they were built means that these buildings are aging rapidly and there is a widespread lack of resources available, or support, for their upkeep.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in English and German editions (published by Park Books).

Team of curators: Katharina Ritter, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair, Alexandra Wachter

Exhibition design: Six & Petritsch

19th Vienna Architecture Congress: Soviet Modernism 1955-1991. Unknown Stories
24 November 2012 – 25 November 2012

The exhibition project is based on an initiative of Georg Schöllhammer and the association ‘Local Modernities’.

Thanks to:
Tranzit.at, Sweet Sixties, ERSTE Stiftung, Allianz Kulturstiftung, EU Culture, Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow

Public Funding:
Geschäftsgruppe Stadtentwicklung und Verkehr
Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur
Geschäftsgruppe Kultur und Wissenschaft
Sponsor: ARCHITECTURE LOUNGE

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