Superstructure: Exhibition at Visual Culture Research Center
Superstructure, an exhibition of the most outstanding projects of post-war neo-modernist architecture in Kyiv, will take place at Visual Culture Research Center from January 28th until February 28th. An exhibition will feature accomplished and unaccomplished projects by the Kyiv architects of 1950-1980ies, as well as the transformation of their utopian ideas.
The exhibition will open on the 28th of January at 19:00
Superstructure exhibition is one of the results of a long-term research of the Soviet neo-modernism in Ukraine. Materials of this research, initiated by Georg Schoelhammer within Local Modernities project, were previously presented at the exhibition Soviet Modernism 1955 – 1991: Unknown Stories, curated by Ekaterina Schapiro-Obermair, Katharina Ritter and Alexadnra Wachter at Architekturzentrum Wien (2012); Trespassing Modernities, curated by Ruben Arevshatyan and Georg Schoelhammer at SALT Galata gallery, Istanbul (2013), and Parallel Modernities at the 31st São Paulo Biennial (2014). Superstructure exhibition will present this research with a focus on Kyiv for the first time.
Central place at the exhibition belongs to an architect Eduard Bilsky, who is an author and co-author of numerous significant neo-modernist projects in Kyiv, including the Palace of Pioneers, Central Bus Station, residential district Vynogradar etc. His sketches, drawings, and project materials show the scale of utopian thinking of Kyiv architects. Works by an architect Florian Yuriyev (author of the famous ‘Kyiv saucer’ building) serve as an example of “synthesis of arts” in architecture. Tragic history of the Park of Memory by Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko will be represented in film The Wall by Israel Goldstein. Besides, projects by Mykhaylo Budylovsky, Anatoliy Dobrovolsky, Yosyp Karakis, Avraam Miletsky, Nataliya Chmutina, Volodymyr Shevchenko, Valentyn Shtolko, and others, will be presented at the exhibition.
“In the early 1960s Kyiv architecture started speaking an international language of post-war neo-modernism. The community of architects, artists, and engineers, for whom architecture and construction were one of the many elements of modernist thinking, were in the vanguard of this process. Architects claimed the role of the demiurges, who create total works of art, and artists aspired for being equal co-authors of architectural projects. It was an attempt to transform the city into the environment for materialization of artistic thinking – in contrast to the strict unification of city space by typical construction and residential blocks”. [From the curatorial statement]
Research group of the project – Oleksandr Burlaka, Oleksiy Bykov, and Oleksiy Radynski.
Exhibition is open every day, except Mondays, from 13:00 until 19:00
Admission is free
Exhibition takes place within the frameworks of Unrendered Spaces project supported by ERSTE Foundation
Project partner:
Media partner:
Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC) was founded in 2008 as a platform for collaboration between academic, artistic, and activist communities. VCRC is an independent initiative, which is engaged in publishing and artistic activities, scientific research, organization of public lectures, discussions, and conferences. In 2015 Visual Culture Research Center received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margriet Award.
Visual Culture Research Center (44 Hlybochytska Street (1st floor), Kyiv)
Contacts:
+38096 4929600 (Nataliya Neshevets)
www.facebook.com/vcrc.org.ua
vcrc@vcrc.org.ua