Imagine Moscow: Architecture, Propaganda, Revolution at Design Museum

Imagine Moscow
Imagine Moscow
Valentina Kulagina, To the Defence of the USSR, Poster, 1930 – Valentina Kulagina, We Build, 1930’s

On view at the Design Museum’s new Kensington home from March 15 – 4 June 2017 Imagine Moscow: Architecture, Propaganda, Revolution marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution explores Moscow as it was envisioned by a bold generation of architects in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Imagine Moscow
Valentina Kulagina, Front cover design by Valentina Kulagina entitled 1st of May in ‘Krasnaya niva’ magazine, 1930

Featuring rarely seen material, the exhibition outlines an idealistic vision of the Soviet capital that was never realised. Focusing on six unbuilt architectural landmarks located near Moscow’s Red Square, the exhibition explores how these schemes reflected changes in everyday life and society following the October Revolution.

Imagine Moscow
Yakov Chernikov, Composition on a theme of an industrial area with buildings and metal constructions, 1924-33

Large-scale architectural plans, models and rarely seen drawings are placed alongside propaganda posters, textiles, porcelain and magazines of the time; contextualising the transformation.

Imagine Moscow
Boris Iofan, Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh, Palace of the Soviets, 1944

In the search of a new future, architects aimed to reinterpret the old idea of the city through new symbolism, new monuments and new institutions – creating factories, theatres, communal housing and ministries. These dream-like projects suggest an alternative reality for a series of sites around the city, offering a unique insight into the culture of their time.

Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzky, Proun, 1922-23

Each project introduces a theme relevant to life and ideology in the Soviet Union: industrialisation, urban planning, aviation, communication, communal living and recreation.

Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzsky, Figures from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923

Alongside the six unbuilt architectural case studies, the exhibition features a dedicated room to the geographical and ideological centre of this new Moscow, the Lenin Mausoleum.

Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzky, Sentry from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923 – El Lissitzky, Anxious Ones from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923

The display includes the architectural designs of Aleksey Schusev’s Mausoleum as well as the rarely seen competition entries submitted by both professional designs and the public.

Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzky, Globetrotter in Time from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923 – El Lissitzky, Sportsmen from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923

Presented through plans, models, reproductions and projections; the six unrealised projects on display are Nikolai Ladovski’s Communal House (1920), EL Lissitzky’s Cloud Iron (1924), Ivan Leonidov’s Lenin Institute (1927), Nikolai Sokolov’s Health Factory (1928).

Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzky, The Sentinel from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923 – El Lissitzky, Old Man, His Head Two Paces Behind from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923

Three competition entries for the ‘Narkomtiazhprom’ building by the Vesnin brothers, Ivan Leonidov and Konstantin Melnikov (1934-1936), and Boris Iofan’s winning entry for the Palace of the Soviets (1932).

Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzky, Gravediggers from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923 – El Lissitzky, The New Man from The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show ‘Victory over the Sun’, 1923

The projects are placed in context with objects of art and design by Vladimir Klutsis, Alexander Rodchenko, Valentina Kuliguna, Yakov Chernikov and many others.

Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzky, Design for magazine cover, 1922

The exhibition brings together large-scale reproductions of architectural drawings from the Schusev Museum of Architecture (MUAR) with original drawings and artworks, magazines, news reels and applied art objects.

Imagine Moscow
Gustav Klutsis, Architectural Study, 1920-1921

Imagine Moscow features loans rarely seen in the UK from the Ne Boltai! Collection in Prague, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Alex Lachmann Gallery in Cologne, the Tchoban Foundation in Berlin, the Collections of the British Library and other private collections. Source by Design Museum.

Imagine Moscow
Gustav Klutsis, Photomontage, lithography on paper, 1924
  • Location: London, UK
  • Exhibition Curator: Eszter Steierhoffer
  • Curatorial Assistant: Eleanor Watson; Curatorial Research Assistants: Kristina Ailane, Helen Ilka, Constanza Larach, Anya Smirnova, and Olga Vaigatcheva
  • Opening: March 15 – 4 June 2017
  • Photographs: Courtesy of Design Museum
Imagine Moscow
El Lissitzky, ASNOVA The association of new architects, 1926
Imagine Moscow
Ivan Leonidov, Competition design for the monument for the first artificial earth satellite in Moscow, 1958
Imagine Moscow
Yakov Chernikhov, Set design with concave surfaces, late 1920s
Imagine Moscow
Ivan Leonidov, United Nations Building, 1947-48

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