PROSPECTS OF THE FUTURE: CONSTRUCTIVISM
(Pavilion 7)
The discussion will be based on the thesis that early Soviet Constructivism was not only a key movement within Modernist architecture, greatly influencing new styles in art and design, but was also rooted in ancient aesthetic theories and driven by an emancipatory socio-political project. Participants will examine how the utopian ideals of the avant-garde and Soviet social utopia were expressed in the architectural solutions of the 1920s, such as the “Tatlin Tower” (V.E. Tatlin), the “Horizontal Skyscraper” (L. Lissitzky), communal housing projects (M.Ya. Ginzburg, I. Nikolaev), and the architectural school of rationalists (N.A. Ladovsky).
Special attention will be paid to the themes of utopia and futurism in architecture, as well as the potential for adapting the experimental projects of Lissitzky, Ginzburg, Ladovsky, and Tatlin for our future. Participants will consider how avant-garde ideas from a century ago influenced the development of 20th and 21st-century architecture and their potential application in addressing contemporary social challenges. The discussion will also explore the role of ideology and utopia as driving forces in early 20th-century architecture, along with conceptual parallels between Italian and Soviet rationalism and the architecture of totalitarian regimes.
Questions for discussion
- How did the artistic utopia of the early avant-garde and Soviet social utopia manifest in the 1920s architecture? What project examples illustrate these ideas?
- Could the experimental projects of Lissitzky, Ginzburg, Ladovsky, and Tatlin be realized in the near future, and is there a need for this? What obstacles might this incur?
- How have avant-garde ideas from a century ago influenced the development of 20th- and 21st-century architecture, and could they be applied to address today’s social issues? Did the Soviet social experiment of the 1920s fail, and what were its main flaws?
- What is the role of ideology and utopia in the architecture of the early 20th century? Is a “synthetic” culture uniting diverse cultural traditions possible today, and how might metaconstructivism incorporate current trends such as the ESG agenda and sustainability?
- What dreams and global missions drive 21st-century architects compared to the avant-garde architects of the early 20th century? How do contemporary architects draw inspiration from the political and aesthetic imagination of the past?