ABSTRACT
This collection of thirteen vignettes addresses several important episodes in the history of Russian temporary architecture and public art, from the royal festivals during the times of Peter the Great up to the recent venues including the Sochi Winter Olympics. The forms and the circumstances of their design were drastically different; however, the projects discussed in the book share a common feature: they have been instrumental in the construction of Russia’s national identity, with its perception of the West - simultaneously, a foe and a paragon - looming high over this process. The book offers a history of multidirectional relationships between diplomacy, propaganda, and architecture.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |1 pages
Introduction
chapter |32 pages
Exhibiting confidence, exposing self-doubt
part I|1 pages
1700–1775. Westernization of Russia
part II|1 pages
1829–1901. Industrial revolution and the search for the sources of Russian exceptionalism
chapter 4|16 pages
Kremlin on the Trocadero
part III|1 pages
1925–1940. Revolution as rapid modernization
chapter 8|20 pages
Between vanguard and establishment
part IV|1 pages
1958–1978. The Cold War and westernization of the USSR under Khrushchev and Brezhnev
chapter 12|17 pages
The Soviet Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal
part V|1 pages
Epilogue