SOCIALIST
9288+
Tracing Trans-Siberian Socialist modernism Fu Yat Him, Horta
SOCIALIST
9288+
Tracing Trans-Siberian Socialist modernism
Vladivostok
Khabarovsk
Irkutsk
Novosibirsk
Moskva
Riga
Minsk
Kiev
Pripyat
FOREWORD
Initiate
REFLECTING SOCIALIST MODERNISM FROM A HONG KONG PERSPECTIVE My interests to Soviet history and culture have been cultivated since my first encounter in high school history classes, but there is a certain distance between Soviet Union,Hong Kong and myself as a Y generation ChineseHong Konger. It would be far from professional for me to narrate and discuss solely about Soviet history and postSoviet transformation. Not until attending my architectural master degree, I started to encounter the study of 20th century modernism and utopia vision, and realized Hong Kong modernism is quite inter-relatable to the socialist modernism. Both Hong Kong modernism and Socialist Modernism are far more than just architectural style- It is the conceptual modern life in responding to the 20th century urgenciesorganization of labour to facilitate industrialization, postwar urban migration and reconstruction, and identity building on citizens. For example, both of which have been extensively rehoused their urban population by utilitarian social housing constructed at the cheapest and fastest rate, and resulted in a dominating influence to urban culture.
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On the other hand, nostalgia for the 20th century is also a vital question throughout my master degree. While the dissolution of the USSR has resulted in the economic decline and social instability throughout the 90s, nostalgia is particularly relevant to the post-Soviet world. Although decommunism was enforced in some post-Soviet states, nostalgia has taken place in different forms across most of the SSR, from restorative nostalgia of groceries to reinstating the modernist authoritarian political system. It also triggered difficulty to establish national narratives and identities in situating the complex diplomatic relationship between SSRs. Therefore, despite the socialist modernism that has spread universally in the Eastern Bloc, their adaptation and transformation in recent decades have resulted in an identical cultural landscape across Eurasia.
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Ironically, Hong Kong is situating in the great difficulties of social unrest when the book is written in 2019. While the immediate cause is claimed to be the constitutional transformation, it may be underlined between the identity conflicts between modernism, neoliberalism, decadentism and colonial nostalgia. A trip to the postSoviet world is not an escape from the Hong Kong social conflicts, but it is rather helping me to keep a distance from the moral struggle and accept it as an inevitable part of history to Hong Kong, just like the post-Soviet world. This book is a documentation to my graduation trip organized along the 9288km-long Trans-Siberian Railway, plus selected Baltic and Eastern Slavic states. It covered photos and writings to architecture, mass products and urban life three decades after Soviet dissolution. It began from Vladivostok in the far east, and ended at Pripyat as the ruined utopia. Initially, there was a second struggle to confine the book to document only architecture of Socialist Modernism built from 1955 to 1991 as exhibited by Architekturzentrum Wien, but Constructivist and Stalinist architecture did constitute a major branch of Modernism discourses. The Trans-Siberian travel is a transect discovering how the Soviet modernism has copied, varied ,transformed, removed and revived from the edge of Eurasia to the political cores. - 10 -
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Riding the railway intermittently for seven days has been a lot easier and exciting than expected. The trains occasionally stopped at smaller towns for ten-twenty minutes every few hours, though I didn't encounter the romance like the Mosfilm 1982 "Railway Station for two" which the main actor missed his train during such a intermediate stop and resulted in romantic encounter with the waitress in the station restaurant, the intermediate stops still gave chances for me to check-in at those station squares, and get some snacks for the train journey. The ‘kupe’ wagons we were travelling on are basically furnished based on the Soviet era precedents, with the nostalgic reading lamps and boiler. They were comfortable enough to get me good rest after quick stopovers in the major cities along the line. Last but not least, I would like to thank my classmates Ivan, Captain, Allan, Yoyo, Timmy, Tom and Jimmy who organized, translated and made fun throughout the journey. It has been a crazy graduation trip- Jogging more than 10km daily, if not sleeping through moving thousands of kilometres- Having so much fun with these guys, getting so many Soviet insta-spot checked in, and leaving more geopolitical questions to be explored.
Travelled between 17 June 2019- 7 July 2019 - 12 -
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LENIN IS FAR AWAY
Vladivostok
Day 1 17 June 2019 0 km
Vladivostok > Khabarovsk 0/9288 km
CITY UNDER WILD TRANSFORMATIONONE YEAR AFTER 2018: Back in 2018, I had an enjoyable two week cultural exchange camp in Vladivostok. On the weekend, I left the city with a few friends who met from the camp by commuter train "elektrichka" to Ussuriysk, a city just 100km from Vladivostok. That was the first time I rode on the Trans-Siberian railway, a percentile of section. We had some crazy thoughts to go forward, but as to respect the organizer and to cause less trouble, we returned to Vladivostok by Sunday night. The length of Trans-Siberian Railway defined differently at various context- 9298km as in the back side of 0km milestone in Moskva Yaroslavl Railway Station; 9181km by modern train schedule no.99; and 9288km at the milestone at Vladivostok, where I first dreamt of riding the full journey to explore the socialist cities along the Eurasia transect- that is how the book title initiated. 2019: Despite having fruitful memories from my last visit to Vladivostok in summer 2018, I did not expect I could drop-by this 0.6 million inhabitants city again just a year later, and get the Trans-Siberian dream realized. Being far away from the geopolitical centre in the New East, the city has left plenty of time lagging socialist traces in urbanism, with many principles explained in my previous publication “Socialist Primorsky�. While Vladivostok has been a closed navy city during the late Soviet era, it has transformed to the East Asia gateway since the hold of APEC in 2012. Within the year of 2018 to 2019, Vladivostok has replaced Khabarovsk as the Far East Capital of Russia. It hosted World Leaders including Kim Jong-un in various international summits. At the downside, it has undergone even wilder commercial postmodernist transformation- the closed tram track along the busiest street of the city- Svetlanskaya (aka Leninskaya) are finally backfilled with asphalt, marking the once important transit system is unlikely return to the city centre in the near feature. In replacement, the traffic is jammed with more second-hand vehicles imported from neighbouring Japan and Korea. Meanwhile, some iconic institutes are torn down, and private residential towers are erected from the residual between the aged prefabricated slab blocks without proper coordinationbut after all, it is still a comfortable coastal city with vivid activities, which release myself from the hustle and bustle, and pause myself from the true East Asia pace. - 16 -
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk 0/9288 km
The greatest transformation shall take place in Eagle’s Nest Hill. Funicular linking to the viewpoint has been suspended for maintenance. The youth centre building of the Far Eastern State Technical University, which is painted with the mural of Amur Leopard, has been demolished. As the viewpoint is blocked by the demolition site and disconnected by the funicular, it is less populated with tourists as compared to my last visit. However, it is reported that the deck will be constructed with a new visitor centre and museum, it appeared that Vladivostok is preparing to accommodate more tourists from East Asia. In many aspects, the city is attempting to transform to meet the tourist expectation of East Asia travellers- the image of European Russia. For example, a new orthodox church is built next to the Revolutionary Square. In reality, with more East Asia travellers and imported Second hand vehicles mixed around Vladivostok city centre, the psychological distance from Tsariest Eurasia has been reduced. After all, Vladivostok is just a hundred miles away from Chinese and DPRK border, and it is easily accessible from the Japan Sea. It makes sense for Vladivostok to housekeep Russian stake in East Asia especially its influence in Europe is continuously challenged. Yet, with the reducing capability of state mobilization, Vladivostok remains as an opportunists' paradise without a greater aggression.
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk 0/9288 km
Notwithstanding, Vladivostok still appeared to be a socialist city at the backdrop of the centre, with the unique adaptation to the terrain setting. The constraints of terrain has limited modernist development to be more compact than other cities, but it kept a larger part of the city in walkable distance. While Vladivostok was mostly foggy during my two week stay in 2018, it welcomed me again with great visibility and sunshine, and presented itself with the Brezhnevka housing which terrace layer by layer along the relief. Such scenery is always impressive to me even after visiting more post-Soviet cities from this trip. The standardized slab housing on the hilly relief was once an image of late 20th century Hong Kong- where millions of residents have been housed as a resettlement purpose. While the slab housing in Hong Kong has been replaced by towers in the early 2000s, the Brezhnevka meandering along the hill is considerably a common vernacular to Vladivostok. The decayed concrete blocks built as temporary housing purposes represent a vision not achieved- Citizens would be promoted to better permanent housing after Communism arrived- the fact is nothing is more permanent than temporary. But at worst, life still goes on as usual even though the state has run out of maintenance budget. When the housing crisis prevails again in the 21st century East Asia, these slab housing becomes a nostalgic symbol. - 20 -
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk 0/9288 km
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk 0/9288 km
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HEAVEN IS HIGH
Khabarovsk
Day 2 18 June 2019 767 km
Vladivostok > Khabarovsk > Irkutsk 767/9288 km
GRID CITY ACROSS THE AMUR BORDER 12 hours running along the right bank of Ussuri, we arrived at the former Far East administrative centre Khabarovsk. In statistical comparison, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok are arguably twins cities- Similar population size, competitive political status, closed to Chinese Northeast border, and isolated from the rest of Eurasia major settlementsconsidering moving to Chita or Ulan-ude from Khabarovsk consumes two days train travel. Yet Khabarovsk appears quite differently to Vladivostok, it is an extensive grid city with formal establishments- a station square with statue of Yerofey Khabarov (Russian adventurer who colonized the North of Amur) ,revolutionary square, Lenin square and Patriotic war square are distributed around the city and linked by boulevard. The state narrative is well imposed into everyday life of citizens despite the city is distanced from the political core. In particular, Vechnyy Ogon has been a successful example of extending the national narrative from Soviet era to Russian Federation. A new monument memorizing Khabarovsk fighters sacrificed in Post-Soviet Conflicts is found adjacent to the Monument to Patriotic War. The sense of mission in protecting state sovereignty is always prioritized. - 28 -
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk > Irkutsk 767/9288 km
Meanwhile, Khabarovsk preserved its public transit network from the socialist era in good service condition as compared to Vladivostok. While the tram network in Vladivostok is mostly replaced by bus routes operated by high-emission Korean second-hand buses, Trolley bus and tram lines in Khabarovsk are still serviced as the major transportation mode in the city centre. It is equipped with the tram fleet of RVZ-6 which have been withdrawn from regular services in other cities, with the addition of new wagons like 71-623 to sustain the service. The same applied to trolley bus fleets where there is a good mix of nostalgic ZiU-9 and modernised vehicles linking from city centre to the airport. It shall be considered as a good sign that improvement of public transit service is happening even though the transformation is gentle. Despite imported second hand automobiles are notable in the city, they do not result in jam like Vladivostok. Similar to other Soviet cities erected along the river course, river cruising has been developed as an entertaining excursion for both citizen and domestic tourists. The vessels from Soviet era operated regularly along the Amur at a friendly fare. With shallow hull draft, they can dock point by point all the way to the river course easily. With Mediterraneanly warm summer, Khabarovsk is rather a travel destination for domestic Russian who wants to enjoy the sense of distancing from European Core. - 30 -
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk > Irkutsk 767/9288 km
Definitely, Khabarovsk is also backdropped by prefabricated Khrushchevka and Brezhnevka around the city fringe. Despite decay in appearance is a general matter, the city is planned with a proper ratio of artificial landscaping in between the mikrorayon. The visit to the Dinamo park during the warm weekday afternoon is particularly an enjoyment, it is filled with users of different age groups who seemed to have plenty of time surplus in a regular working day. Roaming the city without the motivation of a rush, it was a weird yet peaceful experience which has disappeared in bigger cities of East Asia. Khabarovsk is a city of detachment, it is just around the Chinese border but detached from the East Asia context; Rather, it is strangely inherited with Eurasian context without geographic tie, considering rail-travel distance to other major Russian cities is counted by days. The phenomenon is a result of both population deportation during the Stalin era and the city's hardware establishment. While separatism was threatening the declining Russia in the 1990s, its Far East sovereignty remained unquestionably rigid. - 32 -
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk > Irkutsk 767/9288 km
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk > Irkutsk 767/9288 km
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Vladivostok > Khabarovsk > Irkutsk 767/9288 km
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SCATTERED COMPOSITION
Irkutsk
Day 6 22 June 2019 4107 km
Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
COLLETCTION OF SOVIET SKELETONS WITH FRAGMENTED ORGANIZATION The train journey from Khabarovsk to Irkutsk was the longest in this trip, spanning two and a half days crossing Chita and Ulan-Ude. On our arrival on Saturday Morning, Irkutsk appeared to be silent and cool. The station is located on the river bank opposite to the city. There is no grand station square like other major hub cities, the exit is directly facing a tram stop without a proper boarding platform. To get on the tram we have to cross the traffic by stepping across a big pubbleďźŒwhich was an unexciting first impression to the city. In fact, Irkutsk has a great collection of Soviet skeletons. Like other Russian cities, there is a Lenin statue, Stalinist institutions, Patriotic War monuments. However, the rich combination of skeletons does not imply the city to be a model Socialist city- the city is rather appeared without layers and hierarchy. - 42 -
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Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
From a planning perspective, the government quarter has been fringed by the neoclassical Karl Marx street. Lenin Statue is rather situated at the corner junction of the street instead of a monumental scaled square. Meanwhile, Irkutsk suffered from significant commercial postmodernism. At the city centre, the shopping street "130 Quarter" composed of authentic Siberian wooden houses sits unnaturally with the computer graphic banner; At outskirts, the cottage factory scatters in the form of tin shacks. This wild commercial landscape has tended to transform Irkutsk into a dysfunctional city which is uninspirative.
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Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
Perhaps, to speak in a fair way, Irkutsk do have a rich architectural heritage of Siberian wooden vernacular. But it shall be noted that the majority of Irkutsk was grown out in the 20th century. The wooden house shall not be vernacular to those who were displaced to the city during Soviet era. At the same time, late Soviet Brezhnevka Microrayon is also less commonly found in the city. There are only mostly 5 storey brick-constructed Khrushchevka which are scattered between the lawn of the street. The sense of mass replication and authoritarian planning order is somehow missing in the city with 0.5 million inhabitants. - 46 -
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Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
Still, as the relative advantage of obtaining the Second Hand Asia vehicle is lower as it require further transport distance, there are impressively plenty of mass produced vehicles developed from Soviet era operating as normal on the streets of Irkutsk: 71-605 trams, ZiU 9 trolleybus, Lada Riva and UAZ 652 Buchanka. We have arranged an excursion to Lake Baikal with a Buchanka. Despite the fact that it is a product developed fifty years ago, it is powerful to climb the difficult terrain on Olkhon Island. Yet, it shall be admitted that these vehicles and transport fleets, which were designed in the 60s-70s, were expected to be transitional products that would be retired shortly in the era of developed socialism. Such expectation was not realized due to the economic difficulties after Soviet Union's collapse. While local operators lacked funds to replace the fleet, the new products were also less reliable as the decline in industry. Having maintenance advantage of mechanical simplicity, the expired products reluctantly put into regular service with their deforming bodies. Ironically, such pioneering half lifecycle product philosophy has been popularized in the capitalist world in generating more consumption, which is derived from the progressive intention. - 48 -
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Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
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Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
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Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
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Khabarovsk> Irkutsk > Novosibirsk 4107/9288 km
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OPTIMISM
Novosibirsk
Day 10 26 June 2019 5957 km
Irkutsk > Novosibirsk > Moskva # 5957/9288 km
SOCIALIST CITY RAISED FROM TABULA RASA Novosibirsk to a degree was a most proper socialist cultural and economic centre in Russia. Although the population size of Moskva and Leningrad was ten times bigger than Novosibirsk, the two giants are constructed and planned based on the Imperial setting- Their palace and churches, despite being injected with socialist modification, were still formulating an important image to the city. In contrast, Novosibirsk is a city raised from tabula Rasa through the construction of Trans-Siberian railway. It is merely constrained by the imperial or vernacular influence. It is a new city built for catering a new transport hub and the industries, which applied with modernist design and planning principles. More importantly, it is a backbone city of the socialist bloc separated from the war and diplomatic conflicts in Europe. It is honestly erected according to the needs of the union states- the educational hub and administrative centre supporting industrial development in the wide Siberia. - 60 -
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Irkutsk > Novosibirsk > Moskva # 5957/9288 km
Since we have to utilize the fourteen days visa free stay in Russia, we can only arrange a very short half-day stopover at Novosibirsk. But Novosibirsk is well instituted enough to contrast itself from the Far East and European gateway cities. It has one of the youngest Soviet metro systems which started its operation in the very last years of Soviet Union. The stations may not be majestical as compare to those stations in Moskva or Leningrad with Socialist Realism design, but they simply sublimated the experience through good use of lighting devices, geometrical design and stone cladding, and successfully tempered the tense of speed by such a mode of everyday utility.
Moreover, as the extent of the metro system has not expanded much since its commencement of service in 1986, the station fitout, equipment and wagons remain very much untouched as it was built. For instance, the ticket coins are copper made, in addition to the Communist bas relief we first awore when entering Garin-Mikhaylovsky Square Station which connected to the railway station, the experience of the metro system was like a living museum of the modernist Soviet Union.
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Irkutsk > Novosibirsk > Moskva # 5957/9288 km
Novosibirsk is also balanced with cultural places and labour dwelling. The Lenin Square is perhaps the most majestic among the cities we have visited during this journey, where the grand Lenin statue is centred around the symmetrical square with an architectural ensemble. Within five-hundred meters distance of Lenin Square, it is encircled by ballet theatre,concert hall and youth theatre ranging from constructivist, neoclassical to late modern style to cater every favours of leadership. Further South across the Ob River, it is the sleeping part of the city. The signature utilitarian microrayons are evenly distributed between parks and squares with wide avenues with well pruned vegetation , which diminish the brutality of the prefabricated housing. While criticism is made to utilitarianism on modernist housing , it shall be acknowledged that it gave opportunity to organise resources for building better public venues, which is easily accessible by all workers accomplished
by the grid network of the city with extensive mode of transport. In an officially documentary filmed in 1987 Novosibirsk, the narrator described It wasn’t in world practice that in a short time the city entered the top ten industrial giants of the country [...] I don’t know any other such city that would have 120 thousand students on the approach to its centuryyouth and science, the foundation of our future. [...] as a passionate person, our city does not always have time to take care of its appearance, but in fairness it must be said that architectural ensembles have always evolved over the centuries. The vision of Novosibirsk may somehow fall short as the narrator has portrayed, but the order and essence of the city are still properly preserved and functioned in the post-Soviet century. Novosibirsk is definitely a seeable optimistic future of the past.
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Irkutsk > Novosibirsk > Moskva # 5957/9288 km
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Irkutsk > Novosibirsk > Moskva # 5957/9288 km
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Irkutsk > Novosibirsk > Moskva # 5957/9288 km
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Irkutsk > Novosibirsk > Moskva # 5957/9288 km
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APPROPRIATION
Moskva
Day 12 28 June 2019 9288 km
Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
THE PRESERVED SHELL OF THE LOST GLORY Moving across the transect from Eurasia Far East to Moskva, I was actually feeling quite lost when exiting from Yaroslav railway station. On the one hand, I was excited that I finally stepped into the socialist capital which raised my expectation and imagination from movies, propaganda and literature. But soon after, I was distracted by the flow of pace which I haven't encountered from the last eleven days- the pace of the Global city. In fact, Moskva is flooded of Socialist symbols once stepped outside the train wagon- A huge hammer and sickle on the roof of Yaroslav station,followed by the Lenin statue in the station square,and the Stalinist Leningradskaya Hotel etc. Yet they appeared to be unnaturally well-preserved and superimposed as compared to those which you accidentally discovered from the aging mosaic on panel blocks throughout the journey. You are delighted to see their good shape but you definitely know they are out of time. - 76 -
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
In particular, Moskva presented itself as not an equal (equally poor as some may claim) city compared to those from Asian Russia. While exhausting Khrushchevka’s dormitory districts are spanning across the railway entering the city from Yaroslav direction, the utilities and skeletons after entering the second ring are excelled to a standard that appeared to be unfamiliar from the past two weeks- Neither poorly instated pavers, nor aged trolley bus could be found again in the core of the capital. In replacement, Metro price in Moskva is doubled to Novosibirsk, and the canteen has been extinct within the Second Ring of the city.
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
Nevertheless, It should be acknowledged that architecture has played its role to create such an imbalance of impression to the central Moskva- Domination of Stalinist socialist realism over Khrushchev utilitarianism. When studying modernist history for the first time, I was feeling unfortunate that socialist realism has been replaced by the avant garde in the 30s. But diving into the same piece of history again some years later, I started to appreciate their non-abstracted quality and authoritarian scale. Corbusier's Soviet palace may have copied to the modernist third-world, and suffered from the addon of cheap commercial postmodernism, but Stalinist skyscrapers are definitely something representing Soviet eternity which cannot be degraded easily. - 80 -
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
At the same time, the modernist Novy Arbat, which was always represented in late Soviet literature, still appeared to be iconic today. The four open-book skyscrapers spanning a kilometer is a typical case of authoritarian urbanism, which is considered to be financially inflexible in a neo-liberalist economy. Big is rather demonstrating the capability of the authority to organize resources to build something good for people rather than good for money. - 82 -
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
In contrast, VDNKh plays another narrative to its Soviet past. Built before German invasion, the expo was capable of shocking the world about the industrialization achievement of Soviet Union within two short decades. They were also grand enough to amaze their citizens to believe the authority could have realized some utopian visions. Yet, the expo has been deteriorated to trade markets after the dissolution of Soviet Union. Most of the pavilions are filled with stores selling cheap groceries which may be imported from somewhere else. It is very much speaking its honest story of the post Soviet tragedy. Perhaps, the visit to VDNKh ironically demonstrated the ruin value- the collapsed legacy lasted even without maintenance, and inhabited a nostalgic imagination to the past which has never existed. Fortunately, the piece of socialist glory has been celebrated again in recent years. Most of the facade of the pavilions are renovated. The Cosmos pavilion has been particularly impressive to brand the Soviet past which is still vital and attractive to any generation. Ultimately, Moskva has been transformed from the wild capitalism to a new authoritarian city- which is not a reversing process. The capital branded its history as a glory one, and facilitated the authoritarian Putin's legitimacy. - 84 -
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
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Novosibirsk > Moskva # > Riga 9288/9288 km
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OUT OF PLACE
Riga
Day 14 30 June 2019 9288 km+
Moskva # > Riga > Minsk 9288 km+
HIDDEN SOCIALIST TRACE BY THE TOTAL ATMOSPHERE It is always claimed that the Baltic SSRs have experienced the quickest transformation after the dissolution of Soviet Union. In Latvia, it seems hard to be aware of the Soviet trace in capital Riga. The city centre is dominated by medieval and Art Nouveau architecture established before it became one of the SSR in 1940. There is no trace of authoritarian urbanism from the deposition of public space to road networks at the centre, not even mention any act of de-communism after the 90s. But in fact there are plenty of interventions left by the Soviet Union, and perhaps significant of Russian ethics population, they are just hidden by the total atmosphere- an atmosphere where both spiritual and decadent are irrelevant. It is out of the post-Soviet civilization context. - 102 -
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Moskva # > Riga > Minsk 9288 km+
Leaving the 9288km Trans-Siberian Railway, we switched our mode of intercities connection by flight. While space truss are adopted universal airport design, Riga is in one of the very few Airport where preserved the functionalist high modern passenger terminal. Yet the interior is renovated to subtle dark- It appears like somewhere in Northern Europe with the disappearance of Russian signage. Along the highway to the city centre, there is no overwhelming commercial advertisement board and planters along the road are nicely pruned. Even the same model of Brezhnevka is appeared to be fine minimalist rather than rough brutalist.
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Moskva # > Riga > Minsk 9288 km+
In typical tour guidebooks, the Soviet trace in Riga is mainly limited to the Academy of Science erected in the form of Stalinist Skyscraper and Latvian Red Riflemen Museum. Both of which are considered as a rival existence of Soviet past. The former one was criticized as an unwanted and unwelcome gift from Moskva; and the latter one is reprogramming into the Museum of the Occupational Riga (1940-1991), which ironically flips the Soviet narrative at the same museum building. Yet, the more constructivist past in Riga has almost been forgotten in its image of the city- The Riga Radio TV tower and Gorky Cable-stayed Bridge (aka: VanĹĄu Bridge). They were both evidence of advanced utilitarian technology which improved everyday life of Riga during the era of developed socialism in the 80s. But their rational and subtle forms are no longer capable to represent their leading advancement.
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Moskva # > Riga > Minsk 9288 km+
Still, modernist architecture in Riga is still deposited in a way which could be abstractly identified as socialist modernism representation. For instance, the generic towers erected outside the edge of the old town are typical examples of late Soviet skyscrapers. In particular, the 26 storey Ministry of Agricultural Building with an extensive podium is a more-than-standard skeleton in Soviet Baltic cities, which is comparable to Hotel Olympia in Tallinn and Hotel Lietuva in Vilnius. Unlike Corporate Modernism crowded in the inner city lots, the Soviet skyscrapers were rather planned on a spacious plot. They stood out from the context and enjoyed unobstructed open air in the sky. And more importantly, they represented an abstract image of standing-alone modern authority which can be viewed at every corner in the old city. - 108 -
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Moskva # > Riga > Minsk 9288 km+
Having said that Soviet architectural imposition in Riga was abstract, its industrial influence was used to be more predominant. Riga was once the most important production base of Elektrichka and tram in Soviet Union, featuring the Elektrichka ER-2/ER-9 and RVZ-6 tram which extensively served at all Union states. Today, the ER-2 train set are still composing the major fleet of Lativian Suburban Railway, but the RVZ-6 tram is no longer in service in the city of Riga. The tram service is rather dominated by the Czech Tatra. With the most advanced industrial distribution, Latvia became one of the well-off states in Soviet Union. However, insisting to leave Eurasia, its industry has been drastically declined in the 90s and slowly replaced by financial development. There is no exception that the production line of Russian railway wagons have been discontinued after the collapse of Soviet Union. Of course, like other Baltic States, Latvia is generally becoming wealthier after joining the EU, but it has transformed from the wealthiest within the USSR to one of the poorest in the EU. In 2009, the EU economic crisis struck Latvia harshly. Unemployment becomes a problem although it does not reflect in urban conditions like the decadence Greek cities. But adding up to Russian language exclusion policies, Latvia and Riga have experienced rapid depopulation. It was full of silence outside the touristy old town- shop and house are emptied- despite decay is insignificant. In turn, Riga is becoming neither an authoritarian city which extends the elites' tradition nor a wild city which offers adventurous opportunities to small households. It is just a small European city consuming its surplus establishment. - 110 -
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Moskva # > Riga > Minsk 9288 km+
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Moskva # > Riga > Minsk 9288 km+
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FOSSILISED UTOPIA
Minsk
Day 16 2 July 2019 9288 km+
Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
RE-DEPARTURE FROM THE BREZHNEV TIME Situated at the capital of Belarus, Minsk is a city with multi-sided commentary- On the one hand, it is claimed as Pyongyang in Europe, which is a closed and dull city composed of gigantic institution buildings. On the other hand, it is also named as “The Sun City of Dreams� by Artur Klinau who wrote his utopian vision to the city. But more generally, it is claimed as the city stuck in time. But to further read into it, I would say Minsk is rather redeparted from the time that has existed. It has reverted to Brezhnev time- but moved gradually by introducing market, information flow, border mobility etc in a less wild way as compared to Perestroika. Today, it is a "dictator" state with free access to Facebook and Instagram (highly censored but at least you can!) , easy border control for incoming foreigners, capitalist signboard(not covering everywhere when a blank wall is available) and even limited protest right (successfully bargain for cancellation of parasites' tax in 2018). It is not to say Minsk is the best model (despite every atmosphere in the city really appearing like a Soviet postcard or official documentary video), but at least statistically it is much better than many of the states which have destroyed the time that existed and gone into a completely wild new time. - 118 -
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
Suffering from major destruction during the Second World War, Minsk was the Byelorussian capital cleared for Tabula Rasa reconstruction under the influence of Stalin and Khrushchev ideas of the communist city. Independence Avenue (formerly Lenin Avenue) and Pobediteley Avenue (formerly Masherov Avenue) are the two major avenues in Minsk which has adopted different principles in composition in the age of two Soviet leaders. Yet they share the same characteristic- the authoritarian scale, scale of architectural and streetscape composition which is beyond the market rationale. While both Novosibirsk and Minsk are erected from empty land, Minsk is further advanced by its hero-ness. The city is rebuilt in total ruins instead of somewhere naturally plains. It is a city with a rich story which is unable to trace from the urban form, but rather from its improvised skeletons and art in the new construction. By keeping the intentional atmosphere of urban design in post-Soviet days, it articulated the sense of Victory which is not evident in other cities far away from the warfare centre. - 120 -
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
Minsk is also featured with the active communist symbolism which is progressed with time. Unlike Moskva where the symbol are in archived condition, Belarussian government continue to employ the symbol to legitimize its Brezhnev based authority. The National flag and the Arm of Coat which have been reused since 1994 based on its Soviet design are particularly eye catching- Hanging on every light pole along the Pobediteley Avenue with the Red Star Light Strip, the National flag matched with the Hammer and Sickle bas-relief on Trade Union Building.Thereby, forming the Belarussian S.S.R. flag in the sight of the public literally. When employing these symbols on propaganda banners with computer fonts, it clearly justified the symbolism as more than just nostalgia, it is the contemporary national identity. And therefore, seeing Lenin Statue and Hammer & Sickle in Minsk is more spiritual than anywhere else. They are not a monument of a past civilization, they are the urban infrastructures of the current. I was surprised to see the 1955 USSR flag flying so proudly in an official museum built in the 2010s. For any reason, displaying an old authority flag could be politically sensitive in the decolonising region I am living in, or even illegal in many so called liberalized states. - 122 -
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
Architecturally, Minsk is not lacking in quality modernist architecture. They may not be the most creative and experimental, but they are best adapted to the postSoviet transformation, neither being abandoned nor intensively modified. Private commerce has intruded into the public buildings in a very controlled manner, which is harmonically co-existed with the communist symbols. On the other hand, the open spaces of the city are even filled with dynamic activities which are affordable by general citizens. Concert, boat-riding, pop-up stores are offered to cater the needs of all generations. It is particularly successful in an age when public activities are more confined to virtual devices. - 124 -
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
Finally, we unintentionally booked to stay at Minsk during 2-4 July. It was lucky for us to experience Belarus Independence day celebration. Seeing citizens joining the parade happily, it evoked every imagination of an alternative end of history in the 1990s. There could be many interpretations to Communism, but Minsk is definitely enjoying real socialism where it is optimizing happiness and productivity. It must be acknowledged that such a state is vulnerable to international aggression as it challenges the long existing liberalists’ values and interests. But Minsk is self-justifying its way when comparing to the neighbouring states with a similar background. Dated back 2018 August when I was dreaming to work on an architectural design thesis about the contemporary authoritarian state (being banned immediately because of "evil" and “not architectural�), I think experiencing of Belarus and Minsk can satisfy and provoke my imagination better than the DPRK model.
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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Riga > Minsk > Kiev 9288 km+
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STUCK IN-BETWEEN
Kiev
Day 18 4 July 2019 9288 km+
Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
DE-COMMUNISM THROUGH A COMMUNIST WAY Frequently raising attention from Hong Kong media in recent years, my writing to Kiev shall be the most difficult and biased. While many Hong Kong protestors (or rioters) see Kyiv as a most relevant example in fighting detachment from Russian and communist past through Euromaidan, others may focus on its socio-economic aftermath- how a Soviet star-city lost all its rich potential through its diplomatic position. After all, Ukraine has been well equipped with leading agricultural and industrial technology among the Union States. It was highly expected that its industrial production could expand to Western Market after its independence. However, having stuck in both constitutional and geo-political transformation, Ukraine failed to manage its advantage and gradually declined to the poorest European states. The city of Kiev has remained at the image of post Soviet 90s where low commercial plugins are literally intruded into all the well established infrastructure. - 146 -
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
Having said that Kiev is stuck in the chaotic 1990s, Kiev is definitely having the best collection of modernist architecture among the cities in Soviet Union. While many of Soviet modernist architecture have emphasized functionality and scale relationship, the public institution in Kiev is extremely experimental. For example, the Hotel Salute and Institute of information are iconic in form making which accommodate the imagination of space age in the 1960s. In the House of Furniture, the concrete spanning technologies have been highly precise and optimized. The Kiev Crematorium is also challenging the perception of death and memorial space by its alien structure. Even though they are becoming disrepaired, their design and engineering are still refreshing in today’s world of parametric design. And some of these iconic pieces are even graphically converted into legends on the metro map. The rebellious character of Kiev has perhaps long been rooted in its architecture, despite such creative quality not appearing in contemporary Kiev anymore.
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
Being awarded as Hero city earlier than Minsk, Kiev owns even more majestic World War II memorial site- the Motherland monuments. It is however a controversial monument which requires a large sum of public spending on its construction and operation. Particularly under the decommunism act outlawed in 2015, the Motherland monument associated with Soviet symbols is under critical decision making of keeping it or not. Unlike Baltic Riga where decommunism is worked through regenerating a new urban atmosphere, Kiev is rather stuck in working on symbolism- a philosophy which continues from the socialist age. Either it is replacing statue by statue, or removing the symbol of Hammer and Sickle, the sense of the place is remaining the same. After all, it is still a place with prescribed values by the authority. In other words, by having such sense kept, it evokes the imagination of the return of Soviet symbol when Ukraine- Russian relationship improves some years later. - 150 -
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
All in all, Kiev is stuck in between the competition of superpower. While the color revolution has cut its ties with Russia, the West did not deliver real advantage to the state when it had no bargaining value. The new power in-charge simply claimed the responsibility and crime to the old authorities. Such narrative provides easy ground to the authority-after-revolution to legitimate its power with the support of those wealthiest enterprises who just want their interests unaffected. The root of the life problem of general citizens remains not only unsolved, but also untouched. By overriding the fact that the nation needs new economic-industrial influences to escape(or benefit) from the game between the superpowers , it is still unclear how Ukraine can move out of the continuous decline in world position, and the vicious cycle of the worsening peace situation with Russia. - 152 -
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Minsk > Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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SELF-HUMILIATION
Pripyat
Day 19 5 July 2019 9288 km+
Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
TRACING UTOPIA AFTER HUMAN The broadcast of HBO Chernobyl in 2019 has raised the world's interest in this nuclear disaster site. But my interest in Chernobyl and Pripyat was not really directly related to the history of the accident. Rather, I was expected to see the originality of the Soviet industrial city where everyone was associated with the same production- The universal and regulated work/life pattern in the precisely structured urban infrastructure which shall be comparable to Le Corbusier writing on City of the to-morrow. It is said that Pripyat was the elite city where the population was composed of nuclear scientists and young talents. Citizens had been exposed to advanced socialist urbanism. The city was well equipped with recreation facilities to reward worker's laboring contributions. It owned the very early supermarket in Soviet Union. More generally, there was no shortage of resources to general life etc. Yet, despite Pripyat retaining its original form due to post accident evacuation, the no-human structure does not really provoke the imagination of the past-future life. To a certain extent it may be a result of decayed infrastructure and unpruned trees, but to a greater extent it may be life that has disappeared. Today, Pripyat is rather just a very generic ruin that could be found anywhere. While my master graduation project was studying the relationship between demolition and memory, the experience in the ruined Pripyat may be denied a foreigner could imagine through abstracts. It also gave a concluding lesson to me as an architectural student that the physical space we design could speak nothing unless we present our imaginative story. - 168 -
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
In fact, visiting Pripyat can be easier than visiting any monotown across the post-Soviet states. It has brutally transformed into a ruins theme park where dozens of group tours are organized everyday. At the entrance of Chernobyl protection zone, Kiosk are operated to sell souvenirs associated with the disaster in a way which is consuming the disaster rather than reflecting. It is ridiculous to see ice-cream branded with radioactive labels. It is even more crazy to see how the Western tourists are excited in taking the radiation detector to detect the highly radiative objects around the ruins, and checked in immediately to instagram. By further exploiting the accident through a homogeneous ruin tourism, Pripyat is likely to undergo another wave of oblivion after the trend has faded. Chernobyl and Pripyat has its glorified history and unfortunate past. The Chernobyl Tourism is rather demonstrating a shameful history of Soviet Union to the foreign tourists. While Russian start claiming HBO Chernobyl is biased which it overstates the bureaucracy of Soviet Union, and attempted to film its own version of the history, the Kiev government may see ruined Chernobyl a powerful weapon to distant the past authority- Despite they are just a continuance with a new dress. - 170 -
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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Kiev > Pripyat 9288 km+
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TERMINATION
Epilogue
TRANSFORMATION ON THE RIGID BASE OF CIVILIZATION The experience among the nine stops of the journey are identical, yet it is easy to adapt the gradual stop-by-stop transition from Far East to core of Eastern European, both in terms of city pace, price index, weather, time zone and city scale. But ending the 21 days trip at Kiev as one of the Eurasia political core, there was finally a feeling of distance from Vladivostok. While post-Soviet transformation does not result in too much geopolitical influence at the sparse East of Ural, transformation in Kiev is really a serious matter which is watched by the world. The sense of contrast in terms of detachment and attachment from the hustle and bustle. At urban scale, of nine cities visited in the journey, four waves of post-socialist transformation are generally observed, including wild transformation from Perestroika, reversion of state control, oligarchic capitalization and abandonment. It is hard to judge which way is better than the others though I have shown my preference throughout the writing of this book. For instance, even wild transformation destructs the image of the city from the eyes of its creator, it is also a sign of opportunity which is accessible by every individuals, or in other words, the extension of Perestroika- the moment when one was not nostalgic to the past as what Svetlana Boym described. But one truth is becoming more obvious, the socialist utopia is not a failed experiment, it formulated a base from Tabula Rasa which can adapt to any attitude of transformation. When speaking about the term “PostSoviet”, there must be contents created in Soviet that are subjected to derivation and comparison. Even if something is going in the opposite direction from the socialist experiment has made, the “opposition” must be grounded through completing what was there in the past. We flew back to Hong Kong with a short stopover in Athens, it was the only stop out of the theme of this journey. Visiting the Acropolis as the heritage of Greece Civilization, I started to imagine how people conceived the 20th century Socialist Modernism as a unique civilization centuries later. A great civilization does not have to last long, the 70 years of Soviet modernization has deeply rooted a unique way of living in Eurasia which has yet to be exhausted. - 188 -
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Printed and Published on November 2019 First Edition Published in Hong Kong SAR,China Photographed and edited by Fu Yat Him, Horta Email: u3542237@connect.hku.hk 196 pages All rights reserved
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