Russian character Konstantinos Christodoulatos Š 2014
Russian Avant-garde 1. Theoretical We have to keep in mind that maybe Russian Avant-garde is an old subject of discussions but also a theme concerning researchers. Global artistic competition boosted th creativity in the early years of 20 century. Although it is not widespread known many recent developments have their origins in Russian concepts. “During the year of the second congress (1895), Vladimir Shervud published his Essay on the Investigation of the Laws of Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Ornament , which defined both the general and the specific in national architecture. Like many Russian intellectuals of the 1870s and 1880s, Shervud believed Russia could fulfill its special role in civilization only by returning to certain Russian values.”
The truth is that local achievements live inside human kind contemporary knowledge and art. Inevitably there is no parthenogenesis but evolution of pre-existing objects and maybe some historical differential incisions due to technological inventions or just idealistic revolution. It is a fact, that chaotic social connections and dialoguing, contribute to the evolution of ideas and knowledge and finally both to humanity and its environment. Thus, there is a practical obligation arising here: to help ideas exchanging and circulation, but also to establish experiment and innovation as a daily practice. This is the true Russian Architecture that ensures the global blending of ideas, to contribute evolution around the whole world but also permits itself to capture ideas without prejudice in order to make a step ahead, in order global evolution continuity…
Source: (The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture William Craft Brumfield UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · Oxford © 1991 The Regents of the University of California)
2. Historical Reading about Global History of Architecture, any attentive observer will notice the contribution of Russian Architecture to the Contemporary World of Art & Architecture. th From the rational & functional demands of urban architecture of early’s 20 century towards the origins of Suprematism (At the same time Tatlin’s tower was mostly a Constructivistic symbol of superiority due to what was happening these times, and maybe an aftereffect of political thinking competition that was started developing globaly at these times. ). After all this thinking influenced inevitably our world, opening paths of creative thinking, towards the modern and contemporary evolutions.
Soviet critic Viktor Shklovsky is said to have called it a monument "made of steel, glass and revolution. Date 1919 Source http://barista.media2.org/?cat=14&paged=2
Besides widespread known Tatlin’s tower that was a symbol of Soviets, a characteristic and maybe a nodal point towards the contemporary era, is the architectural, graphic, and generally artistic wide spectrum work of Lazar Markovich Lissitzky ( ) who was an significantly important figure of the Russian avant garde, and a suprematist .
El Lissitzky The Constructor, self-portrait, gelatin silver print, 107×118 mm, 1924 London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Inv. PH142-1985. Monochrome photograph (silver gelatin print) of a collage of lithographic and drawn elements added to a photographic image. The photographic image was itself produced by superimposing two separate photographs : The Architects Equipment (showing El Lissitzky's hand holding a compass against graph paper with an arching line) and his Self Portrait, both taken in 1924 while Lissitzky was recovering from tuberculosis in a Swiss sanatorium. The resulting image fuses the artist's head, hand and tools. Large printed letters 'XYZ' appear in the top left hand portion of the image.
Date 1924 Source http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O136602/self-portrait-constructor-photograph-lissitzky-el/
El Lissitzsky’s “Proun” Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:El_Lissitzky_Proun_1924.jpg
Author M.T. Abraham Center
Description Français : Proun 19D au MoMA. Date 1922 ? Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NY_Moma_lissitsky_19D.JPG Author
El Lissitzky (1890–1941
Architectural nature of Lissitzky drives him to experiment further with Construvistic designs (see Horizontal skyscrapers) that concentrate these times brainstorming about (architectural) design in a manner that still is standing contemporary. Nevertheless, these far beyond innovation enthousiasts of Russian Art, are very little known widespread due, construction methods limitations, economic reasons that limited the number of substantiated buildings, and maybe western political superstition of the past. (see differences between “paper architecture and constructed architecture: “Wolkenbügel” vs “OGONYOK” below.) “In 1923–1925, Lissitzky proposed and develop d the idea of horizontal skyscrapers (Wolkenbügel, "cloud-irons"). A series of eight such structures was intended to mark the major intersections of the Boulevard Ring in Moscow. Each Wolkenbügel was a flat three-story, 180-meter-wide L-shaped slab raised 50 meters above street level. It rested on three pylons (10×16×50 meters each), placed on three different street corners. One pylon extended underground, doubling as the staircase into a proposed subway station; two others provided shelter for ground-level tram stations”
An illustration of the concept appeared on the front cover of Adolf Behne's book Der Moderne Zweckbau, and articles on it written by El Lissitzky appeared in the Moscow-based architectural review ASNOVA News (journal of ASNOVA, the Association of New Architects) and in the German art journal Das Kunstblatt.
Source: http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/hori zontal-skyscrapers
Lissitzky argued that as long as humans cannot fly, moving horizontally is natural and moving vertically is not. Thus, where there is not sufficient land for construction, a new plane created in the air at medium altitude should be preferred to an American-style tower. These buildings, according to Lissitzky, also provided superior insulation and ventilation for their inhabitants. Lissitzky, aware of severe mismatch between his ideas and the existing urban landscape, experimented with different configurations of the horizontal surface and height-to-width ratios so that the structure appeared balanced visually ("spatial balance is in the contrast of vertical and horizontal tensions"). The raised platform was shaped in a way that each of its four facets looked distinctly different. Each tower faced the Kremlin with the same facet, providing a pointing arrow to pedestrians on the streets. All eight buildings were planned identically, so Lissitzky proposed color-coding them for easier orientation. After some time of creating "paper architecture" projects such as the Wolkenbügels he was hired to design an actual building in Moscow. Located at 55°46′38″N 37°36′39″E55.777277°N 37.610828°E 17, 1st Samotechny Lane, it is Lissitzky's sole tangible work of architecture. It was commissioned in 1932 by Ogonyok magazine to be used as a print shop. In June 2007 the independent Russky Avangard foundation filed a request to list the building on the heritage register. In September 2007 the city commission (Moskomnasledie) approved the request and passed it to the city government for a final approval, which did not happen. In October 2008, the abandoned building was badly damaged by fire”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Lissitzky
The "OGONYOK" print shop designed by El Lissitzky, showing the least damaged south end of the building Source Own work/ El Lissitzsky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EL-LISITZKY-OGONYOK-1.jpg Author Sergei Dorokhovsky
The work of such Russians led the evolution from older perceptions in some way, to the world of Art as we know it today. So that we can say the significant Russian Character helped the world making steps ahead, contributing to the obtained contemporary civilization as Russian avant-garde did. In reverse, that is the characteristics of “Russian Character” by anyone’s means.
3. Paradigms Below we can see some that sprung out due to Russian architectural influence as one specific Characteristic Paradigm of Contemporary architectural contribution to globe, keeping in mind that catalogue could be big, and within an enormous variety. (without more comments…):
Kranhauser - Kolner Rheinauhafen - Cologne, Germany)
Source: http://www.excellent-bc.de/en/cologne/kranhaus-south.php
Kranhauser - Kolner Rheinauhafen - Cologne, Germany)
Source: http://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/2000/kranhauser.html
Düsseldorf : Medienhafen, am Ende des Hafenbeckens links das PEC ( Wolkenbügel ), rechts die Alte Mälzerei die unter Denkmalschutz steht Source: http://www.niederrhein-maas.de/373,0,duesseldorfmedienhafen,index,0.php?PHPSESSID=3i1ibea8lq78m32o1as189e0l6#top
The Bank of Georgia headquarters (Georgian: საქართველოს ბანკის სათავო ოფისი) is a building in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was designed by architects George Chakhava and Zurab Jalaghania for the Ministry of Highway Construction of the Georgian SSR and finished in 1975. The engineer was Temur Tkhilava. Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Georgia_headquarters
Benjing: CCTV Headquarters Source:
http://www.oma.eu/projects/2002/cctv-–-headquarters
Etc…….....…………….