reflections

R:CP – Considerations after the two first episodes With the screenings in Berlin and Prato we had the opportunity to see for the first time in sequence the two films we realised under the Re:centering Periphery label. We found ourselves together with a great number of friends, whose feedback has been very helpful to reflect on the outcomes and gave us the opportunity […] jo pixel No responses 2013-04-05
Threatened El Lissitsky’s printing plant We have been visiting our friends at the Zhurgaz house, to see how is going their struggle to preserve their home and the close El Lissitzky’s typography. The planned new high rise building has been built up, although in recent times the construction has been stopped. The destitution of mayor Luzkhov left in disgrace his […] jo pixel No responses 2011-12-20
Moscow in winter The city looks more natural, or maybe less un-natural in the winter light. Perhaps our gaze is more domesticated, more used to the everyday dimension of this megalopolis, but details at human scale show on the surface of our perception. jo pixel No responses 2011-12-20
Visions for the future city At the end of the 1920s, the attention of constructivist architects, in particular those of OSA, increasingly shifted toward a radical critique of the city itself, focusing on visions designed to overcome urban concentration, and introducing concepts of diffuse urbanisation, linear and green cities, ultimately theorising the concept of disurbanism. This term was basically the […] jo pixel No responses 2010-12-01
Lefevbre in Belgrade In 1986 Henri Lefebvre participated together with the architects Serge Renaudie and Pierre Gilbaud to an international competition to remake New Belgrade. Recently published by the artists Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber, the text accompaning the plans is extremely interesting for several reasons. First of all, because it provides a wonderful summa of Lefebvres urban […] jo pixel No responses 2010-07-01
Architectural review n.1357 jo pixel No responses 2010-05-11
El Lissitzky printing plant and Zhurgaz house MONEY AND POWER AGAINST ARCHITECTURE El Lissitzky printing plant and Zhurgaz house are under threat of destruction. Your help in protecting these landmarks is urgently needed! In 2007 staff members of the Russian Avant-Garde Fund discovered in a Moscow archive previously unknown blueprints for the printing plant of JSC Ogonek authored by El Lissitzky, a […] jo pixel No responses 2010-01-19
A letter from Moscow Our friend Elena wrote us to inform about some sad developments of their campaign against speculation in Moscow. She is part of a committee of citizens struggling to defend their building, an interesting example of civil architecture of the constructivist period, from damages and abuses deriving from new development projects. Recently they discovered that the […] jo pixel No responses 2010-01-11
Constructivism Constructivism is one of the most exciting, important, productive, inventive avant-garde movements of the first half of the 20th century. It developed in many cities of the Soviet Union and not only in Moscow. Developments took place in Leningrad, in Ukraina, even in the Caucasus, and were connected to a series of contemporary movements. The […] jo pixel No responses 2009-12-12
Narkomfin denied Bad news, the Moskostruct exhibition that was foreseen to take place in the Narkonfin, was denied the permission form the residents. Apparently, the inhabitants are tired of journalists and students visiting the place, while none of their requests about the refurbishing of the building happens. Some rupture happened during last week in the relationship with […] jo pixel No responses 2009-09-30