Dom Novogo Byta is a new step into the investigation led by Ogino:knauss on how Twentieth century’s modernist principles shaped the everyday life of urban dwellers, and what is their heritage in a global urbanisation perspective. In 2009 we were invited to produce a video installation for the art exhibition “Moskonstruct”, part of a campaign promoting the preservation of constructivist architecture, becoming the starting point for the successive film. Dom Novogo Byta is the diary of an exploration in the imagined and built landscape of Moscow, confronting the utopian visions that emerged in the light of the October Revolution with the reality of contemporary post-communist Russia. The film begins with the dilapidated Narkomfin building, clinging to life in the heart of Moscow, on a piece of land of great appeal to real estate speculators. Designed in 1927 by Moisei Ginzburg, this is one of the earliest projects to absorb the modernist principles postulated by Le Corbusier. The Narkomfin was intended as a prototype for revolutionary communes to come, aimed at reforming the everyday life of Russian citizens together with their spatial environment. Its utopian aspirations were soon annihilated by Stalin’s rise to power. From the story of the Narkomfin, the film traverses the cinematic landscapes advanced by propaganda, in the end becoming lost in the wilderness of massive urbanisations in the harsh Moscow periphery.
ДОМ НОВОГО БЫТА DOM NOVOGO BYTA A FILM BY OGINO KNAUSS
(HD, col. 45 min.)
DIRECTED BY MANUELA CONTI AND LORENZO TRIPODI SCRIPT LORENZO TRIPODI CINEMATOGRAPHY MANUELA CONTI SOUND DESIGN AND RECORDING FRANCESCA MIZZONI EDITING MANUELA CONTI SOUNDTRACK COMPOSED BY INFRASON NARRATED BY LORENZO TRIPODI WITH ROMAN SINICIN SOUND MIXING / MASTERING LUIGI TOTARO PRODUCED BY OGINO:KNAUSS IN COLLABORATION WITH MOORROOM