CHESS GAME
Russian Pavilion at the 11th Architecture Venice Biennale
September 14 - November 23, 2008
Commissioner: V. Tsereteli
Curators: G. Revzin and P. Khoroshilov
Producer of Foreign Architects Team: V. Belogolovsky
Pavilion Design © V. Savinkin and V. Kyzmin
"Today, architecture is a hot topic world-wide as new building forms, the frenzy-pace construction of instant cities, ecologically advanced development and the planning of new record-high towers bring the artform under unprecedented scrutiny by the global community. In Russia, like in other developing countries such as China and India, architectural developments are under close watch for yet another reason, namely the growing role that foreign architects are playing in designing prestigious private and government commissions. The Russians have a right to scrutinize the current situation and ask hard questions: Will this growing trend overwrite centuries of historically shaped cultural context building? Will foreign architects, some of whom have never been to Russia or have only come for very short visits, create soulless (even if technically brilliant) projects? Will importing international design ideas lead to the erosion of local ambitions in architecture? Finally, will new iconic buildings, imagined by the foreigners, diminish the confidence of Russia as a truly independent intellectual power on the world stage?"
Excerpt from And the Winner is: Russia by V. Belogolovsky
