Garage will hold a presentation of Krymsky Val 9/45. Gorky Park’s Unknown Listed Building —a book dedicated to the history of Gorky Park’s headquarters, where Garage's office is also located.
The idea of the book Krymsky Val 9/45. Gorky Park’s Unknown Listed Building, published by Kuchkovo Pole publishing house, was initially conceived by Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Upon moving to Gorky Park in 2012, the institution’s office relocated to the empty spaces of the park’s head office, reconstructed for Garage by the FORM architectural bureau. During the reconstruction, FORM architects, along with Garage curators who were preparing the exhibition Temporary Structures in Gorky Park: From Melnikov to Ban at the time (2012), discovered an intense history to this building, which remained largely unknown to the public.
Home to Nikolay Bromley’s shipbuilding plant before the revolution, in 1923 it was transformed into the Handicrafts Pavilion by Alexei Shchusev for the National Exhibition of Agriculture and Crafts. In the late 1920s, El Lissitsky was involved in the redevelopment of the building for the needs of Gorky Park’s headquarters. Later, it was home to one of Russia’s first sound cinema theaters, designed by Vasily Voinov and Brazilian architect Rodrigo da Costa.
Commissioned by Garage, architectural historians Marianna Evstratova and Sergey Koluzakov have conducted comprehensive archival research that has formed the core of the book. Chapters dedicated to the building’s contemporary history have been written by FORM bureau architects, while architectural historian Boris Pasternak has written the introductory essay. The publication is composed of archival materials from state and private collections, including Gorky Park archive, as well as present day photographs of the building made by the renown architectural photographer Yuri Palmin.
The presentation will feature authors of the book Marianna Evstratova, Sergey Koluzakov, Olga Treivas, and Vera Odyn, photographer Yuri Palmin, designer of the book Dmitry Mordvintsev, Garage Director Anton Belov, and Kuchkovo Pole publishing house editor-in-chief Anna Petrova.